Unfold The Future (Disc 1)  (74:03)
	01	The Truth Will Set You Free						31:01
	02	Monkey Business						04:23
	03	Black And White						07:39
	04	Christianople						08:16
	05	Silent Inferno						14:21
	06	The Navigator						03:39
	07	Vox Humana						04:44
Unfold The Future (Disc 2)  (77:19)
	01	Genie In A Bottle						08:09
	02	Fast Lane						06:33
	03	Grand Old World						05:26
	04	Soul Vortex						04:38
	05	Rollin' The Dice						05:00
	06	The Devil's Danceschool						05:08
	07	Man Overboard						03:45
	08	Solitary Shell						02:50
	09	Devil's Playground						25:26
	10	Too Late For Tomatos						10:24

The Flower Kings - Unfold The Future
Country of Origin: Sweden
Format: 2CD
Record Label: Inside Out
Catalogue #: IOMCD 112
Year of Release: 2002
Time: 140.40
Info: Click here
Samples: N/A

Tracklist: Disc 1 [74.11]: The Truth Will Set You Free (30.40), Monkey Business (4.20), Black And White (7.40), Christianopel (8.30), Silent Inferno (14.25), The Navigator (3.15), Vox Humana (4.30)
Disc 2 [66.19]: Genie In A Bottle (8.10), Fast Lane (6.35), Grand Old World (5.10), Soul Vortex (6.00), Rollin The Dice (4.15), The Devils Danceschool (3.45), Man Overboard (3.40), Solitary Shell (3.10), Devils Playground (24.30)

It's here again, the annual Flower Kings album. It's incredible how at such an amazing pace Roine Stolt & co can still manage to deliver good music. Damn good music if I might add.
After two relatively short albums (only some 79 minutes each) the Swedish quintet are back with their preferred format: a double album, featuring 140 minutes of diverse music ranging from three minute jazzy ditties to 30 minute epics in the vein of vintage Yes.

Album opener The Truth Will Set You Free, the unmistakable eye catcher of the album, is an homage to classic Yes albums like Relayer and Tales From Topographic Oceans. As the saying goes, a good prog song is a lengthy one, so this half-hour long epic will undoubtedly show up high in the DPRPoll this year. Deservedly, I must say, as the song contains all the classic prog elements it needs: great vocal melodies, lengthy guitar solos, a catchy chorus, recurring themes, an atmospheric instrumental middle part, and -essential- some fantastic Church organ. The identifiable guitar sound of Roine Stolt, with its hybrid sound of Steves Howe and Hackett shines all through, most vocals are provided by Hasse Froberg (with Stolt taking care of only some of the lyrics), Jonas Reingold's bass is mostly a fat Rickenbacker sound, once again recalling the glory days of Squire & co. Then Tomas Bodin shows himself once again a versatile player from fast Cyrille Verdeaux type noodling to majestic Wakeman style church organ parts. Finally new 24 year-old Hungarian drummer Zoltan Csorsz proves himself more than a worthy replacement of Jamie Salazar who left the band last year.

The trouble with such openers is that it may raise high expectations of what is yet to come (and there is still 110 minutes left, remember), and to some people this may come as a shock. Instead of launching into a Truth Will Set You Free part two or three, the band changes course quite radically showing all of their diversity and musical influences, rather than just the Yes thing. Monkey Business is a funky rocker, which echoes There Is More To This World in some parts, while Black and White starts as a simple ballad -revisiting some of the lyrics of The Truth Will Set You Free before the pace goes fast forwarding into a Genesis-type instrumental second act, which includes some fantastic Latin percussion, courtesy of unofficial sixth band member Hasse Bruniusson.

Then the music really changes course. Christianopel is an 8-minute version of Genesis' The Waiting Room and only interesting to those who actually liked that track. Silent Inferno starts as your average 14-minute prog epic, with Dream Theater style heavy instrumental parts, and mellow, fragile vocals by Stolt, when halfway it changes into a genuine jazz tune, including a typical bass solo. The Navigator is a beautiful lullaby, where Stolt's fragile voice is accompanied by flute, mellotron, harp, a horn section and orchestral bass. The arrangement reminds of the work of Roger Waters on Amused To Death.
Vox Humana, which closes the first disc, continues on the same note and is a bit of a poppy ballad, which reminds of both Yes' Turn Of The Century and the (Stolt penned) middle part of Transatlantic's Duel With The Devil, beautifully sung by Froberg.

The second disc opens heavily again with Genie In A Bottle. A more straight forward guitar orientated rock song, which is delightfully texturised by Bodin's synthesisers. Fast Lane lives up to its title as it's based around a fast paced march rhythm, with close harmony vocals by Froberg. Things go all jazzy again with Grand Old World which is arranged with xylophone and clarinet. Soul Vortex explores the world of jazz even further with a fusion type of instrumental which would not be out of place on a Planet X album (albeit without the metal approach).
The track leads into the next one, Rollin The Dice, which feels even more out of place than the jazz bits as it seems an attempt to create alternative rock with the same proggy keyboards and jazzy basslines while the over the top vocals by Froberg seem alternate his best Axl Rose with Bruce Dickinson. It's too much a mixture of styles and influences, that simply doesn't work.

The Jazz period reaches its highlight with The Devil's Danceschool, which feels like a Miles Davis track more than anything else. Man Overboard starts as the sister track to The Navigator but tries to hard to incorporate all of The Flower Kings' other styles as well, with classical music, rock, heavy prog passages and a pop ballad all squeezed into a three minute track.
Solitary Shell (which has nothing to do with the Dream Theater song of the same name) is the real sister track to The Navigator; another lullaby with a similar vocal melody, which feels much like an 'end of album' track, were it not for the fact that we have yet another 24-minute epic to go.

Devil's Playground, starts with a superb guitar/church organ/orchestra intro, which could lead to near orgasmic experiences for many a prog fan. Listening to this made me wonder, as Stolt seemingly pulls these compositions out of his sleeve with the greatest ease, you could draw the conclusion that he can easily compose an album of just these kind of classic prog tunes, making the fact that he goes for such a wide variety of styles on this album only more commendable, as this is certainly not the easiest way of gaining (and maintaining) fans.
Devil's Playground emphasises this even more. The first half of the song is, once again, vintage prog. Great rhythms, atmospheric interludes and Pain Of Salvation singer Daniel Gildenlow provides some fantastic background vocals hinting at Gabrielesque song structures. Then halfway there is an incredibly weird saxophone interlude, courtesy of another Flower Kings regular, Ulf Wallander, on soprano saxophone. This is followed by a fast-paced, IQ-style piece, which includes a fantastic guitar solo, and next... all hell breaks loose with a seemingly completely improvised jazzy piece which then gives way to the (obligatory) Grande Finale which more than echoes the massive ending of Transatlantic's Stranger In Your Soul.

There will also be a special edition release of Unfold The Future (which no doubt will be another book-like fantastic package from Inside Out) which features yet another song, Too Late For Tomatoes to fill up the remaining 8 minutes of disc space on the second CD.

Although most of the proggy stuff is located on the first disc, and most of the experimental music can be found on the second, it is not just a matter of seeing the two discs as separate albums. Although the 16 tracks could be separated and rearranged into one great prog album and one interesting free-form-jazz-fusion album, this would take away most of the charm of the album, but it would be easier to digest for some. 140 minutes of music is a lot, and this type of music makes it even more demanding for the listener.
Since their debut in 1995, Back In The World Of Adventures, The Flower Kings have maintained an output of at least one studio album a year. An achievement even more remarkable when you consider that three out of these seven albums have been double albums! Indeed, in seven years time the band has released over 12 hours worth of studio music - had this still been the seventies, this amount would have been the equivalent of 16 conventional vinyl LPs. Go figure!
Herein lies my biggest criticism I have with the Flower Kings (so long as you can call it criticism). With the music being of the lesser accessible kind, it makes it nearly impossible to totally familiarise oneself with The Flower Kings' music, especially when you discover the band (like yours truly did) around the time of their fifth or sixth studio album.

No doubt fans of The Flower Kings will dig the new album, yet I think it's rather unlikely the band will win many new fans with it. To anyone new to the band I would recommend either one of it's more accessible previous albums, Space Revolver or The Rainmaker -or better still, the excellent compilation Scanning The Greenhouse - before tackling this one.

Conclusion: 8- out of 10.

Bart Jan van der Vorst (with thanks to Martin Kikkert)






The Flower Kings - Unfold The Future

Released: 2002
Label: InsideOut Music America
Cat. No.: IOMCD 112
Total Time: 72:00 / 64:35


Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, October 2002
Over the years our Swedish Flower Kings friends have created a certain sound, a certain identity which has people lookout for that particular sound on every single release. With the arrival of bass player Jonas Reingold on the wonderful Rainmaker album, the band stepped slightly aside from this kind of "blueprint" sound, introducing some jazzy sidesteps. With Unfold The Future, the band now also fully introduces Zoltan Csorz on drums and because he is also heavily into jazz, no doubt Jonas and Zoltan are having a field day on this new double disc. Roine Stolt wasn't looking for a new Back To The World Of Adventures or Flower Power, so any new and daring ideas were more than welcome. Needless to say, Jonas and Zoltan introduced a healthy dose of new elements into the music which came at the right time for the band. On top of that new injection, singer Hasse Froberg has never sang as good as he does on this album. On previous albums it sometimes sounded as if he wasn't able to reach the high notes at ease but here it's like listening to another singer. It's that good and fresh. By adding the well established Tomas Bodin and leader Roine Stolt, the Flower Kings we are listening to right now is a completely new band, with new ambitions which translates itself more towards great unconventional music than towards massive sales.

The first disc immediately kicks off with the longest track on the package. With its 30:40 playing time, "The Truth Will Set You Free" is an album in itself, containing tons of influences and changes. Especially due to the thick Rickenbacker sound of Jonas and the often superb vocal harmonies this track gets very close to vintage Yes, so people who have been waiting for a Close To The Edge sequel might be very pleased to listen to this song. One major surprise certainly is the wonderful vocals of Hasse Froberg who seems to be much more at ease than ever before, resulting in an almost completely different timbre. When he delivers a high pitched vocal, Jon Anderson is never far away. And the Yes resemblance goes even further when Tomas Bodin introduces some superb church organ, which is like a part of "Awaken" getting the Flower Kings treatment! "Monkey Business" is a completely different kettle of fish with a more direct, funky result. Roine sings "I'm not a loser anymore," which, in my honest opinion, he has never been since day one, because if Stolt had been born in England or the States he'd been a star many moons ago! In "Black And White" some weird Zappa-esque elements are combined with Kit Watkins-like keyboard playing. If you thought this song went too far from the FK roots then wait until you've heard "Christianopel" which in a way holds the same level of improvisation as the third movement on the Yes double spread Tales From Topographic Oceans: "The Ancient - Giants Under The Sun." This certainly is more of a treat for the true musician rather than the "static" listener resulting in Weather Report meets Sun Ra and beyond. The first true statement of the newborn Flower Kings where jazz rules! This experiment fuses into the bombastic sympho rocker "Silent Inferno," which sports a decent number of drum breaks before resulting in a Latino/Santana feel. "The Navigator" is kind of a song I see Roine singing whilst sitting on his children's bed when it's time for them to go to sleep. The kind of lullaby feel is augmented by some sparse mellotron sounds from Tomas. Disc one ends with another fragile highlight called "Vox Humana," one of Roine's favourites. The song immediately starts with a great catchy melody which is then used by Hasse again adding superb singing to this outstanding album.

Disc two opens very fiercely with the powerful "Genie In A Bottle." Based on a rather simple rock rhythm the song also includes some bluesy slide guitar but also some deep bassoon sounds. The song also gives opportunity for Roine to include an authentic rock approach on guitar whilst Bodin sees the possibility to attack his synths in a weird way. "Grand Old World" is regarded by Roine as being the Sting song on the album not in the least because of the inclusion of saxophone and the laidback atmosphere of the song. It certainly doesn't fit with the rest of the album but then again isn't that what TRUE progressive is all about? The acoustic bass from Jonas gives the song the dimension it really needs and together with the subtle percussion sheds a different light over the capacities of our beloved Flower Kings. This approach even goes further during the daring "Soul Vortex," which once again highlights the new rhythm tandem Jonas and Zoltan. I'm not that fond of "Rollin The Dice" because Hasse sings a little in the "independent rock" style at times, which doesn't do the arrangement any good, resulting in my least favourite of the package until the final piano piece which is a nice example of authentic ballet music. In "The Devil's Danceschool" it's as if Miles Davis is visiting our Swedish friends adding some great trumpet to yet another Jonas/Zoltan dominated track. This track once again illustrates the strength these guys have in the field of improvising because no doubt this song could go on for at least half an hour should they wish it to do so. Another simple yet wonderful song certainly has to be "Solitary Shell," which is mainly based around a great vocal melody, piano and strings: the perfect illustration that you don't need layer upon layer of overdubs!

Just like bookends, this double Flower Kings treat begins and ends with a real epic. This second disc comes to an end with the 24:30-long "Devil's Playground," which once again contains tons of influences and atmospheres all neatly tucked away under the FK blanket! Once the rhythm starts, it's as if Anekdoten has joined forces adding an atonal feel to the music. A little further into the song PoS singer Daniel Gildenlow adds some great backing vocals getting close to vintage Pink Floyd. Then suddenly the feel of the music becomes rather sombre, introducing a brass section which delivers a medieval feel first, but then switches towards avant-garde outbursts. In "Devil's Playground" there's a constant question-answer situation between rock and jazz, between outlined scales and improvised sections, between a live feel and a studio encounter, in other words: the best of both worlds! Now isn't that what true prog should be all about? Fusing elements from all over the musical spectrum in order to create and deliver something sparkling and fresh, something new all along. If you thought you knew what Flower Kings was all about wait till you hear this album. Take the time, put the phone off the hook, put your voicemail on, barricade your house, sit back, relax and let the Flower Kings Unfold The Future!

[See also Keith's, John's and Davide's reviews -ed.]





The Flower Kings - Unfold The Future

Released: 2002
Label: InsideOut Music America
Cat. No.:
Total Time: 72:00 / 64:35


Reviewed by: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck, October 2002
There are not too many groups that garner attention and gather the anticipation of a new release like Sweden's progressive rock superstars The Flower Kings. With that, the responsibility they carry on their shoulders attaches a huge accountability to everything they do. In a marvelous and humble way, they always come up with an outstanding effort every time they go into the studio to record. In addition, they have come out of several sessions with enough material to fill two CDs, which is once again the case with Unfold The Future.

They continue to amaze me with every album. I ask myself each time- "Can this band actually become better?" I answer that question with a resounding and affirmative "yes." They sound hauntingly similar to Yes, then follow with a track that puts them in a league all their own, quickly turning things around to sound like a stand alone great prog-rock band with a first class lead singer that has a definitive Swedish accent. They are indeed the purveyors of some of the most sophisticated and pure music here on the planet earth. With each listen of this album, and believe me there were several, I hear more intricacies and developments in their music that I did not hear on the previous listen. From my point of view as a critic and someone that studiously pays attention to every note, that carries a tremendous amount of weight. So where do I start with my rundown on this set with over two hours of prog-rock bliss? It is not an easy task mind you, but I will pick out what I though were the brightest spots on the recording.

Disc one starts things off with a classic FK oeuvre called "The Truth Will Set You Free." It is 30 minutes of progressive nirvana. "Monkey Business" is a rockin' romp in the musical jungle, putting a decidedly straight-ahead rock slant on their sound. My absolute favorite is the ever-changing "Silent Inferno." The time signatures in the song are extraordinary, and it is the band in their most essential element. They are obviously talented enough to flip-flop between genres and seamlessly blend several styles into one song by adding a tasteful saxophone here and an airy keyboard layer there. I normally rant and rave about Roine Stolt's guitar playing, and yes, it is always superb, but this time out I must say that this is a total and complete effort from every member of this group, it always is, I noticed it more than ever with this album though. The maturity of each group member, and how that aspect helps to evolve the band's overall sound, becomes more important as the recording plays deep into the first disc then continues with the second. The advent of successful solo albums by the members of the group also gives them more depth and variety than ever before.

Side two opens with a delightful "Genie In The Bottle" and "Rollin The Dice" is equally engaging with snappy hooks and dreamy vocals. The solos that each band member has the opportunity to produce is another factor that makes this release so much more intriguing and introspective than previous albums. I have enjoyed everything that this group has ever done, it seems now that they have moved up yet another notch and taken it all to the next level in their select dominion of prog-rock. I dare say that there are only a few groups with this kind of power and presence, I think you know who they are fellow prog-heads. This group has been one of the very few consistently great ones over the past 7 years. So, I ask you now, who will fall from your good graces this year? Moreover, who will stay right there in front of you to keep your focus? I can tell you that this group is not giving an inch on their position, with this album they have a firmer grip on their place in musical history reserved for only legends.

[See also Bobo's, John's and Davide's reviews -ed.]

Rating: 5/5

More about Unfold The Future:

Track Listing: Disc One: The Truth Will Set You Free (30:40) / Monkey Business (4:20) / Black And White (7:40) / Christianopel (8:30) / Silent Inferno (14:25) / The Navigator (3:15) / Vox Humana (4:30)

Disc Two: Genie In A Bottle (8:10) / Fast Lane (6:35) / Grand Old World (5:10) / Soul Vortex (6:00) / Rollin The Dice (4:15) / The Devils Danceschool (3:45) / Man Overboard (3:40) / Solitary Shell (3:10) / Devils Playground (24:30)

Musicians:
Roine Stolt - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Hasse Froberg - vocals
Jonas Reingold - Fender bass, fretless bass
Zoltan Csorsz - drums
Tomas Bodin - Grand piano, keyboards

Guest Musicians:

Hasse Bruniusson - percussion
Ulf Wallander - soprano saxophone

Contact:

Website: 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)
The Rainmaker - Special Edition (2001)
Unfold The Future (2002)
Live In New York: Official Bootleg (2002)
Fan Club CD 2002 (2002)





The Truth Has Set The Flower Kings Free
The Flower Kings "Unfold The Future"


Disc One:
01. The Truth Will Set You Free 30:40 (Stolt)
02. Monkey Business 4:20 (Stolt)
03. Black and White 7:40 (Stolt, Bodin)
04. Christianopel 8:30 ( Csorsz, Reingold, Bodin, Stolt)
05. Silent Inferno 14:25 (Stolt)
06. The Navigator 3:15 (Bodin, Stolt)
07. Vox Humana 4:30 (Stolt)

Disc Two:
01. Genie In a Bottle 8:10 (Stolt)
02. Fast Lane 6:35 (Bodin)
03. Grand Old World 5:10 (Stolt)
04. Soul Vortex 6:00 (Csorsz, Reingold, Bodin, Stolt
05. Rollin The Dice 4:15 (Bodin)
06. The Devils Dance School 3 :55 (Reingold, Csorsz)
07. Man Overboard 3:40 (Stolt)
08. Solitary Shell 3:10 (Bodin, Stolt)
09. Devils Playground 24:30 (Stolt, Bodin)

Musicians:
Jonas Reingold - Fender bass, fretless bass
Zoltan Csorsz - drums
Hasse Froberg - vocals
Roine Stolt - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Tomas Bodin - Grand piano, keyboards

Additional Musicians:
Hasse Bruniusson - percussion
Ulf Wallander - soprano saxophone
Daniel Gildenlow - vocals.


Unfold The Future

When Roine Stolt and The Flower Kings released "Stardust We Are" in 1997, some in the prog scene hailed it as the ultimate Third Wave prog album - the best of the genre since the golden First Wave of prog in 1972 through 1974 that saw such landmarks as Yes' "Close to the Edge," Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" and King Crimson's "Red." Unimpressed, Stolt and The Flower Kings followed that up with "Flower Power" and its 60 minute "uber-epic "Garden of Dreams" the following year.

Since then, though, Stolt has launched on a searing campaign of self-examination that has resulted in the deconstruction and reconstruction of the band. In the process out have gone Michael Stolt - Roine's brother - on bass and original Flower King, Jaime Salazar, on drums. Each departure has been accompanied by a perfectly believable - and likely accurate - story: Michael Stolt's "day job" precluded touring and Jaime Salazar and the band had musical differences. But the deeper truth was that to surpass "Stardust We Are" Stolt knew perfectly well that he demanded more out of his Flower Kings. And now he has gotten it. "Unfold The Future" finally brings The Flower Kings close to fulfilling their potential. Until now there have been two sets of Flower Kings - the studio band and the live band. Now, those two are one.

The album announces its intentions from the opening bars of the first track, "The Truth Will Set You Free." Is this Yes? Is it jazz? The answer to each of the questions is in the affirmative: it is both; indeed, the overall impression is not entirely unlike the Grateful Dead. There is an open looseness and yet a sense of purpose. Within a very few bars the album has already set up the duality dynamic that will dominate the album: prog v. jazz.

Before long, though, "The Truth Will Set You Free" resolves into the best Yes song that Yes never recorded - albeit it is more of a Yes from "Going For The One" onward than the Yes of "Close to the Edge." The vocal harmonies are unmistakable - indeed Hasse Froberg's voice, at times, could be easily mistaken for Jon Anderson's. Even Jonas Reingold's bass has a treble dominance that sounds suspiciously like a Rickenbacker. Half an hour later, as the song ends, the listener is left with the overwhelming impression that this song will be a fixture in the band's live set for years to come.

But while "The Truth Will Set You Free" is, no doubt, a classic Flower Kings track there is a difference. And that difference, quite specifically, is the two "new" Flower Kings; the ones who replaced Michael Stolt and Jaime Salazar: Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz. Reingold and Csorsz both bring to the band a solid jazz training and background; both play with remarkable fluidity. What strikes one first in Reingold's bass work on the album is the sheer cascade of notes. What lingers, though, is the surpassing harmonic inventiveness. Csorsz's playing, too, is marked by two seemingly contradictory features: astonishing technical prowess that is only exceeded by his feel for the groove.

Almost lost in the analysis is the simple fact of how good the album - and particularly the rhythm section - sounds. While it is impossible to talk about The Flower Kings without talking about Roine Stolt, it is easy to forget that in addition to being the primary writer, guitarist and one of the lead vocalists - he also is the band's producer. That is a fact that is made all the easier to forget because of the fact that Stolt credits the production on all of the albums to the pseudonymous "Don Azzaro." Mr. Azzaro/Stolt has done a remarkable job here. The first difference one notices about the sound on this album compared with the sound on previous Flower Kings efforts is the drums. Part of this is the change in drummer. While Salazar was notorious for not caring for his drumkit - Stolt has written that he's not sure that Salazar ever tried to properly tune his kit - Czorsz is a fanatic. He changes his drumheads more often then some people change underwear. But that is not all. The mixing on the album is masterful. While there is a tremendous amount going on at any given moment on the album everything is crystal clear. Every instrument is in its own pocket. While Reingold's bass never stops - and is quite evident in the mix - it never interferes with any of the other instruments. Stolt achieves the bass clarity without drowning out anyone else.

While elements of the jazz are evident throughout the album, they finally emerge into full view on the album's fourth track, "Christianopel," penned by Csorsz, Reingold, Bodin and Stolt. The song begins with fractured, melodic and rhythmic figures roiling just above the surface, some of those figures drawn from elsewhere on the album (such as the majestic final song, "Devil's Playground'), others from childhood memory. The instrumentalists pick up these figures, turn them, examine them - as a Picasso or Georges Bracques would examine the human figure employing analytical cubism. Ultimately the musical bits coalesce into an electric jazz piece that is not entirely unlike Village Vanguard-era John Coltrane. It is thrilling stuff.

"Silent Inferno" explodes out of the headiness of "Christianopel," a classic Flower Kings track that would be perfectly in place on "Retropolis" or "Stardust We Are." But even so there's a difference. Instead of progressing linearly, as does "Stardust" or even "Garden of Dreams," "Silent Inferno" evolves away from the prog and toward the jazz world. This time instead of Coltrane or Miles Davis, what emerges is a fusion jam that does not sound entirely unlike Return to Forever. It is an evolution that is largely unprecedented in the prog cannon - with, quite possibly, vintage UK as the only point of reference.

The album continues alternating between classic Flower Kings tunes like the rocking "Genie in a Bottle" and jazzier numbers like "Soul Vortex" before culminating in the remarkable "Devil's Playground." The album closer opens with a dark figure that is reminiscent of the beginning of Brahms' 1st Symphony, before the overture flows into an Enid-like section, then the piece blows wide open. What emerges is a classic Flower Kings album-closer - a gradually evolving and building prog piece. But where the listener expects a grand finale in the nature of an orgasmic release (as in "Stardust We Are Part III") there is a difference here. Instead of resolving through such classically prog means as that, at almost exactly the 20:00 minute mark the song takes a left turn back into the jazz realm. A minute later, Reingold's bass pulls the song back into progland. The resulting effect is an integration.

As Stolt's guitar soars in the final outro, floating over Reingold's bass, the realization takes hold: these are not two different creatures. These are not two different sets of Flower Kings. The two bands - the prog group and the jazz combo, the studio Kings and the concert Kings - are one.

Rating: 9.5 keyboards
Reviewer: MICHAEL GARDINER