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The Flower Kings: Flower Power
First, well deal with the album’s hour-long showcase, “Garden of Dreams”. Simply put, I’ve never heard a lengthy composition this complex and interesting in all the years I’ve been listening to progressive music. This 18-movement suite goes from beautiful acoustic guitars to “balls to the wall” rock and roll to techno to ambient to classical piano – all seamlessly (and amazingly) arranged by Roine Stolt and keyboardist Tomas Bodin. This isn’t simply 18 different pieces of music slapped together – “Garden of Dreams” does the impossible and actually makes 60 minutes seem too short. There are too many goosebump moments on this track to cover in one review, but if Stolt does not move you with his Bowie-esque half-screaming, half-singing vocals on the final movement of “Garden of Dreams,” you should have your pulse checked. It’s as if Stolt’s brain simply shut down and his singing is coming directly from his heart – his mouth and vocal chords are merely an instrument for the muse to take advantage of. Simply brilliant.
The second CD contains more traditional songs (well, if you consider 8 minutes in length to be traditional – I do!) featuring both Stolt’s incredible guitar work and his pop sensibilities – most evident in the made for radio “Stupid Girl” and the strangely Prince-like “Corruption”. However, the surprise of the CD lies in the Hasse Froberg penned track “Magic Pie,” which is nothing short of one of the most infectious tracks in the entire Flower King’s catalog. Froberg’s vocals beautifully convey the majesty and spacey feeling of the music, and some of the chord progressions and vocal harmonies on this track will make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. This is one song that gets filed directly into the “I’ll be singing this under my breath all day during work” portion of your brain.
The rest of the CD is filled with top quality musicianship and songwriting – it’s nothing short of amazing that Stolt and Company can fill two and a half hours consistently with music of this quality – it’s as if these guys simply CAN’T write a bad song. To say that there’s not a clunker in the entire length of the CD is a testament to the incredible talent and passion of this band, and the fact that The Flower Kings aren’t more popular will continue to baffle me to no end. If you are a fan of progressive music... no scratch that... if you are a fan of ANY MUSIC, go buy Flower Power right now – it represents the best of positive and intelligent modern music available today.
Track Listing
1
Personnel
Roine Stolt
Album information
Title: Flower Power | Year Released: 2000
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