Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
The Flower Kings - The Rainmaker CD (album) cover

THE RAINMAKER

The Flower Kings

 

Symphonic Prog

3.50 | 530 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Matti
Prog Reviewer
3 stars I have heard several FK albums but the band never really broke thru to me. And yet I made a quick buying decision when I heard a record store playing the bombastic opener 'Last Minute on Earth' (it was in 2003 or 2004, only 10 euros). I liked the cover art too, and the track lengths seemed friendly; I don't dig FK's 20+ minute-epics, and here you get four tracks from 8:59 to 13:50 plus seven shorter tracks. And what really surprises me, none of the tracks is unpleasant to me.

For many this is clearly not FK at their best. Why? The lack of overblown epics? The relatively accessible songs? A couple of rather lame - but beautiful - instrumentals? I believe this is just the right FK album to have if you don't fall for their more ambitious dinosauric works. I think structurally FK belongs to the YES school of prog, but soundwise I hear especially keyboard playing reminding a lot of Gabriel-era GENESIS. That retro ingredient added to the very presice modern playing, and a nice amount of progressiveness without taking it too far, makes up a good 77-minute album. Flower Kings by the numbers, one could say, but it works.

Other FK albums I've listened to include Retropolis, Space Revolver, Unfold the Future and dreadful Adam & Eve. Still, if I was to choose from them, I'd pick Rainmaker. 3,5 stars.

Matti | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this THE FLOWER KINGS review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.