01	I Am The Sun (Part One)						15:03
	02	Dream On Dreamer						02:42
	03	Rumble Fish Twist						08:05
	04	Monster Within						12:55
	05	Chicken Farmer Song						05:11
	06	Underdog						05:29
	07	You Don't Know What You've Got						02:39
	08	Slave To Money						07:30
	09	A King's Prayer						06:01
	10	I Am The Sun (part two)						10:41

Musicians:
Roine Stolt - Lead & backing voices, guitars, bassguitar
Tomas Bodin - Piano, organ, synthesizers, mellotrons
Hans Froberg - Lead & backing voices, acoustic guitar
Jonas Reingold - Fender Precision & fretless basses
Jamie Salazar - Drums
Hasse Bruniusson - Percussion, mallets, chains, voices
Ulf Wallander - Soprano saxophone

Review courtesy John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, July 2000
The productive unity of the Flower Kings is back with a single studio album, the writing of which was started before the Transatlantic recording and which features new member, bass player Jonas Reingold. The sound of the album is still very much the Flower Kings yet the band has widened its horizons by adding some interesting sidesteps such as jazz and Zappa-esque interventions.

The large epic "I Am The Sun" is spread over two parts, part one, which opens this album, and part two, which closes the album. This must be the 25 minute song which Roine told us about during the interview session for Transatlantic. What strikes me is the joyful atmosphere of the song courtesy of those wonderful keyboard sounds of Tomas Bodin. On the guitar front, Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" riff is never far away, whilst the vocal melodies of Hasse Froberg nicely intertwines with Roine's acoustic guitars and the mellotron in the background. Towards the end of the song the band steers towards freejazz, even including a snippet of "I Left My Heart In San Fransisco' as proof of their everlasting feel for humor. The jazz element goes even further during the dreamy "Dream On Dreamer" featuring some outstanding saxophone and great bass playing to match. This rather short lullaby ends in true fashion with a musical box.

Don't know if the band watched the Rumble Fish movie and/or if they listened to Stewart Copeland's soundtrack for the same film, but "Rumble Fish Twist" really cooks, not in the least because of the percussive efforts from Jaime Salazar and the interesting keyboard sounds from Tomas. The highlight here certainly has to be the fretless Pastorius-like intervention from Jonas Reingold! This song sort of evolves in a direction which could easily have the name Happy The Man all over it.

It's mellotron, tubular bells and harp in the intro for "Monster Within" before some fierce guitar and laughter out of a horror movie take you to the other side of the musical spectrum. In fact, the build up of this song together with Hasse's weird way of singing makes us think of the late Frank Zappa. But then Tomas opens his box of tricks including some superb organ playing, whilst of course Roine adds his skills too. Wicked!

The Flower Kings are one of the few current bands whose musical ideas certainly don't dry up. Proof of this is the constant flow of double CDs plus a fan club only full-CD. "Chicken Farmer Song" is proof of their progressing way of songwriting, resulting in a very happy song with some outstanding vocal harmonies, reminding us of some of the better Yes moments from their Time And A Word period. Needless to say the rest of the arrangement tries to evoke Yes as well. Great Howe-like guitars all around!

The combination of Celtic pride by means of bagpipes, and slide guitar and Bach trumpets that sneak in the backdoor, means "Underdog" results in pure chaos. "You Don't Know What You've Got" (until it's gone) is a laid-back song based on acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies and with added mouth organ as an interesting bonus. This is the kind of song which can go on and on if there's a sudden powercut during concerts!

"Slave To Money" opens with a military rhythm before Tomas Bodin gets some National Health sounds out of his keyboard arsenal just prior to changing the atmosphere by means of a wonderful barrel organ and xylophone. Salazar then cuts the snares from his drum kit in order to steer the sound in the direction of legendary band England (remember Jode Leigh who worked with Roine Stolt on the New Grove Project?). Roine then performs a very bluesy solo, almost in authentic Gary Moore style. The number of changes taking place in just one song is truly amazing! That same bluesy guitar style together with some harder riffs is all over the place during "A King's Prayer" which nicely melts into the second part of "I Am The Sun." This one opens with yet some more tasty mellotron and acoustic guitar and folky, storytelling vocals. It results in a song that could easily be placed on the album Bilbo, the joint venture between Par Lindh and Bjorn Johansson. Towards the end the music changes towards vintage Close To The Edge era Yes on top of which Jonas Reingold once again demonstrates his skills on the bass.

Although the Flower Kings have released some outstanding albums in the past it is clear to me they have delivered their very best with Space Revolver. If this is the result of the new line-up then can we hope for these people to stick around as long as they possibly can because this music is truly what the current wave of prog rock should be about: innovative, crisp and contemporary! There's also a limited edition digipack of this release boasting a 36-page booklet but no extra disc, as was the case with Transatlantic. However I do wonder what happened to "Exit Dominus"?

This is what Roine Stolt had to say about the new album:

Wherever you may wander on this record, you'll find a band that has deliberately but gracefully carved out its own piece of the prog pie, an effect that can only come from a lifetime [of] looking at all of rock's passionate creators. I started listening to bands like Frank Zappa and the Mothers in the mid-'60s.Vanilla Fudge, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix... that's what I consider to be progressive rock. For most people today, progressive rock is ELP, Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson. But for me, progressive rock includes jazz rock and fusion like Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report and a lot of psychedelic bands from the late '60s and that's the way I like to view Flower Kings. Of course we're influenced by Yes, King Crimson and Genesis but on the other hand we are equally influenced by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, guitar-driven rock like Cream, as well as all the fusion stuff from the '70s, Billy Cobham, Weather Report. I'm also a big fan of musicals like Andrew Lloyd Webber's stuff, West Side Story and other theatrical and soundtrack compositions. For me it's all music and that's what we're trying to get across within this band. Don't look at it as art rock or whatever. Just approach it with an open mind and hopefully you will get something out of it. In the true spirit of progressive, look at it as an unpredictable adventure.

==========

The Flower Kings: Space Revolver

Your journey with The Flower Kings' latest release, Space Revolver
begins with traditional symphonic progressive rock - beautifully arranged
keyboards, guitar and mellotron combine to start the trip in familiar prog
territory. However, just when you start to settle into your headphones, you
somehow realize that the boys in the band have taken an unexpected sharp
turn at top speeds into the land of heavy metal (with an either conscious or
subconscious nod to Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf"). After the din of
distortion is complete, a gentle soprano sax kicks in to usher in a passage
of airy and uplifting Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies, which leads into a
few measures of fusion that grind to a halt with a bizarre bass and keyboard
duel, complete with backwards vocals. What's next? Well, lounge lizard
music of course, as singer and songwriter Roine Stolt belts out (in campy
fashion) "I left my heart in San Francisco" while the sax player "riffs
nostalgic" alongside the eerie choral loops eminating from Bodin's
mellotron. Then, it's back to fusion jam land for a few minutes until
Flamenco-inspired acoustic guitar enters marking the beginning of one of
most beautifully written passages of progressive music written in quite some
time. And as if the band knows that the listener will need a moment to
exhale, ethereal acoustic guitar and the sound of birds singing fades out
into nothingness:

And that, my friends, is only the first song.

To say that "I Am the Sun (Part One)" is a progressive tour de force is a
severe understatement. Mr. Stolt and the rest of the boys in The Flower
Kings really kick off Space Revolver with one of the most impressive
and ambitious tracks in the history of the band. As a matter of fact, I
think it's safe to say that Space Revolver as a whole is by far the
most ambitious of The Flower King's releases, and its quite a bit different
(in a good way) than the band's previous offerings. There's a lot of music
to take in here, and this release is DEFINITELY one that will need multiple
plays before the whole of the album sinks in the sonic conscious. The
Flower Kings go from the speedy fusion of "Rumble Fish Twist" (which has
more than a passing resemblance to Yes' "Sound Chaser") to the Beatle-esque
vocals of "Chicken Farmer Song" to the absolute goose-bump inducing beauty
of "A King's Prayer" without missing a single beat.

One of the more obvious differences with this release as opposed to previous
FK releases is new bassist Jonas Reingold, who adds an immense amount of
musicianship to the band. Now, that's not to say that previous bassist
Michael Stolt was a poor player - it's just that Reingold knocks it up
another level; just listen to the jaw-dropping bass solo in "Rumble Fish
Twist" and you'll see what I mean. Reingold also seems to have lit a fire
under drummer Jaime Salazar, who simply plays brilliantly throughout the
entire disc. Salazar and Reingold compose one of the finest rhythm sections
in music today, and one that most bands would KILL to have.

As far as composing goes, it seems that Roine Stolt has grabbed even
stronger control over the band's direction as the contributions of
keyboardist and usual co-writer Tomas Bodin is limited to a single
two-minute track on Space Revolver. Second guitarist and vocalist
Hans Froberg makes his song writing debut with the acoustic ballad "You Don'
t Know What You've Got," which could've been really annoying were it not for
its brevity (2:39) and Stolt's harmonies. As it is, it's more harmless than
anything else. Froberg also lends lead vocals to the Stolt penned "Slave to
Money," which wins the "Weakest Track on the Album" award by far. As a
matter of fact, "Slave to Money" is probably the weakest Flower Kings track
I've ever heard - but given the consistently phenomenal level of the FK's
output this is certainly excusable.

Those who make it through "Slave to Money," will be treated to one of the
most wonderfully emotional songs (both musically and lyrically) I have ever
heard by ANY band called "A Kings Prayer." Beautiful acoustic guitars
during the verse combined with the "shudder down the spine" power of Hans
Froberg's vocals during the chorus make for a song that is sure to go down
as one of Stolt's finest compositions. Finishing up the release is the
almost anti-climatic "I Am the Sun (Part Two)" which picks up right where
Part One left off - birds singing and calming acoustic guitars leading into
the 10 minute finale of Space Revolver.

Before I sign off, I must admit that I'm a complete Flower Kings "fanboy".
I think that Stolt and Company are among the finest rock and roll bands of
all time, and CERTAINLY deserve to be mentioned along with the other greats
of progressive music such as Genesis and Yes. It is a shame that the band
doesn't get the sales and accolades that they deserve, but I couldn't be
happier that I discovered their music myself. Roine Stolt and The Flower
Kings have churned out another brilliant release in Space Revolver -
one that no Flower Kings fan worth their salt should be without.

- Michael Askounes (michael@gscyclone.com)

CREDITS:
Roine Stolt - Lead & backing vox, guitars, bass guitar
Tomas Bodin - Piano, organ, synthesizers, mellotrons
Hans Froberg - Lead & backing vox, acoustic guitar
Jonas Reingold - Fender Precision & fretless bass
Hasse Bruniusson - Percussion, mallets, chains, voices
Ulf Wllander - Soprano saxophono
Jaime Salazar - Drum Kit





The Flower Kings - Space Revolver

Released: 2000
Label: Inside Out Music America
Cat. No.: IOMACD2014
Total Time: 75:04


Reviewed by: Keith Hannaleck, August 2001
This CD was a mind-boggling expedition of progressive rock. I have to say that this is some of the most vibrant and spanking new prog rock that I have heard in quite some time. Every so often a real humdinger comes along and knocks your socks off, well, this one did the job for me. Space Revolver is The Flower Kings' most recent release. This was my introduction to the group so I can offer neither opinions nor comparisons to the rest of their catalog.

This is an astonishing group of songs. "Monster Within" is over twelve minutes of complex changes and progressions into different levels of genre elucidation. At times the lead singer Roine Stolt, whom also plays some excellent guitar, sounds as if he is making his way through a 10CC song. On the other side of the spectrum is the beautiful song "You Don't Know What You've Got," which is so completely opposite of everything that you will hear before it, you will be wondering if you are listening to the same group. In fact it's so different they sound more like a top-forty (It runs for 2:39) crossover group than a top-flight prog band on those particular songs. This is an exception to the rule in the realm of prog rock; it's also a tribute to the pure talent and resolve of each group member to give the listener every facet of what they are able to create collectively. There is absolutely no room for singularity of purpose in this band. It's a group effort from start to finish. Their complex harmonies and jazz infused rock will have you reeling and looking for more of the same. This CD is a testimonial of steadiness that weaves intrinsically into your mind and thought process. Keep in mind that there is modicum of consistency in a musical sense in each track, and that is the very reason this is such a great album. The variety and intensity of this ambitious project will wow the critics and garner the respect and admiration of their peers in every music circle across the globe. Whatever preconceptions you may have about progressive rock can now be thrown out the window. Its groups like The Flower Kings that are rewriting the book.

[See also: Steph's, Bobo's, and Marcelo's reviews plus Bobo's review of the Special Edition - ed.]

More about Space Revolver:

Track Listing: I Am The Sun (Part One) (15:03) / Dream On Dreamer (2:43) / Rumble Fish Twist (8:06) / Monster Within (12:55) / Chicken Farmer Song (5:09) / Underdog (5:29) / You Don't Know What Yu've Got (2:39) / Slave Ot Money (7:30) / A King's Prayer (6:02) / I Am The Sun (Part Two) (10:48)

Musicians:
Roine Stolt - guitars, vocals, keyboards
Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Hasse Froberg - voices
Jonas Reingold - bass
Jaime Salazar - drums, percussion
Hasse Bruniusson - percussion, voices






The Flower Kings - Flower Power

Released: 1999
Label: Inside Out America/Foxtrot
Cat. No.: IOMACD 2003
Total Time: 142:09


Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, March 2000
The ghost of Genesis is alive and well in The Flower Kings. But, that bold statement is only true for part of this album - maybe only for those first opening notes, as there is a definite Pink Floyd influence in there, too. Witness the guitar solo during "All You Can Save" - no it doesn't sound like David Gilmour, but contains the same soaring leads:the effect is the same.

For those who are already familiar with this band, this doesn't come as news. And despite this being my first listen to the Flower Kings, other than a track here and there (the recent Genesis tribute The Fox Lies Down being one of them), I'm not surprised either, because I've read the comparisons, read the reviews. So, I've been always meaning to check out what the Flower Kings were all about, but seeing the import prices, I thought I'd wait until the were released domestically - especially since there are so many great new labels out there releasing stuff on this side of the Atlantic. In this case it's Inside Out America, so when I saw this in my local Tower Records, I had to pick up. I guess, as Flower Power is a two disc set, I'm diving right in at the deep end.

I was sold on this after the first five seconds (or thereabouts). Not because it sounds like Genesis, Pink Floyd, 60's rock, etc., etc., all wrapped into one - but because I think it is so damn good. Sure, a lot is played on an epic scale - the big bold gestures, not just soaring guitar leads, but the keyboard leads, the booming drums, the bass: this great, uplifting, energetic stuff. And then you get shimmering, subtle pieces like "Garden Of Dreams" - which has that show tune kinda feel about it (okay, I'm seeing something like West Side Story here, if the setting were the land of Oz, and the Wizard were someone who look like, oh, say Brad Pitt*). And I guess we can bring in the Rockette's or Fred Astaire for "Don't Let The Devil In." (Hmm, Stolt in a tux and tails, doing a tap-dance to a metal beat: would that make it Michael Flatley, then? Though this is far from Celtic).

And then there's the moody atmospherics of "Dungeon Of The Deep," which in addition to it's decidedly underwater feel, has operatic choral voices check in for a few seconds. Close your eyes, though, and you're deep-sea diving, perhaps floating around the remains of the Titanic: or perhaps a Spanish galleon, a Viking longship: Then:gentle piano notes float up from these depths accompanied only by Stolt's quiet vocals on "Indian Summer":building with thunderous drum rolls and crashes, swirling piano:

"The Mean Machine" which precedes it will remind one of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, "On The Run" is what I'm thinking of here.

The first disc consists mainly of the sidelong suite, "Garden Of Dreams" of which the tracks mentioned above are only a small part. Three additional tracks round out the disc, though one is more sound effects than music and the second is a five second drum intro.

Disc two contains even more of this great stuff - "Stupid Girl" even has a section that is very much like heavy jazz-rock, with some great leads by Stolt. In fact, if the band weren't so good at what they do, this wouldn't come off as well. "Psycedelic Postcard" can be downright weird in spots, and looking at the lyrics you don't half wonder if Stolt wasn't smoking something funny at the time he wrote it.

Maybe my surprise is that this so unlike their brethren Anekdoten and Landberk - who tend to paint their musiscapes with darker colours - like the album cover, Flower Kings are bright greens, yellows, oranges, purples:psychedelic colours. Does this make them better than Anekdoten or Landberk? No, just different. Oh yes, very, very different. And put this among the most exciting stuff I've heard in a while:

*Personally, I'm more a fan of Harrison Ford, but I can see Pitt's appeal.

[See also Keith's review -ed.]

More about Flower Power:

Track Listing: Disc One: Garden Of Dreams: Dawn (1:34) Simple Song (1:49) Business Vamp (4:57) All You Can Save (5:01) Attack Of The Monster Briefcase (3:01) Mr. Hope Goes To Wall Street (1:49) Did I Tell You (3:47) Garden Of Dreams (2:39) Don't Let The Devil In (3:11) Love Is The Word (2:50) There's No Such Night (2:42) The Mean Machine (2:34) Dungeon Of The Deep (4:39) Indian Summer (4:13) Sunny Lane (2:03) Gardens Revisited (3:22) Shadowland (5:02) The Final Deal (4:32) / Captain Capstan (0:55) / IKEA By Night (0:05) / Astral Dog (8:00)

Disc Two: Deaf, Numb & Blind (11:09) / Stupid Girl (6:49) / Corruption (5:55) / Power Of Kindness (4:25) / Psycedelic Postcard (9:50) / Hudson River Sirens Call 1998 (4:25) / Magic Pie (8:19) / Painter (6:45) / Calling Home (11:00) / Afterlife (4:34)

Musicians:
Roine Stolt - guitars, lead voice, keyboards
Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Hasse Froberg - lead and backing voice
Michael Stolt - bass
Jaime Salazar - drums
Hasse Bruniusson - percussion

Contact:


Website: www.users.wineasy.se/flowerkings/
www.flower-power.org.uk
Note: will open new browser window

Email: flowerkings@foxtrot.se

Discography

The Flower King (Roine Stolt)
Back in the World of Adventures (1995)
Retropolis (1996)
Stardust We Are (1997/2000)
Scanning The Greenhouse (comp) (1998)
Edition Limitee Quebec (1998)
only 700 copies!
Unnamed 3-track EP (1998)
given away free at Japanese concerts; incl "She Cared Me A Wooden Heart," "Space Revolver," and "Jupiter Backwords"
Flower Power (1999)
TFK fanclub disc (2000)
free CD exclusive to fanclub members only
Alive On Planet Earth (2000)
Space Revolver (2000)
Space Revolver Special Edition (2CD set) (2000)
The Rainmaker (2001)






Flower Kings - Space Revolver

Member: Hippy Pants - 10/27/02

Space Revolver is a fairly expansive work tracking at 76 minutes 21 seconds. Within that space The Flower Kings imbue the disc with many complex rhythms, harmonies, tonalities, colors, hues, and textures.

Opening the disc is the opus, "I Am The Sun (part one)", which upon reflection, I thought, how positive! The sun, a star, life giver and sustainer to our solar system and life beyond (if such life exist). The opening to the song washed over me with synthesizer and mellotron--reminiscent to me of a mixture of Yes & the best of The Moody Blues. Almost halfway through the song, however, they change tempos, punch and jazz up the beat a bit only to change rhythms again before the song is over. Like a few of my favorite other prog bands, Yes, Gentle Giant, and others, The Flower Kings can change tempo and rhythms on a dime and fly off in another direction; and that's just the opener!

That song is followed by a shorter ballad, "Dream On Dreamer" - idyllic and serene, which has some nice flourishes of sax (or is that an oboe?) on it. The end of the song segues into what sounds like a wind-up music box, which enters the rave-up instrumental, "Rumble Fish Twist". I don't know if this was taken from a live performance, but there's crowd noise within the mix that give it extra adrenalin kick. This gives some perspective to how these guys can jam and integrate their sound with each other. And, then midway into the song, they change directions into the wonderful, opulent section that totally blew me away--keyboard and guitar trading off very melodic leads.

"Monster Within" gets a bit heavier and menacing as the lyrics warn that there are evils in the world, and that each of us contains this darkness and light side within our nature (as what sounds like a sound byte from a speech of Hitler plays deep inside the middle portion of the song).

"Chicken Farmer Song" is perhaps the lightest pop song of the bunch. A paean praise to enjoying life, a return to nature, and the beauty of the world. "Underdog" opens with a bagpipe sounding synth passage that reminds me somewhat of the Scottish band, Big Country. It is a call to arms & war. "This war means freedom, but freedom means sacrifice."

"You Don't Know What You've Got" is an acoustic song penned by guitarist Hans Frцberg--very melodic, with nice harmonies added and is shortly lived before going into the song "Slave For Money".

Now, I read some criticism about some of Stolt's lyrics, and, yes, I might agree, here & there, I wish he would polish the words a bit, but that's a minor imperfection when viewing the total sum of the parts of The Flower Kings. There are many different efflorescent blooms to this band & Space Revolver is one fragrant album. Check 'em out, given the effort, I think you'll dig them.

Dave


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