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 |
The Flower Kings themselves, however, have been inactive for a while now. They released their last album in 2013, they played their last show in 2015. At the time of this writing, the band's website is off the air. Roine Stolt, ever the busy man, has shown no interest in reviving the band so far. Maybe the band really is finished this time. So, with some retrospective box sets coming out these days, perhaps it is time for a retrospective review. A look back at a highly productive career that yielded a massive back catalog.
Making sense of such a huge, intimidating body of work is a daunting task for anyone. You'd have to be a massive dork with way too much time on their hands.
Hello. I'm Niels, and this is my Kompliet En Diefinitif Gaaid Toe The Flower Kings!
The Flower Kings, to my mind, is one of the defining artists of the Third Wave of Progressive Rock, one of the frontrunners of a new generation that gave this kind of music a new golden age, which continues to this day. You might think of Steven Wilson, Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy or Arjen Lucassen as the leaders of this “third wave”. Well… you wouldn't be wrong. But Roine Stolt also belongs in that list.
What's more, in my formative teenage years, The Flower Kings have been one of my main gateway drugs into the world of progressive rock. Thanks to Roine Stolt, I could say goodbye to ever being a popular kid who listens to whatever's fashionable. Therefore, this retrospective is a highly personal affair. I will run short of superlatives when talking about something I like, I won't mince words when we run into something I don't. I'm sure you will disagree with some of it, maybe with all of it. In that case, I cordially invite you to write your own Flower Kings retrospective. I'm not being coy about this – write it! We need more people talking about this band.
How would one describe the music of The Flower Kings? Imagine a mixture of Yes and The Beatles, with just a touch of Zappa and more than a few hints of Abba (they're Swedish after all). Complex and accessible, energetic and quirky, sometimes menacing but overall highly optimistic. The influences of 70's-era prog rock are obvious and ubiquitous, but the band like to mix it up with bits of jazz, folk, soul, reggae and metal. The Flower Kings can and will throw anything and everything at you. If music is nourishment for the soul, The Flower Kings provide nourishment of the high-calorie variety.
And that, for better or worse, is the one thing that characterizes The Flower Kings best: sheer excess. Some artists say less is more. Not The Flower Kings. The Flower Kings are maximalists. In the words of number one fan Andy Tillison, this is music that can “go off on diversions, run around the hills, climb the mountains and look down on the view”. At worst, they don't seem to have any kind of quality control. They just throw everything at the wall knowing that most of it will stick. Every TFK album is nearly 80 minutes long, the absolute maximum of material that a silver disk will carry. Many are even double albums. And every TFK album – barring some exeptions – has some songs or sections that a more self-critical band would probably leave on the cutting room floor.
A point of detriment? Sure, but it's also part of the charm. The Flower Kings allow themselves the time and space to do whatever they want. Why cut the fluff when you don't have to? We don't live in the time of vinyl anymore, so why limit yourself to 40 or 50 minutes? They bring everything but the kitchen sink. And their music is so darn addictive. I just can't get enough of it. So, it's just as well that there is so much of it to enjoy.
Consequently, these articles may turn out to be fairly lengthy. If the band aren't going to reign it in, why should I?
So join me as we take a long, long walk through the Garden of Dreams. It's a wonderful place, full of big and bold setpieces, unexpected vistas, small delights and lots of little nooks and crannies to explore. It's a place I find myself returning to again and again, and I hope you do, too. Join me next time, when we will examine the album that started it all...
I have to agree that The Flower Kings are the premier Progressive Rock band. I was 18 years old in 1969 when I first heard King Crimson "In The Court of the Crimson King" and from there I discovered Yes, ELP, Genesis and Gentle Giant. As an adult I found the Flower Kings through a Big Big Train facebook page in 2015. And to my ears The Flower Kings are more developed, soulful and musical than any of my early discoveries in Progressive Rock. However it is also true that several of their albums may only have one or two compositions that I want to hear more than once. I agree that some editing of the lesser pieces may have made their albums more concise for me, but they remain the strongest , most intelligent, most moving band I have heard.
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