Two albums this week! I want to talk about the live album, but we haven't discussed the compilation album yet. I'll do that one real quick.
maandag 19 februari 2018
The Flower Kings: Scanning the Greenhouse & Alive on Planet Earth
Scanning the Greenhouse (1998) & Alive on Planet Earth (2000)
Two albums this week! I want to talk about the live album, but we haven't discussed the compilation album yet. I'll do that one real quick.
Two albums this week! I want to talk about the live album, but we haven't discussed the compilation album yet. I'll do that one real quick.
vrijdag 16 februari 2018
The Flower Kings, Chapter 4: Flower Power
4) Flower Power (1999)
I'll conduct a circus out of nowhere, I'll create a kingdom out of dust...
1998 marked the first year since the formation of the band that The Flower Kings didn't release any new material, but it was anything but a lost year for the band. The success of Stardust We Are opened some new international doors for the band, and 1998 saw the band – minus Tomas Bodin, who fell ill – embark on their first American tour (we'll talk more about that next time). Roine Stolt also released a solo album that year, the instrumental and very TFK-esque Hydrophonia. Amidst all this excitement, the band worked on a worthy successor for Stardust, and if you think they'd go small for this one, you haven't been paying attention.
I'll conduct a circus out of nowhere, I'll create a kingdom out of dust...
1998 marked the first year since the formation of the band that The Flower Kings didn't release any new material, but it was anything but a lost year for the band. The success of Stardust We Are opened some new international doors for the band, and 1998 saw the band – minus Tomas Bodin, who fell ill – embark on their first American tour (we'll talk more about that next time). Roine Stolt also released a solo album that year, the instrumental and very TFK-esque Hydrophonia. Amidst all this excitement, the band worked on a worthy successor for Stardust, and if you think they'd go small for this one, you haven't been paying attention.
maandag 12 februari 2018
The Flower Kings, Chapter 3: Stardust We Are
3) Stardust We Are (1997)
!siht gid annog uoy wonk I
Stardust We Are. The Flower Kings' third album (fourth if you count The Flower King, which I do). This is the one where The Flower Kings shoot for the stars. The first double album under The Flower King's banner – not the last. Home of some of the band's truly legendary tracks, and consistently voted one of their best albums, if not the best. So – do I agree?
!siht gid annog uoy wonk I
Stardust We Are. The Flower Kings' third album (fourth if you count The Flower King, which I do). This is the one where The Flower Kings shoot for the stars. The first double album under The Flower King's banner – not the last. Home of some of the band's truly legendary tracks, and consistently voted one of their best albums, if not the best. So – do I agree?
maandag 5 februari 2018
The Flower Kings, Chapter 2: Retropolis
2) Retropolis (1996)
...And after all, it's so good to be alive!
It's 1996 and The Flower Kings are beginning to get into their comfort zone. Since The Flower King, Roine has made one album each year in that vein, and this is going to continue for some time. The result will be a mighty streak of albums, all in more or less the same style. Newcomers may find it daunting, naysayers might say that all of them are interchangable. There's a point there, somewhere. From day one, The Flower Kings found a style and stuck with it. If you dislike one TFK album, it's unlikely that another will change your mind.
...And after all, it's so good to be alive!
It's 1996 and The Flower Kings are beginning to get into their comfort zone. Since The Flower King, Roine has made one album each year in that vein, and this is going to continue for some time. The result will be a mighty streak of albums, all in more or less the same style. Newcomers may find it daunting, naysayers might say that all of them are interchangable. There's a point there, somewhere. From day one, The Flower Kings found a style and stuck with it. If you dislike one TFK album, it's unlikely that another will change your mind.
vrijdag 2 februari 2018
The Flower Kings, Chapter 1: Back In The World Of Adventures
1) Back In The World Of Adventures (1995)
Prepare to fly!
Back In The World Of Adventures is considered to be the first album by The Flower Kings, which is technically true, but in many ways, this album feels like the second part of a duology with The Flower King. That's why we're “back”. The crowned figure from the cover art returns, underlining the continuity between the two. Also, Back feels much more like a “second effort” after the unexpected succes of the true debut.
Prepare to fly!
maandag 29 januari 2018
The Flower Kings, Chapter 0: The Flower King
0) The Flower King (1994)
Falling out of the sky, falling into a dream...
So here's album number zero, a disk called The Flower King by an artist called Roine Stolt. It was written and recorded mostly in 1993 and saw the light of day in 1994.
Do not be fooled by the fact that this album does not bear the “Flower Kings” (plural) stamp. Do not be fooled by the absence many of the players we associate with The Flower Kings today (notably Tomas Bodin and Jonas Reingold, the latter of whom wouldn't join the band until 1999). It looks, walks and quacks like a duck. This is already very much a Flower Kings album, in every sense of the word.
Falling out of the sky, falling into a dream...
So here's album number zero, a disk called The Flower King by an artist called Roine Stolt. It was written and recorded mostly in 1993 and saw the light of day in 1994.
Do not be fooled by the fact that this album does not bear the “Flower Kings” (plural) stamp. Do not be fooled by the absence many of the players we associate with The Flower Kings today (notably Tomas Bodin and Jonas Reingold, the latter of whom wouldn't join the band until 1999). It looks, walks and quacks like a duck. This is already very much a Flower Kings album, in every sense of the word.
dinsdag 23 januari 2018
NIELS's KOMPLIET EN DIEFINITIF GAAID TOE THE FLOWER KINGS
Preface
The Flower Kings. They are the iconic progressive rock band from Uppsala, Sweden, who have been active from 1994 until 2015. Formed by Roine Stolt, who spent most of the seventies playing guitar in pioneering Swedish prog group Kaipa, The Flower Kings were a way for him to celebrate his love for the progressive rock glory days of old. It was a highly unfashionable thing to do in the early nineties, but against all odds, the band grew and grew in stature and is now considered one of the greatest modern purveyors of the genre. In a little over twenty years (actually fewer, as there was a five-year hiatus in the middle) they made thirteen studio albums and a whole lot of other miscellaneous material. Most of the band members were also involved in plenty of other bands, progressive or otherwise, and remain so until this day.
The Flower Kings. They are the iconic progressive rock band from Uppsala, Sweden, who have been active from 1994 until 2015. Formed by Roine Stolt, who spent most of the seventies playing guitar in pioneering Swedish prog group Kaipa, The Flower Kings were a way for him to celebrate his love for the progressive rock glory days of old. It was a highly unfashionable thing to do in the early nineties, but against all odds, the band grew and grew in stature and is now considered one of the greatest modern purveyors of the genre. In a little over twenty years (actually fewer, as there was a five-year hiatus in the middle) they made thirteen studio albums and a whole lot of other miscellaneous material. Most of the band members were also involved in plenty of other bands, progressive or otherwise, and remain so until this day.
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| The current (last?) line-up of The Flower Kings: Roine Stolt, Hasse Fröberg, Tomas Bodin, Jonas Reingold, Felix Lehrmann. Source: InsideOut |
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