The Flower Kings, Chapter 5: Space Revolver

5) Space Revolver (2000)

Now, I'm at the peak, never forget what I tell you...

This is the one. My gateway drug into The Flower Kings, my gateway drug into progressive rock as a whole and therefore a difficult album for me to look at objectively. When I was fifteen, it had a profound impact on me and I've never been quite the same since. Here's my account of that story. Now, I am intimately familiar with every note on this album. I think Space Revolver is really good, but then, of course I would think that, right?

Fortunately, I seem to be on to something. I find many people agree with me that it's at least one of the top three best TFK albums. And it's really stood the test of time; I keep returning to it again and again, something I can't say about every album I liked as a teenager…

After Stardust and Flower Power, Space Revolver is a single album again. It marks the first major line-up change for The Flower Kings: as Michael Stolt has left his big brother's band in order to pursue other interests (we'll hear from him again in other TFK-related bands, mostly in his capacity as a singer), The Flower Kings needed to audition a new bassist; one who was at once able to play the incredibly complex material they already had (and by this point, they already had a lot of it) and to be part of the creative process of making new material. And boy, did they find one!

According to legend, Jonas Reingold arrived for his audition at Roine's stuido, The Cosmic Lodge, with the mother of all hangovers (he got better) and Roine was ready to show him to the door… but then he started playing. And playing and playing. He played through a full set of some of TFK's most demanding songs – flawlessly. Before long, Roine and the rest knew they had found their man.

The addition of Reingold is a tremendous step forward for The Flower Kings. Michael was a perfectly capable player but a slightly anonymous one (on all of the early albums it's actually Roine himself playing bass most of the time – Michael was mostly there for the live shows). You wouldn't mistake Jonas Reingold for anyone else. He is a monster on the bass, a proper stuntman, and a larger-than-life character to boot. He can play functionally in the background, but he can also bring the bass to the front and do some of his ultra-melodic lead lines or his trademark super-fast licks. He is in many bands now (including – takes a deep breath – The Tangent, The Fringe, Kaipa (the Hans Ludin incarnation), The Barracuda Triangle, the Steve Hackett band, The Sea Within, his own Karmakanic, and goodness knows what else) but it all started here: if nothing else, Space Revolver marks the birth of a legend.

There's another change: The production side of this album is credited to “Don & Gepetto Azzaro” (rather than just Don alone). If Don is Roine, Gepetto is none other than Tomas Bodin! Their bond as bandmates and writing partners is as strong as it has ever been, and it's really paying off.

With all that out of the way, let's talk about the music. “I Am The Sun” is the album's 25-minute epic, cut in two bite-sized parts that bookend the album. I do believe it was written as a whole and only cut in half at the very last minute; an artistic choice that reflects Pink Floyd's “Shine on you Crazy Diamond”. It works really well and gives the album a consistency and suspense a step above many of their other records.

Part One is pretty much the best opener any Flower Kings album has ever had. A big, memorable theme that instantly invites further listening. A rocking riff. A chorus you can really hum. One of Roine's best vocal performances. And that's just the first couple of minutes! The song then goes completely cuckoo bananas, with a prog section, a bit of jazz and a blues groove in quick succession, before the song blows up in a huge crescendo. But wait, there's more! A mysterious, quiet section gives the song more depth and dynamics, as Roine mentions “the Year of the Dragon” - 2000 was the Year of the Dragon in Chinese astrology. Apropos of nothing: the Dragon happens to be my Chinese Zodiac sign. I don't really believe in astrology but that's kind of cool. The song ends on a cliffhanger. To be continued...

According to Chinese astrology, Dragons are wise, strong and magnificent to behold (one more reason to suspect astrology is balderdash).

“Dream On Dreamer” is the obligatory quiet song in between all the progressive skullduggery, and one of the first examples of what Jonas Reingold brings to the table. The bass, along with the saxophone, is used as a proper lead instrument here. Reingold and Wallander are duetting around the vocal melody in a game of question-and-answer, elevating this otherwise unremarkable lullaby into something more interesting. There's also an odd alternate version on a bonus CD somewhere, where Roine's voice is altered to an octave lower. Creepy.

The craziness is turned up again for “Rumble Fish Twist”. It's a Bodin-penned instrumental, and one of the finest he wrote for The Flower Kings. It's an instrumental explosion full of blast beats, frenzied guitars and crazy keyboards, but it's Reingold's amazing bass solo that steals the show. Okay, I'll stop geeking out over Jonas Reingold now. Bodin added the sound of an audience to the studio version, which gives it a live feel. However, when the craziness stops, the song goes on. It moves into a much more understated Camel-esque section that is very beatiful, one of my favourite moments on the album (again, that bass...). The two halves of “Rumble Fish Twist” have very little to do with each other. It's two songs for the price of one.

“Monster Within” is another long one. It starts off as a full-blown horror piece, with a doomy, crunchy riff and horror movie sound effects that are so on the nose we already know not to take it all too seriously. Inevitably, Roine sneaks a reference to a “killer clown” in there. The song moves through several sections and doesn't quite manage to keep up the tension built up in that first section, but the finale is seriously fantastic and one of my favourite moments on the album. It's a great song all in all.

We'll never see the end of you...

It is only halfway during “Monster Within” that Hasse Fröberg reveals himself on this album, and he gets to play the villain for this occasion. Whenever Fröberg sang on any of the previous records, it always felt a little extra special. The second half of “There Is More To This World”, the chorus to “The Flower King”, the title portion of “Garden of Dreams” and of course the “Stardust” finale. From now on, Fröberg will sing more and more and from The Rainmaker onward, he really is as much the lead singer as Roine is.

After all that, you'd expect the album to go the same way as all the other Flower Kings albums and start to sputter out of gas around track five. It sort of does, but to a far lesser extent than most of the others. Because the songs that follow are, though not masterpieces, all extremely enjoyable. “Chicken Farmer Song” is exhibit A. It's quirky, humorous and it's got a cool guitar solo. Sometimes, that's enough. “Underdog” is a Celtic-sounding folk ballad that devolves into a heavy rock riff, with some sound clips mocking American consumerism. Has the idea of eating a huge pizza ever sounded so unappetizing?

"How could you possibly put all that in your mouth?"

For the second time, Hasse Fröberg wrote a song. If Bodinterludes are a thing, maybe we could call this a Fröballad? “You Don't Know What You've Got” (until it's gone, of course) is a short acoustic guitar song that functions well as a breather. Roine and Hasse have a great vocal harmony together.

“Slave to Money” brings the prog back, but this is the only one I'm not so sure about. It sounds to me like a full remake of “Humanizzimo” crammed into a mere seven minutes. It has a hundred thousand key and tempo changes in an extremely short amount time without much in the way of coherence. Again, though, good guitar solo. Great lyrics, too.

The end of the album gives us the double whammy of “A King's Prayer”, possibly TFK's very best power ballad with once again a great vocal performance from mr. Fröberg, and the finale to “I Am The Sun”. Part Two of the epic starts off deceptivey low-key, with a subdued but swinging acoustic ditty. Free as a… fish? The main “I Am The Sun” theme finally returns after four minutes, a very welcome way to bookend the album. The band has used bookends many times before and since, but never quite as effectively as here. The very end of the song is, predictably, a long, drawn out, slow, bombastic sequence with a squealing guitar solo. It's actually one of the lesser moments for me. It could have been reigned in somewhat if you ask me. It is still a majestic close to this fantastic album.

If Space Revolver isn't the best TFK album (and it has only one serious rival as far as I'm concerned) it is definitely the most consistently good one. I wouldn't say there's no filler at all, but even the lesser tracks are pretty good. Yes, I am completely biased in this album's favour, but I think I'm right. It's my favourite Flower Kings album and on some days I might tell you that it's the best one (“favourite” and “best” are not the same thing). It is certainly the one I would single out (along with Retropolis) as the best possible entry point into The Flower Kings if you're unfamilliar with the band. Simply put: if you don't like this one, you are not going to be a Flower Kings fan.

The band has evolved somewhat since it first arrived on the scene. It's a very subtle, natural evolution, but it's there nonetheless. It's most apparent in the expanding role of Hasse Fröberg and, of course, the presence of that world-class bassist, but also in tighter songwriting, more emphasis on vocals, less instrumentals and less filler. There's no Bodinterludes anymore. From now on, this is a band that wants every song to count.

RATING: Five hearts, five clubs and five diamonds. Only one spade.

CHURCH ORGAN COUNT: A bit in the middle of “Monster Within” and the end of “Slave to Money”.

BETTER 50 MINUTE VERSION:
I Am The Sun pt. 1
Rumble Fish Twist
Monster Within
Underdog
A King's Prayer
I Am The Sun pt. 2

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