"Open up your eyes Freedom in your eyes
Open your heart Freedom in your soul
You can almost see You can almost be
In the love of all In the love of it all
WE BELIEVE IN THE LOVE" ~ Scanning the Greenhouse
Review: The Flower King (1994)
To start things off this album has a great lineup: Roine Stolt (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, and percussion), Hasse Froberg (vocals), Jaime Salazar (drums and percussion), Hasse Bruniusson (drums), and Ulf Wallander (saxophone). This album has impressed me so much that it has a permanent home in my CD player. This was the second Flower Kings album I purchased (the first being "Alive on Planet Earth").
Stolt's songwriting on this album is outstanding. He also does all the guitar work and most of the lead vocals. His strength is definitely his guitar work. Throughout the album he varies his style to suit each particular song. A lot of his playing is very Steve Howe influenced.
The prog influence is there without being cheesy (which is my only complaint about some current prog I have heard such as Shadow Gallery). There is a definite YES influence. The album is heavily instrumental yet it is so dynamic that it has your attention throughout the entire album. Even where the tracks do not have vocals the musicianship is so outstanding that you just sit there and listen intently. This album is an experience! The lyrics are all very positive in a sort 60s hippy/Jon Anderson influenced kind of way. Stolt's voice is very distinctive and draws you in as a listener. The music is a great blend of symphonic progressive rock and impressive instrumental sections.
Favorite Songs: The Flower King, Dissonata, Scanning the Greenhouse
"In
early 1993 I decided to record some songs, that can be
classified as symphonic rock, for a possible future release on CD. When I wrote
"The Flower King" I had no doubt that it was meant to be
the titles song for this record.
In a way I
wanted it to be a statement - like "I support the good forces, love, light
and kindness". I wanted it to come out as an alternative/opposite to the
countless destructive, dark n' evil hardcore death-trash-speed-black'n suicidal
metal music of
today."
So I created "The Flower King" ' Prophet, Healer, Hippie, Joker, Spacetraveller, The Great Gardener and possibly....son of God."
~ Roine Stolt
