FLOWER POWER

One of the better Flower Kings albums, in great part due to the tremendous epic, "Garden of Dreams"--one of my top five epics from the 1990s. The musicianship, as always, is superlative, the song constructs, as usual, sometimes confusing and overly oblique, sometimes simple and straightforward (depending on Roine/the band's leanings toward YES, KING CRIMSON, or GENESIS), and the production great, but 141 minutes of listening is a lot to demand of an audience.

- Disc One "Garden of Dreams" (114.75/120) "Astral Dog" (8:00) nice jazz fusion slow jam-groove, kind of mellow Zappa (14/15) Disc Two "Deaf, Numb and Blind" (17/20) "Stupid Girl" (6:49) trip hoppy start; very 80s; could've been a hit then?especially with the Peter Frampton electric guitar. (13.75/15) "Corruption (5:55) organ. Uriah Heep comes to mind. (7.75/10) "Power of Kindness" (4:25) funeral organ, solo. FOCUS-like. (8.25/10) "Psychedelic Postcard" (9:50) YES. Weird muted vocal. Nice instrumental midsection. (16.5/20) "Hudson River Sirens Call 1998" (4:20) slide guitar solo over slow-burn bass and distant drums. Fem soprano singing operatic vocalize in background. Effective atmosphere and mood. (9.25/10) "Magic Pie" (8:19) acoustic 12-string & harpsichord w/nice vocal from Hasse Fröberg. GENESIS-like rock ballad. (17.75/20) "Painter" (6:45) repeat of old themes in rock power ballad form. (12.75/15) "Calling Home" (16.75/20) "Afterlife" (4:34) tron, organ, military drumming instrumental, builds and builds to crescendo and then falls to simple Moog. (8.75/10)

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of progressive rock music.