STARDUST WE ARE

After hearing the Great Emerson Lake & Palmer oriented piece from Progarchives' free MP3, I decided to buy this album. I was already curious of this band since the guitar player from Transatlantic is the Flower Kings leader. What a nice purchase I made!

1. In The Eyes Of The World (A-) : Starts with ELP-influenced Hammond organ riffing which introduces the main theme which has an anthemic organ riff and processed vocals. It later turns into a carefully arranged instrumental section which eventually transitions itself back into the main theme.

2. A Room With A View : Transition.

3. Just This Once (C+) :the intro makes me cringe, but when the song starts, they contain memorable melodies. Nevertheless, this is one of the weakest songs in this album.

4. Church Of Your Heart (A/B) This is a song with Yes influences. It features great church organ playing and vocal harmonies. It is a very optimistic song.

5. Poor Mr. Rain's Ordinary Guitar : Acoustic guitar transition

6. The Man Who Walked With Kings (A) : a Genesis-inspired instrumental piece showing the melodic side of the Flower Kings. This one does show the technical talents of the band as the next one does, but it still is among the best pieces in Stardust We Are.

7. Circus Brimstone (A-) : The playing is very difficult and overly complex, making it a challenging track but ultimately satisfying during the first 7-8 minutes of the song. I find the Backward vocals amusing, but what follows is a bit too playful to me. Overall, a very scary song for anyone afraid of clowns.

8. Crying Clown : a transition.

9. Compassion (A/B) : This Roger Waters influenced song gives a message of loving and accepting all people around you. The music is repetitive and slowly builds into a climax which features the electric guitar. The second half of the song is very electronic sounding and reminds listeners of Vangelis, but it is completely unnecessary and you can just skip it.

CD 2:

1. Pipes Of Peace : Great transition that uses Stardust we Are melodies.

2. The End Of Innocence (B+) : It is a mellow track that ends with a longish guitar solo.

3. The Merrygoround (B) : This is a happy track with good musicianship. Not the greatest song, but the last minutes feature very good guitar playing.

4. Don Of The Universe (B) : a very good instrumental with sitars and stands out from the other tracks in the disc. The Stardust we Are Melodies are heard here as well. It seems like filler, but it is still a good instrumental. 5. A Day At The Mall : short transition

6. Different People (C+) : A good pop song, but nothing groundbreaking.

7. Kingdom Of Lies (C-) : an average pop song about drugs (hints at the chorus). Good lyrics, and nice melodies, but nothing special. It screams filler. 8. If 28 : the best transition. Great piano melodies that are later heard in the title track.

9. Ghost Of The Red Cloud (B-) : raggae-rock/pop song. Original with good vocals/melodies. 10. Hotel Nirvana : transition piece but leads to ...

11. Stardust We Are (A+) : It is a phenomenal epic song filled with quality-melodies, substantial instrumental music, and unforgettable refrains near the end. This is their most coherent epic to date, and possible their most satisfying one.

All in all this is an outstanding album from the Flower Kings. This band seems to be the best of the modern prog rockers. I hope they still continue Making more music.

My Grade : A/B

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