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The Flower Kings - Flower Power
| Artist: | The Flower Kings |
| Title: | Flower Power |
| Label: | Foxtrot FOX CD 020 |
| Length(s): | 68+73 minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 1998 |
| Month of review: | 01/1999 |
Line up
Roine Stolt - guitars, lead voice, keyboards
Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Hasse Froberg - lead and backing voice
Michael Stolt - bass
Jaime Salazar - drums
Hasse Bruniusson - percussion
Tracks
Disc 1:
| 1-18) | The Garden Of Dreams | 59.57
|
| 19) | Captain Capstan | 0.55
|
| 20) | IKEA By Night | 0.05
|
| 21) | Astral Dog | 8.00
|
Disc 2:
| 1) | Deaf, Numb And Blind | 11.09
|
| 2) | Stupid Girl | 6.49
|
| 3) | Corruption | 5.55
|
| 4) | Power Of Kindness | 4.25
|
| 5) | Psyc(h?)edelic Postcard | 9.50
|
| 6) | Hudson River Sirens Call 1998 | 4.20
|
| 7) | Magic Pie | 8.19
|
| 8) | Painter | 6.45
|
| 9) | Calling Home | 11.00
|
| 10) | Afterlife | 4.34
|
Summary
If the plants in my garden or house would grow as quickly as
the repertoire of the prolific Flower Kings, I would harbour
a jungle by now. Again a double studio album, giving you just
enough time to save enough money to buy it.
The music
Divided into 18 parts the album opens withs the epic Garden Of Dreams
(consult the booklet for the names of the various parts). It all opens
with Dawn, a semi-classical prelude to what is to come. With a beginning
like this, one gets the expression that Gar den of Dreams is meant to
be some kind of symphony. Taking some gas back in Simple Song, which
is exactly that. The lyrics of this track are along the lines of the
previous albums: idealistic. The continuation into Business Vamp reminds
me at first of Pendragon, but then takes on a more experimental, freewheeling
attitude with some Arabic leanings. Tension is building here, but later
on it ebbs away. All You Can See is a langoruous piece of music, but the
Attack Of The Monster Briefcase certainly brings us into quicker waters.
A powerful instrumental with plenty of mellotron. Instead of going down
the pace picks up even more in Mr. Hope Goes To Wall Street, a humorous
percussive piece. Bodin and Bruniussion freak out on this piece.
Did I Tell You brings us back to quietude of All You Can Save. At some point
this song reminds me of the middle part of Landmarq's Narovlya. It ends
with some kind of synthetic string orchestra. The "title track" Garden Of
Dreams is sung by Froberg, who has a clearer and more powerful voice. The music
is a bit dreamy here and the lyrics not entirely grammatical. Plenty of
insects here, but nothing prepares you for the Hendrix-like Don't Let
The Devil In. Love Is The Word starts in a panic, but turns out to be
thoroughly melodic "flower power" track. Lyrically I'm reminded of Time And
A Word, but musically it is quite different. A varied, but short, song with
some Spanish guitar, Arabic vocalizations and then even some time for
a verse or two in different moods. A few minutes past halfway now, we come
to a moody song, There's No Such Night enjoying one of the better vocal
melodies. After some operatic vocals it seems we have entered darker waters.
Eerie sounds, estranging keyboard sounds, like being on an underground
river. The low point is reached in the spooky Dungeons Of The Deep where the
music almost comes to a stand still. Melancholy the keyword in Indian Summer,
percussive piano and the whispered, echoed vocals of Stolt together with
a cello. The song builds up now, with rolling drums some guitar in the
background. A next verse is waiting and we return to the slow movingness of
the first verse. The music has taken a turn for the hopeful now in the
mid-tempo Sunny Lane. Afterwards we revisit the Garden a track in which
the guitar playing of Stols really shines. In fact I have not heard that
much guitar soloing on this track yet. The closing part Final Deal is a
terrific song sung emotionally by Stolt, something he may do more often.
Before we come to the eight minute Astral Dog we get two minor instrumentals:
Captain Capstan, a merry-go-round that is slowly starting to pick up
speed, and IKEA By Night, a five minute drum solo. Astral Dog itself
is full of guitar, spaceous and slightly jazzrockish. A nice track, but
a bit too loose perhaps.
Disc 2 continues with Deaf, Numb And Blind. Like I did on the previous
disc I hear some vague Beatles leanings. As with Spock's Beard it seems
progressive rock is discovering these early adventurers. Then the
guitar sets and the song turns into one those rather typical Flower Kings
anthemic tracks: hopeful, powerful and melodic. Plenty of variation
as well in this rich track: Arabic scales, Spanish guitar, Flamenco, piano,
organ and a funky chorus alternated with urgent verses. Not unlike them the
lyrics are of the environmental kind. Certainly one of the better tracks
containing much of what the band has to offer. Stupid Girl opens with sitar
and (purposely) bad sound quality. The vocals are almost spoken at first,
but later on the song turns into a seemingly cliche rock song with cliche
lyrics. The song is one of weaker ones, and this is not due to the modern
rhythm used, but largely I do not care for the vocal melody. It is groovy
though and contains even some Zappa-looniness. Back to prog now with the driven
opening of Corruption, but just as quickly we arrive at the bouncy laid-back
verse and chorus. Personally I feel the opening promised more, although
the guitar/organ intermezzo however brings us back to the opening.
The Power Of Kindness is an instrumental opening with soft keyboards.
A strong but rather sweet melody (and somewhat familiar souding) and when
the acoustic guitar sets in one might be reminded a little of Focus, although
I am also constantly reminded of church music. This latter aspect becomes
more pronounced as Bodin starts to use church organ sounds. A tranquil and
majestic song. Psycedelic Postcard (no typo) is a slightly wacky track with
Stolt singing like a Hobbit. The continuation contains lots of references to
Yes, but is actually an amalgam of many styles including wah-wah guitar,
clavecimbel and much more, but still hanging on to a, albeit loose, song
format. Hudson River Sirens Call 1998 is a misty instrumental with
sirens singing. An atmospheric track. Magic Pie is an exceptional track
in the sense that Froeberg wrote it. It opens as a very soothing, a bit too,
and peaceful track with some Beatles sounds, sitar and clavecimbel.
The last verse is glorious though.
Painter is the next one up. Again some Beatles present in the keyboards.
This is again a nice track, with a good vocal melody and some tasteful
additions to keep it interesting: cello, vocal harmonies, solo acoustic guitar.
Probably a good live track. Calling Home is the last vocal track and with
11 minutes just slightly below Deaf, Numb And Blind. After some loud
keyboards we come to the vocal part: snare drum, free percussives and a
tension building. In midverse we break to a different melody and the
song becomes more flowing. An optimistic song about breaking free
of the Earth. Then we come to a part in which Yes and percussion go hand
in hand with a fingerquick guitar solo before we come back to the anthemic
chorus and the song dribbles down to nothing.
Afterlife is the closer, a cosmic lullabye.
Extensive booklet with quite many errors: the first page lists in large
the name of the band: The FLO Kings and some more inconsistencies in the
layout and errors in the English. Might be an idea to be more precise
here (or was it meant this way?).
Conclusion
As always I can't be satisfied with all songs on a Flower Kings disc, but this
seems a consequence of their variety: from dark instrumentals to loud grooves
this album is to be as diverse as possible, possibly illustrating
tolerance of the musicians. Compared to their previous releases I rate
this album slightly higher (more coherent) than the previous one, with
Deaf, Numb And Blind as the possible "best song" (I have ignored
Garden Of Dreams in the comparison).
© Jurriaan Hage