archimedes rock music reviews

The Flower Kings – CRS (Classic Rock Society) Rotherham, UK, 17th April 1999
Review by Ian Oakley

Set List: Total set time – 2 .5 hours

There Is More To This World, Retropolis, World Of Adventures, Church Of Your Heart, Garden Of Dreams Part 1 (Pt 1-10), Church Of Your Heart - JAM: inc The man who walked with kings / Circus Brimstone/ Big Puzzle/, In The Eyes Of The World, JAM, Garden of dreams Part2 (Pt 16-18) Encore: JAM Sounds of violence (Bass solo by Jonas Reingold *), The Flower King, Stardust We Are (pt3).

* Jonas Reingold – Replaced Michael Stolt on bass for this European Tour.

I have been a fan of and involved in this type of music – ‘progressive rock’ - since the early 70s. There are literally hundreds of bands out there at the moment resurrecting this type of quintessentially white European 1970s LP music. Now a large underground scene has arisen, linked together by the internet and driven by existence of the technology to cheaply produce, distribute and publicize ‘home recorded’ CDs.

However, when it comes to quality and originality I feel that there are only two bands in this scene that can call them selves truly world class – Spock’s Beard and The Flower Kings. These also seem to be the only bands that are pushing the envelope of ‘prog rock’ in a way that is in any sense really ‘progressive’. Spock’s Beard do it by bringing back beautiful sing-along melodies and superb musicianship without trying to be techno-flash; The Flower Kings do it by also using beautiful melodies but adding a jazz-rock fusion / improvisational edge to the performance. As a friend said: “The Flower Kings are Prog Rock with added Zappa…”

This concert was the first time the band had played the UK since May 1997 and was held in the same location as before, The Herringthorpe Leisure Centre in Rotherham. As last time, this was their only U.K concert. They were brought over by the CRS, to whom I will be eternally grateful for providing the only regular venue for this music in the UK.

The hall itself is usually a gym and so is quite small and acoustically poor. Being the only UK date, the audience had traveled from all parts of the UK for the occasion (my friends and I did a 400 mile round trip). However, I was initially disappointed to find that there were only about 170 people in the audience. In addition to this we also seemed to be representative of the average age of the audience (late 30s to early 40s). Is this the real state of this genre of music? In this country probably so.

After an introduction from the man from CRS – “This band are as good as Yes or Genesis at their peak” (I could not agree more), The Flower Kings took the stage at 9:30 exactly. They began gently, then blasted their way into the gig with ‘There is more to this world’ followed by a very inspiring ‘Retropolis’, which just carried me away to that lovely state where you feel your whole mind and soul is riding on the back of each guitar note – and it carried on that way. There were a few technical difficulties with keyboards / foldback and tuning along the way, but none that spoilt the gig. I understand that this was mainly due to the disparity between the Swedish plugs and the UK electricity supply.

The gig lasted a total of two and a half wonderful hours with The FK giving us at least two tracks from each of their many CDs, including, I think for the first time live, almost the whole of Garden of Dreams.

For people that only know the CDs, the FK live sound is a lot looser, with jams on and between numbers, and a lot heavier feel than indicated by the CDs. All the musicians are individually world class and complement each other perfectly. In particular I noticed how the voice and guitar work of Hasse Froberg worked well with those of Roine Stolt, with Hasse taking more of the lead vocals and having the stronger, purer voice of the two, and Roine using his more gravelly voice to add emphasis to certain lines and phrases.

The only complaint I would have was that the house PA and the mix were not up to the high standard and quality of the playing. By the end of the concert the mix and volume had reached that ‘wall of sound’ state where all the instruments appeared to be at an equal volume whereas, as is the case with the CDs, Stolt’s guitar should be the main leading presence. That is what the audience came for, after all. OK, the PA system its self was not very good, but I would have appreciated less overall volume and more thought given to the mix. With the total volume set so high there was nowhere left to go to bring the guitar to the forefront. However, as the gig was done on a shoestring budget it is understandable the FK could not afford to bring their own sound engineer over who would have no doubt have provided a more sympathetic mix.

I am very loath to complain at all, as the whole gig seemed to have been done on a very tight budget. 170 people at £10 a time is at most £1700, to bring the band from Sweden, hire the hall, the PA, the lights – indeed one member of the audience had actually lent his mellotron to the band. Surely the CRS didn’t do it just on the money from ticket sales? Whatever, I’m just so appreciative that they managed to bring the band over at all. I look forward to seeing Spock’s Beard on 1st October at the CRS’s annual prog-fest.

If you feel that you want to take a dip into The Flower Kings catalogue I would suggest starting at “World of Adventures” – A good all round introduction to the band and their sound. Also perhaps a little more commercial sounding then their other CDs

If anyone in the U.K wishes to buy The Flower Kings CDs (and other prog releases), the only outlet in UK appears to be GFT. Their homepage is: -