Customer Reviews

Meet The Flower Kings: Live 2003 (2CD)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When the released Live Around The World in in 98 I was slightly dissapointed that so many good stuff was not added to the cd's. I mean Flower Power was already released but not even one song from that album, so it letted me guess that this were all recordings from previous tours. Anyway there were some good songs on it anyway, but then this year they released Meet The Flower Kings. Absolutely awsome CD. Especially since it carries all their epics, and mostly it are the epics that are my favorite songs of this band. They made very very beautifull short sings too though. Compassion, Ghost Of Red Clouds or Corruption for example, but that all falls into none compared to Humannizzimo, Stardust We Are or Unfold The Future, and there are more songs that make me drew over and over again, that are not respresented on this recording, but what they did here is a really good effort. And Im happy with the cd. I always thought I wanted to hear a track as Humannizzimo with the Flower Kings now, with the recent line up, cos I imagined it would make the song more powerfull, and I was only close to what the song is actually sounding now. Really really good. I got addicted to the song right away, and soon to the other stuff too. So all in all I cannot agree with the previous review that songs are a mess or whatever, I think they did a fine job live. And as you once been to see a gig of the boys then you know that sometimes songs can end up in quite some impovisational escapades, but to me thats more a proof of amazing craftmanship than of failure. You should see King Crimson playing live.

The truth will set you free...Garden of Dreams (part I & II)
Stardust we are ...how could you ask for more ?
Brillant and amazing, great musicians and awesome live sound.
I just love it !

I love this band.

This recording visually is flat. Its like a studio setting with an audience.

BUt......

Its about the music. What wonderful recording! The best rendition of "Garden of Dreams" ever.

If you are here deciding to buy this or not, your obviously a fan of this band and the music is familar to you.

I have seen this band live and this DVD does not capture the magic nor the humor they have. When they are not filming, their are a bit more chatty amung themselves and the audiance. Very clever personalities and obviously very bright.

This is very different than the "Instant Delivery" DVD which is heavy in the new album.

The Music and selection is wonderful. Thats what its about anyway!

Fans buy it! If your new to this band, this is not a bad way to "Meet the Flower Kings"!

4 stars. Why? 3 for its video production and 5 for the music! Video is not bad, but this is a modern recording and not up to the standard. The new one is much better in this regard. Also IM not crazy about the editing job they did. No big deal, just skip thru the "travel log" to the next song.

They are an amazing band!

Special edition has both the DVD and audio only cds.

Its a better CD than DVD!

Very good live album. Amazing, in fact.

To start off, I deducted one star only because it is a live album, with little to no audience contact. They didn't sing along, they were barely spoken to... To me, that interaction makes live albums memorable.

But this live album is rediculously good nonetheless.

I love the Flower Kings. I love anything and everything that Roine Stolt touches (okay, not too fond of Kaipa...). And adding my absolute favorite vocalist as backup doesn't hurt, either. Yes, Daniel Gildenlow of Pain of Salvation fame is here to contribute some guitars, keyboards and vocals. It really adds a lot to the songs.

I've never been a fan of 'The Truth Will Set You Free'. It honestly just never did anything for me. Its not bad, but it just isn't phenomonal.

The Garden of Dreams, however, is fantastic. The entire song is done here in amazing sequence. This is truely a masterful track, even considering the studio version was one of the greatest progressive songs of all time.

Humanizzimo is another amazing track. It's the focal point of Roine Stolt's first solo album, The Flower King. And with the full band, and with Gildenlow's vocals, the song is spectacular.

Circus Brimstone is kind of random, but it allows the band to show off their skills. And Silent Inferno was excellent, like the original.

Stardust We Are is done in it's entirety, and very well so. It's heavier than the original, and the end is more majestic. It even has an amazing jazz improv section in the middle of it.

Overall, this is an amazing live album. Despite the lack of an audience, it's a must-buy if you're a fan of intellectual music.

Beeing a HUGE fan of TFK for the past 4 years, I was a little disapointed with their DVD "Meet The Flower Kings". The opening track "The Truth Will Set You Free" is awsome, but the following tracks are rather boring. Why do they keep on playing "Garden Of Dreams" on every llive performance? I'm a fan of songs that reaches 30 min, but "Garden Of Dreams" are just simply boring. "Humanizzimo" and "Silent Inferno", are along with "The Truth Will Set You Free", the tunes that brings the DVD up to 4 stars. "Circus Brimstone" is a mess, but ok. "Stardust We Are" starts ok, but the main theme is too lousy. Way too mellow. All though 50% of the DVD's are crap(almost), it's still worth buying. The musicianship is great, and I love Daniel Gildenlöw's voice. Truly one of my favorite vocalist(check out his band "Pain Of Salvation").

I like "prog" a lot, actually, and I'm all for "epics," as The Flower Kings call the several long pieces they've put on this live 2-CD set. The Kings are also all very talented players. But this set is a lot to wade through to, unfortunately, very little pay-off at the end. Probably the least attractive aspect of the music are the song lyrics, which are basically variants on "let's all love each other," which while a great sentiment is hardly the stuff of an epic. Plus there's a lot of empty virtuousity; saying that's often a cheap shot from people who just don't like "prog" no matter who does it, but on this set the playing just gets really elegant while going absolutely nowhere. I have to have this on as background music while I'm doing other things or else I find myself looking at my watch waiting for it to end.

I'm not one to say that music, whether it's "prog" or anything else has, has to be short to be effective. I just feel that if you're going to do a long piece, you'd better have something interesting to say. The Flower Kings may have something interesting in the studio versions of these and their other"epics," but it's pretty boring here.

To often it sounds like the Flower Kings are trying to be a jam band, but instead of great improvision, it only comes out as noodling, thus kind of boring.

Well crafted songs and each Cd is over 75 minutes long, well worth the price

By the way, why does Amazon include a 'NO' in 'was this review helpful to you?'. People are only human and don't like opinions that differ from themselves, thus the 'NO' makes it too easy express such displeasure.

Are they trying to discourage negative reviews, hence not purchase the CD. Such reviews only help a person in not being dissatisfied a product that received positive reviews