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The Flower Kings - Flower Power CD (album) cover

FLOWER POWER

The Flower Kings

 

Symphonic Prog

3.96 | 603 ratings

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Zitro
Prog Reviewer
4 stars 3.8 stars

The first disc is strong though and is unique by the fact that it has an hour long epic that works for the most part! That must had taken a lot of effort and talent to compose this monster of a track and I applaud the Flower Kings for doing so. The second track is full of quality short tracks. Not very progressive, but it shows the band playing good accessible tunes.

Describe the epic in detail from movement to movement would make me write at least 4 paragraphs, so I will instead describe as a whole its moods, its structure, its quality, coherence, and any other characteristic of it. Structurally, it is a 59 minute long song divided in 19 movements connected each other masterfully with a lot of coherence and a few recurring themes. Its mood varies, but it is mostly a dreamy mellow piece until it wakes you up with the hard rock of 'don't let the devil in'. Then it gets mellow again until it picks up on the 15 minute long climax that is the highlight of the album. The song itself is mostly great, except for a few forgettable parts on the middle like the 4-minute long silence. However, this song won't lose the attention of the listener despite its mellow style of music because of the strong songwriting and musicianship in it.

Astral dog is the only other track of the first disc and is a strong instrumental with excellent guitar playing from Stolt.

Deaf Numb and Blind is the strongest track of the second disc and probably the best song in the album. It is extremely well played, and has great melodies. Stupid girl is a fun, danceable, pop song with good melodies and lyrics, but you have to be in the mood for it. Corruption is an catchy hard rock track with a very good descending organ riff in the beginning, the middle and the end. Power of kindness is a nice laid back and relaxing keyboard solo that uses melodies from the epic. Psycheledic Postcard is not my favorite, it sounds weird in an unpleasant way in the beginning and while it gets better, it doesn't reach the level of musicianship and songwriting of the band itself. Hudson river Siren call is atmospheric, psycheledic, and has some siren like screaming. Magic Pie is a rock/pop extended song with some nice melodies and the gorgeous paintings of sound that the Flower Kigns excel at thanks to their modern instruments. Painter is another highlight of the album and succeeds at being what it wants to be : an accessible rock/pop tune focused on melodies and a good intro. Its keyboard riff on the verses sound similar to the ones in 'back to the world of adventures' and 'I am the walrus' while the chorus is a 'big' hook. Calling home is a good short epic, but I conclude they usually do better than this when writing extended tracks Afterlife is a 'los endos' style track that captures many melodies from the epic.

1-18. The Garden Of Dreams (8/10) 21. Astral Dog (8/10)

CD 2: (72:16) 1. Deaf, Numb And Blind (8.5/10) 2. Stupid Girl (5/10) 3. Corruption (8/10) 4. Power Of Kindness (8/10) 5. Psychedelic Postcard (5.5/10) 6. Hudson River Sirens Call 1998 (6.5/10) 7. Magic Pie (7/10) 8. Painter (8.5/10) 9. Calling Home (6.5/10) 10. Afterlife (7/10)

This is one of the weaker Flower Kings albums (along with Adam&Eve and The Rainmaker), but it still manages to be excellent. The flower Kings have no weak album!

My Grade : B-

Zitro | 4/5 |

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