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Flower Kings Appreciation Thread |
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J-Man 
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Joined: August 07 2008 Location: Philadelphia,PA Status: Offline Points: 7826 |
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 Posted: November 11 2009 at 21:24 |
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Finally reviewed The Whirlwind. I sure know how to make a long review!
 http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=250058 |
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Roland113
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Honorary Collaborator Joined: March 30 2008 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Status: Offline Points: 3843 |
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 06:59 |
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^ Nice review, well written as always.
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-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------
I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms. |
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Roland113
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 07:17 |
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So I was driving to work this morning (unlike Roger) and listening to a couple of tracks off of Paradox Hotel. It hit me how important Hasse Froeberg is to the band. I think his vocals really add a lot of depth and the ability to switch back and forth between both his voice and Roine Stolt's really adds an unappreciated dimension to the band. In addition, his acoustic guitar certainly adds to the live performances as does his stage presence. In all honesty, some of his moves on stage are more reminiscent of an eighties hair band, but it works for him, it makes him stand out which is part of a lead singer's job in any genre except for prog.
I remember reading a few months ago that he was going to release something with a side project, I think it's the Hasse Froeberg experience or something like that. Has anyone heard it and do you like it? The blurb that I read said it's going to be more of a straight up rock project rather than prog, but I'm ok with that. I'm going to have to dig this one up for my self. In the mean time, I searched through the Flower Kings CD's and figured out that he's written three songs for the band. . . and you guessed it, I'm making a poll. If you get a moment, please stop over to the polls section and vote for your favorite song of Froe. |
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-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------
I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms. |
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progrules
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Joined: September 14 2007 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 958 |
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 09:21 |
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Don't know about his side project Roland but I sure will keep an eye on it. I agree with your appreciatiion of Hasse. It's true that both vocalists of TFK have their charm but if I have to choose I choose Hasse. Best example is his performance on Monsters & Men, highly impressive !
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A day without prog is a wasted day
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Roland113
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 09:51 |
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Hey Henk, good to hear from you. Good point on Monsters and Men, I think he really adds a lot to that one in particular. It seems that he took a bigger role on Paradox Hotel with the departure of Daniel Gildenlow because he is littered all over that album. Off the top of my head, I know that he plays a big role on "Monsters and Men" (as you mentioned) but also "End on a High Note" and "Minor Giant Steps" and of course the one that he wrote "Life Will Kill You".
Interestingly enough, I read his bio on the Flower Kings website, he's the only one in the band who isn't a professional musician. Apparently he has to take unpaid leave from his day job at an airport to do tours with the band. |
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-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------
I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms. |
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infandous
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Joined: March 23 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2447 |
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 12:54 |
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Yep, Hasse is a baggage handler by trade. However, even though he takes unpaid leave, Roine pays him. Roine pays the whole band, as a matter of fact, for tours (except, of course, himself as he normally looses money on FK tours).
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infandous
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 13:13 |
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Just for completeness, here is what I commented for your poll: Life Will Kill You is the only Froberg song I like. The other two I find kind of ridiculous. I'd have to say that his voice has started to grate on my nerves over the years. At first, on Retropolis (the first album I heard by them), I thought he sounded great and that he should sing more than Roine. But since then, I've come to really enjoy Roine's vocals, and have liked Frobergs less and less. But there is no denying he is a good singer. Just something about his kind of rock screamer type of voice that gets on my nerves these days. |
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infandous
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 13:21 |
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And, last but not least, I should mention that the new TA has really grown on me with repeated listens. This really is their best album, and the fact that it didn't thrill me on the first couple run throughs should have been a good sign (the previous two I liked immediately and have become less happy with the more I've listened to them over the years..........though I think they are both still good albums, especially the first). This is definitely the most band oriented one of them all, not really sounding like anyone dominated (though, obviously, Morse and Stolt's styles come through the most.........but I think Portnoy had a big influence as well, just listen to the end of Is It Really Happening for proof of that). It's also the most cohesive, not sounding like it was patched together (like Bridge) or just individual compositions (like SMPTe).
Anyway, this is probably going to rank higher with me overall, than their other two. Good stuff. The bonus CD is kind of a let down, in the TA compositions department. Spinning is cool, but mostly just for the leads section in a different time signature. The verse and chorus parts are kind of goofy I think. The covers are decent, with Soul Sacrifice being the most satisfying, probably because it was done in one take and has a good live feel to it. |
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M27Barney
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Joined: November 09 2006 Location: Swinton M27 Status: Offline Points: 3136 |
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Posted: November 13 2009 at 15:08 |
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Yeah...A parcel was waiting for me when I got home from work tonight...Twas "The Whirlwind" - I have just had a nice lie down and listened to title track (whilst the wife was glued to Emmerdale and Coronation Street) - Whoooooo, truly Stoltefying (an adjective that can be used for five star CD's and thus can never be used to describe "Dark Side of the Moon") - On first listen, already a five star without question, Stolte is peerless for constructing solo's of such sublime complexity and yet with feeling that gives you goosebumps....The only off-putting bit is that daft t**ser Morse (good keyboardist though) attempting to shovel his Christian sky-fairy delusions down our throats....Mind you with about 90% of yanks taking the biblical version of creation literally i'm suprised he hasn't got a bit lampooning Darwin...Ho hum.. |
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TheCaptain
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Joined: January 04 2009 Location: Ohio, USA Status: Offline Points: 1335 |
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Posted: November 13 2009 at 15:55 |
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Whoa whoa whoa. Please cite your source on that outrageous claim. Maybe it's 90% of die-hard Christians in the Bible Belt, but I would be astonished if it was more than 40% of the total population (which is still far too high). Also, at the word "Stoltefying." |
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Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal.
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UMUR
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Posted: November 13 2009 at 17:19 |
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I think thatīs an absolutely spot on description of Hasseīs vocals. And like you Iīm much more of a Roine vocal fan.
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The Block
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Joined: September 01 2009 Location: St. Alfonzo's Status: Offline Points: 924 |
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Posted: November 14 2009 at 08:42 |
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Yes his vocals are a lot better I think.
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J-Man
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Joined: August 07 2008 Location: Philadelphia,PA Status: Offline Points: 7826 |
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Posted: November 14 2009 at 16:36 |
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I actually prefer Hasse's vocals to Roine's. I think Stolt's vocals fit so well in some areas, but overall I prefer Hasse.
-Jeff |
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M27Barney
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Posted: November 14 2009 at 17:25 |
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Apparently the figure is 44% (Gallup polling in the US of A) = Source "The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins (He's signed my copy !!!) - APPENDIX (The History deniers) first page.
I am a little prone to exaggeration.....
I have just listened to CD2 - Spinning is Good, Hogweed is stupendous and the Santana track (I have never heard any Santana) is Acemans...........
A CD well worth waiting for (I had it ore-ordered for two months !!!!)
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infandous
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Posted: November 16 2009 at 11:29 |
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Actually, I was somewhat pleased that his usual shtick is toned down on the TA album. But obviously, they couldn't keep him from his god worship entirely. And I'm sure Stolt and Portnoy had no objections either (as Stolt is a very positive, spiritual person, though not a Christian, and Portnoy is a Christian I believe........just not an obnoxious one like Morse). To tell the truth, aside from the final track, I really don't think this is any more religious leaning than the last TA album (which means that it most definitely is, as the last one was as well). In any case, I have no problem with Morse's beliefs and his need to praise the lord all the time. I just find it rather monotonous and dull, as far as lyrics go. Surely the lord would be okay with his believers showing some creativity and not praising him in every single lyric? If such a being actually existed, I'd have to think even he would be getting tried of Neal's lyrics by now However, this album is most definitely not a 5 star one for me. Possibly a 3, but more than likely will end up as a 4 for me (a low 4, meaning I think it's a great album, but certainly not a masterpiece and probably not essential for "any" prog rock collection.......though it's essential for my own prog rock collection). But, I try not to give out 5 stars very often (I think I've only given two to the Flower Kings). I think I also rated the previous TA albums to high (I think they both got 4 stars), as The Whirlwind is much better than either of those. |
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J-Man
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Posted: November 16 2009 at 11:33 |
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I try not to give out 5 stars too often... but I have 106 reviews, and 26 of them are 5 stars. Of course, there are many I need to change. My ratings when I first joined PA were far too liberal (seriously, I gave In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida a 5
 ), and I gave out 4 star ratings to albums I found dissapointing. I've cleaned up many of my rating issues, but there still are some things that need fixing.
-Jeff
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M27Barney
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Posted: November 16 2009 at 12:51 |
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The problem is with 1 star for bobbins and five stars for the very best is not giving enough granularity.. Thus you have a plethora of five star's which only just made it 4.55 to 4.60 mixed in with the best cd's 4.61 to 5.00 The scoring should have been a percentile - from 0 to 100 thats your zero for DSOTM
 and then your 100 for SEBTP....101 levels of granularity is better than just five surely???
I give a five star to any CD with at least 1 track that is an essential prog item as long as it's long enough to warrant buying the whole CD but I can see that my method is deeply flawed.....
Still the Whirlwind (see my review) is a definate five star contender... How could I give it any less???
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infandous
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Posted: November 16 2009 at 13:28 |
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You really don't like DSOTM, do you?
I notice I rated it quite some time ago with 4 stars, but I think I should have given it 3. I used to love the album quite passionately, but now find I can't stand to listen to it anymore (I overplayed, the radio stations overplayed it, friends overplayed, etc.).As to the ratings, I really with we had a 1-10 rating scale here. I'd give Whirlwind a 7, and the previous TA's a 6. Instead, I'm going to have them all be 4 stars, when I don't really think that is accurate (I also don't think I could give any of them a 3 as I think they are all a bit better than just "good", but I don't think I'd say they are essential for any prog fan.........just the ones that like TA and of course TFK  )EDIT: This was a reply to Rob's post at 14:38. But it got put on a new page........and he posted again while I was typing it Edited by infandous - November 16 2009 at 15:02 |
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M27Barney
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Posted: November 16 2009 at 14:38 |
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Roj is far more of a floyd fan than me, at school he was all floyd and ELP and I was Genesis, then Camel then Yes...He had Gilmour as his No 1 guitarist and I just couldn't place the floyd man anywhere near as good as Howe/Hackett/Latimer (I still can't) - I think he even had Wright ahead of Banks/Wakeman/Bardens !!!! I know he has always rated Emerson above Wakeman and Banks.
He also must've had Waters above Squire on the bass - his love of Floyd blinded his judgement obviously
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M27Barney
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Posted: November 16 2009 at 14:53 |
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Someone ought to to point it out to him though, that when Muslim Loon-bombs strap semtex and nails to their bodies and blow women and children to bits - they too have heard voices in their heads, voices that tell them that forty sex-mad virgins are waiting in paradise for those who kill in the name of the suposedly same god of Abraham.....
I'm glad that I was brought up to question everything, especially religious teachings.....
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Roland113 wrote: