Flower Kings Appreciation Thread

Nov wrote: NEVER HEARD THIS BEFORE!! A previously unreleased TFK track from 2005  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaZIFmQg5VA Very nice!

It's on the Harvest fan club CD (2005), so technically is HAS been released before.......I've had the CD for years now   I guess it's not really from a "general" release though.

http://www.progrockmag.com/news/the-prog-collective-premiere-shining-diamonds/

zumacraig wrote: Infandous, Pitt 95 was my last show. Rain! I saw many shows from late 80s to the end and I never saw more naked people than at that show. Good times. UtF has been some work, but it's paying off. My wife loves Vox Humana...who knew! The rest is quite masterful in its length, repetition of theme, etc.

Huh, we must have mentioned to each other before that we were both at that show, but I totally forgot.  Cool.  Lots of Rain songs in that show, yeah............I called it "Bob Weir and friends" at the time, as he and his songs seemed to dominate the set list (though a few days later, it became pretty clear why that was).

Yeah, UTF is their peak, musically, IMO.  Not quite my favorite FK album, but the one I consider their best.

zumacraig wrote: infandous wrote: zumacraig wrote: I've been listening to BoE.  I really like it, the more I listen to it.  Numbers has some cool parts that just kill me.  Also, Felix just fits in.  He has a tighter, dryer sound than Zoltan.  He nails it too.   Not much of a WW fan.  Female vox just don't do it for me in that context. Aren't some of those dudes in Wobbler?  Those albums were okay. Well, honestly BoE, along with A&E, is the FK album that I just can't hold my attention on for long.  I find Numbers to be almost interminably boring.  Felix IS good though......I think he's kind of like if Zoltan and Salazar were fused into one drummer.  The rest of BoE is a little better, and I like Pandemonium and Rising the Imperial pretty well.  Again though, the album as a whole just looses my attention more than any other FK album (except, as I mentioned, A&E). I've been listening to Unfold, and the difference is just astonishing.  The music on Unfold just holds my attention completely and never lets go.  Just all around better compositions and playing for my tastes. Fascinating.  I find Numbers to be captivating from beginning to end.  UtF is kind of a chore for me, but I'm getting there.  I've been listening to lots of Grateful Dead too.  Talk about interminably boring...in a good way  We should be getting more info on Desolation Rose very soon.  Maybe even this week.

Yeah, I always listen to the GD from time to time.  Have loved them since I saw them twice in Vegas back in 1993 (and again in Pittsburgh in 1995).  However, there are some live tapes I've heard from them that fit the "interminably boring" tag quite well   Overall though, they were a band never to be bested in the improv arena.


UTF IS a chore...........which was what eventually made it top my list of best FK albums.  It took me almost a whole year to really get my head around the whole thing.  The musical density of it is pretty amazing once you've finally absorbed it all.  That they were able to put that all together inside of a year is pretty impressive as well (and with a new drummer who had to learn Garden Of Dreams and Stardust We Are (in it's entirety) for live shows).

One thing I thought was good about Banks was its length.  I go back and forth with weather or not Roine needs to edit FK albums down or not (the 2CD albums are a LOT to take in, and pretty much impossible for me to sit and listen to in their entirety),  but I think an hour is probably about the max any album should be.  And double albums, if they are considered absolutely necessary, should be made in such a way that each CD would be a great stand alone album.......so you can listen to them at different times without losing anything.

Having said that, I really love most FK albums just the way they are (even the nearly 3 hours of Unfold).  But I am kind of hoping that Roine keeps with the 50 - 60 minute range for album lengths from now on.

infandous wrote: zumacraig wrote: I have some CDs that need a good home...Any takers?  Free! Agents of Mercy-Fading Ghosts Tangent-Music That Died Alone Transatlantic-Live in Europe Neal Morse-Lifeline PM me if interested. 3 of those I would never part with.  I'm betting you can guess which one I would happily give away

zumacraig wrote: I've been listening to BoE.  I really like it, the more I listen to it.  Numbers has some cool parts that just kill me.  Also, Felix just fits in.  He has a tighter, dryer sound than Zoltan.  He nails it too.   Not much of a WW fan.  Female vox just don't do it for me in that context. Aren't some of those dudes in Wobbler?  Those albums were okay.

Well, honestly BoE, along with A&E, is the FK album that I just can't hold my attention on for long.  I find Numbers to be almost interminably boring.  Felix IS good though......I think he's kind of like if Zoltan and Salazar were fused into one drummer.  The rest of BoE is a little better, and I like Pandemonium and Rising the Imperial pretty well.  Again though, the album as a whole just looses my attention more than any other FK album (except, as I mentioned, A&E).

I've been listening to Unfold, and the difference is just astonishing.  The music on Unfold just holds my attention completely and never lets go.  Just all around better compositions and playing for my tastes.

BoE is the only album of theirs i can get through. Numbers is one of my least listened songs too :P

Well, kind of quiet here.  I guess we'll have more to talk about later in the next couple of months though 

I recently picked up the re-release of the first White Willow album.  I have the original release, and this is just a re-release, no remixing or remastering.  It does, however have nice new packaging and liner notes, and a bonus CD (which contains one song that I consider the great lost WW song).  I frequently talk to band leader Jacob Holm-Lupo on Facebook, so I feel a connection to his music I don't necessarily have with other bands and artists.  The album is great too, if you like somewhat gothic folk with beautiful female vocals (and some okay male vocals).

I also picked up the Colossus H.P. Lovecraft album...........a bunch of modern prog bands each doing a song based on a Lovecraft story.  To be honest, it's not really all that great, though I need to listen to it more.  I got it simply because I love Lovecraft's works and just couldn't resist.  I have a bunch of other Colossus releases, and think they are all very high quality.........but I missed a few before this one, and I'm thinking that perhaps they have taken the whole multiple prog band concept album thing more than a little too far.  Still, there are good tracks on it, so it's not like I wasted my money (3 CD set though, costing my $50 US, which I probably could have used to buy 4 better albums with.....oh well, I'll give it some more spins and maybe I'll like it more, I don't know).

Anyway, looking forward to all the stuff coming out from TFK camp in the next couple months!  I hope I'm not disappointed........


Edited by infandous - August 30 2013 at 13:24

I'm listening to All Of The Above from SMPTe. Simply a prog masterpiece!

zumacraig wrote: Lifeline does have it's moments, but when I start walking around the house making fun of it all the time, it's time to go.  I've not heard '?' but the titles on that seem very Jesus focused. I think Whirlwind live is their best DVD, by a long shot.  I'm curious what their set will be when the tour.  They obviously can't do full songs from each album.  I'm thinking a truncated Whirlwind and All of the Above, new epic and maybe a Duel/Stranger medley.   As far as getting rid of CDs goes, I'm becoming quite the minimalist.  When it comes to new prog, its TFK for me now.  All the other ancillary stuff really doesn't float my boat and I'm tired of working at it.  If something pops up that blows my mind, then of course I'll check it out.

Yeah, "?" is really a great album.  I suppose for me it's because it's mostly Old Testament focused, and I studied that extensively in college (B.A. in Religious Studies).  Of course, there are still some praise type lyrics.....it's Neal, after all......but not as bad as other albums I guess (though worse than Momentum, which seems to tone it down quite a bit while still having basically the same message as all the other ones).

"?" and "Sola Scriptura" are still my favorite Neal works by far (aside from the lyrics, of course).