Scott's Spotlight #4-- The Flower Kings
Originally posted to Facebook on September 26, 2024.
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Welcome to Scott’s Spotlight #4 (#scottsspotlight). (See this post for details: https://www.facebook.com/share/Gc2VkwHQWGLdeaDd/?mibextid=oFDknk )
Today I am taking a deep dive into Swedish Prog-masters, The Flower Kings. Much like Porcupine Tree in installment #2, my prog friends are certainly familiar with The Flower Kings, as they have been prolific on their own, with more than 20 hours of music over 16 studio albums, and spawned numerous side projects over the past 30 years. The non-prog oriented listener has possibly never heard of the band, unfortunately.
Band leader/founder Roine Stolt had been a fixture on the Swedish music scene for around 20 years before the Flower Kings began. His first notable band was Kaipa, a wonderful prog band in their own right. He was only 17 and something of a musical prodigy when he joined Kaipa in 1973. After 3 successful albums, performing an average of more than 100 shows per year as well as national TV appearances, Stolt would leave Kaipa in 1979 to begin his own band, Fantasia, who released 2 albums in 1979 & 1982 respectively. He then went on to record solo albums, and work as a session player, as well as doing arrangements for and producing other artists. Stolt began to sing on his first solo album, released in 1985, called, “Behind the Walls.” After another solo album and EP, Stolt decided he wanted to return to prog rock. In 1993, he recruited drummer Jamie Salazar and percussionist Hasse Bruniusson as the core musicians for the solo album called “The Flower King,”released in 1994. (Hasse Fröberg– remember the name– would sing on two tracks and Ulf Wallander would provide soprano sax on 2 different tracks) For the tour he added his brother Michael Stolt on bass, and longtime friend Tomas Bodin on keyboards (Stolt played those instruments on the album himself, although interestingly, the bass parts were credited to “Don Azzaro,” and the keyboard parts to “Dexter Frank, Jr” which turned out to be pseudonyms for Roine himself). This line up (Roine Stolt, Jamie Salazar, Hasse Brunisson, Michael Stolt, and Tomas Bodin) would become the initial line-up of The Flower Kings.
The band would tour throughout 1994 and convene in the studio in December of 1994 and gradually record their first official band album “Back In the World of Adventures,” released in September of 1995. Ulf Wallander would appear again, performing soprano sax on 3 tracks including my personal favorite, album closer, “Big Puzzle.” The Don Azzaro and Dexter Frank, Jr. pseudonyms were revived again as co-producer with Stolt (DA) and as engineer (DFJ) and co-mixer with Bodin (DFJ). The band would remain intact for the follow up, “Retropolis,” released in May of 1996, with Wallander once again guesting on soprano sax on 2 tracks and Hasse Fröberg singing on two different tracks. My favorite on this one is “There is More to this World,” on which Fröberg appears. Once again the pseudonyms are used for production (DA), and engineering (DFJ).
The third album, “Stardust We Are,” released in April of 1997, saw Hasse Fröberg join as a full member, and marked the band’s first double CD. The trend of crediting “Don Azzaro” as producer, and “Dexter Frank, Jr” as engineer continues here. Standout tracks here include the first two FK songs I heard: “Church of your Heart,” and the 25 minute epic title track, along with the album opener, “In the Eyes of the World.” In 1998, they toured the US for the first time, and released a compilation of songs from “The Flower King,” and songs from the first three FKs albums called “Scanning the Greenhouse.” The next studio album (same production credits) outdid even “Stardust We Are” in terms of ambition. The album is titled “Flower Power,” released in December of 1999, with the same lineup as “Stardust We Are.” This time, there would be an hour-long composition (albeit, broken into 18 smaller tracks on the CD) called “Garden of Dreams.” The album length is 10 minutes longer than “Stardust…” at two hours and 20 minutes in length. The album is mostly written by Roine Stolt, with significant contributions from Tomas Bodin, and one song by Fröberg (“Magic Pie’).
In the year 2000, the band released its first live album, “Alive on Planet Earth.” While “Azzaro” is still credited as the album's producer, “Dexter Frank, Jr.” is not listed as engineer, as two different engineers are listed (probably due to the fact that the tracks are culled from different shows). Hasse Bruniusson is not credited on the album, as Jamie Salazar is shown as the sole drummer/percussionist here. An additional keyboardist, Robert Engstrand is credited for the recordings on disc 1 of the double CD, recorded in 1998 in Canada and the US. While Bodin appears on disc 2 which has tracks from 1999, recorded in Japan. I have no information as to why Engstrand filled in on the North American shows, or as to why Bruniusson is not present at all.
Also in 2000, they would release their 5th studio album as a band, “Space Revolver”. This time the production credit is given to “Don and Gepetto Azzaro,” and “Dexter Frank, Jr.” is back as engineer.There are some notable line up changes here as Michael Stolt was replaced on bass by Jonas Reingold. Although there are some disagreements from different websites as to the percussion department on this album. ProgArchives lists Bruniusson as the sole drummer/percussionist, while Wikipedia and other sources show Salazar as the primary percussionist, and Bruniusson as only a guest musician. I am going with Wikipedia here, as other sources corroborate. Ulf Wallander returns on the soprano sax as a guest as well. The album is bookended by parts one and two of “I am the Sun,” which, if added together, constitute 25 minutes of music.
The band’s 2001 album, “The Rainmaker” has the same lineup as “Space Revolver,” with Bruniusson and Wallander as guests. “Don Azzaro” is listed as the sole producer again. This album seems to have gotten a more mixed response than previous ones. I, however, have indicated on Apple Music/iTunes that I enjoyed “World Without a Heart,” the nearly 14 minute epic “Road to Sanctuary,” the title track and “Sword of God.”
In 2002, there was a lineup change on “Unfold the Future,” as Zoltan Csörsz replaced Jamie Salzar on drums, and Hasse Bruniusson was re-elevated to a full member. Pain of Salvation’s Daniel Gildenlöw guests as a vocalist on 3 tracks even though Hasse Fröberg remains a full member in the band. This is another lengthy double CD, at approximately the same length as “Flower Power.” The band explored more in the jazz genre this time, even including some free-form jams on the album. The song “Black and White,” is a personal favorite of mine from this one. “Don Azzaro” remains the producer, but I have no information as to whether “Dexter Frank, Jr” was the engineer. A live album and DVD called “Meet The Flower Kings,” follows, with this lineup, including Gildenlöw. The next studio album. “Adam and Eve,” from 2004 would retain the 7-piece lineup. I especially like the two big epics: “A Love Supreme,” and “Driver’s Seat.” Interestingly, Stolt dropped the pseudonym on this one and produced it under his own name.
The band would return to a six-piece lineup but with Marcus Liliequist on drums, instead of Zoltan Csörsz (he’ll return), and the departure of Gildenlöw on the 2006 album “Paradox Hotel.” This is the band’s ninth studio album as well as being their fourth studio double CD. This album seems to be a “love it or hate it” type of album from many FK fans. Roine Stolt calls it their “White Album,” as it has more input from all of the members, while previous albums have been primarily Stolt and Bodin composed. I seemed to have enjoyed eight of the album’s 19 tracks as they have come up randomly (tracks 3-6 and 10 on disc 1, and tracks.3,4, and 7 on disc 2). I don’t appear to have heard the 21 minute epic “Monsters and Men,” however. A live album called “Instant Delivery,” with this lineup followed later in 2006. Another compilation, “The Road Back Home,” was up next in 2007.
Zoltan Csörsz returned (briefly) on the tenth album, 2007’s “The Sum of No Evil,” while Bruniusson returned to guest status. (Zoltan would be replaced again by drummer Erik Hammarström in 2008, who did not appear on any recordings with the band.) This one has mostly longer tracks on a single CD (only 2 are shorter at between 5:00-6:30 each, the next shortest one being over 12:30). I seemed to have enjoyed the bookend tracks of “One More Time,” and “Life in Motion.” I don’t believe I have heard the longest track, the 24:28 “Love is the Only Answer,” although it does trigger a Yes lyric. Stolt has a co-producer here: Petrus Königson. A live album called “Carpe Diem– The Flower Kings Live in the USA” followed in 2008. It is considered an “Official Bootleg,” and was recorded in 2006 on the “Paradox Hotel” tour. Stolt would put the band on hiatus until 2011 at this point in 2008, saying that the band had lost focus and direction.
The band reunited in 2011 when Stolt felt eagerness from band members to work on a new project. They released another live album in that year that was recorded in 2007 with King Crimson drumming legend Pat Mastelotto filling in on drums (must’ve been between Zoltan and Erik). The album was called “Tour Kaputt,” after a comment a crew member made when the tour bus hit an animal.
The next studio album, 2012’s “Banks of Eden,” would feature yet another new drummer (“Spinal Tap” vibes, anyone?) Felix Lehrmann from Germany. The other core members all returned. I have enjoyed tracks 4 and 5 from the main album–”For Those About to Drown,” and “Rising the Imperial,” as well as tracks 1, 3 and 4 on the bonus disc. I again seem to have missed out on the main epic, The 25 minute album opener called “Numbers.” The same lineup would follow this album up in 2013, with “Desolation Rose.” I seem to have heard and liked most of this album and bonus disc. The longest track being album opener “Tower One,” which I heard and enjoyed earlier as I am typing this (I put the band on shuffle while working on this). This lineup would remain together and perform until 2015. The band would then take another hiatus until 2018 to work on other projects.
When they did reconvene in 2018, it wasn’t without controversy. Stolt released an album called “Manifesto of an Alchemist,” but credited it as “Roine Stolt’s The Flower King.” Several FKs members and other proggers appeared on it, including Fröberg, Reingold, and brother Michael Stolt (remember him?), and prog drumming legend Marco Minneman, among others. However, notably missing is original FK keyboardist Tomas Bodin, who was very publicly unhappy with this development. This album is NOT considered a part of the FKs official canon, and I only just learned about it as I was typing this. I believe it is considered more of a Roine Stolt solo album. The band would tour in 2018 and 2019 as “The Flower Kings, Revisited.”
The next official FK album (#13) was released in 2019, and titled “Waiting for Miracles.” Roine Stolt, Hasse Fröberg and Jonas Reinhold are joined by new drummer (again), Mirko DeMaio, and new keyboardist Zach Kamins. Michael Stolt is a guest musician on some tracks as well. A track from the album is playing as I type this, “Wicked Old Symphony.” I have liked several tracks from the double CD. Unusually for a FKs album there are no tracks over 10 minutes, although one is close at 9:59: “Vertigo.” This lineup would be back in 2020 with “Islands.” Much like its predecessor, there is only one song over 9 minutes, the 9:31 “Solaris.” I have enjoyed seven of the 21 tracks here. Of special note is the Roger Dean album cover. 2022 saw the album “By Royal Decree.” The lineup was mostly the same, but now there are 2 official bassists, with Reingold and Michael Stolt both listed as full members, and, depending on the source, Hasse Bruniusson has returned on percussion either as a full member or as a guest. The most recent album “Look at You Now,” was released in 2023 as a four piece official line up of Roine Stolt, Hasse Fröberg. Michael Stolt on Bass & Keyboards, and Mirko DeMaio remaining on drums. Hasse Bruniusson is a guest musician here as well. I reviewed this one right after it was released and liked 11 of the 13 tracks. The title track is the album closer and is the longest track on recent albums at 11:48. I really enjoyed the album.
Congratulations if you made it through this one! The Flower Kings have had a long and occasionally bumpy ride over the past 3 decades. But they have given the world a lot of great prog! Please enjoy some of my picks to listen to in the comments.
From Comments:
Links pt. 1
From the “Flower King” by Roine Stolt
From “Back In the World of Adventures”
“Big Puzzle”
From “Retroplois”
“There Is More to this World”
From “Stardust We Are”
“In the Eyes of the World”
“Church of Your Heart”
“Stardust We Are” (My favorite FKs Track)
From “Flower Power”
“Psychedelic Postcard”
From “Space Revolver”
“I Am the Sun, Pt. !”
“I Am the Sun, Pt. 2”
From “The Rainmaker”
“World Without a Heart”
“The Rainmaker”
Links, Pt. 3
From “Unfold The Future”
“Black and White”
From “Adam & Eve”
“Love Supreme”
“Driver’s Seat”
From “Paradox Hotel”
“Lucy Had a Dream”
“Life Will Kill You”
Links , Pt. 4
From “The Sum of no Evil”
“Life In Motion”
From “Banks of Eden”
“For Those About to Drown”
“Rising the Imperial”
From “Desolation Rose”
“Interstellar Visitations”
Links Pt. 5 (final one)
From “Waiting for Miracles”
From “Islands”
“All I Need Is Love” (Official Video)
“Looking For Answers”
From “By Royal Decree”
“The Great Pretender”
From “Look at You Now”
“Mother Earth”
“Look at You Now”
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