Customer Reviews

Rainmaker

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you hear CDs like "The Rainmaker", it REALLY makes you upset that so many young folks are getting forced to listen to Limp Bizkit, boy bands, talentless rap acts, and other simililar examples of today's nihilistic youth culture. Thank God (or whoever) that there is a band like the Flower Kings to give music lovers something worthwhile to listen to. These guys, IMHO, are the best band out there at the moment, and after seeing them live it's amazing how tight they are.

For long time FK fans, "Rainmaker" will take some time to get used to (much like their previous outing "Space Revolver"). However, once it gets a hold on you, it simply does not let go. The opening track "Last Minute on Earth" features Hasse Froeberg's powerful and inhuman singing, along with some killer keyboard chops from Tomas. Throughout the rest of the CD, The Flower Kings hop around from standard prog (Road to Sanctuary) to R&B (Serious Dreamers) to heavy metal (Sword of God) to classical (The Rainmaker) - and they mix and match these style seamlessly.

While all the musicians are of course phenomenal (especially bassist Jonas - to see him live is nothing short of incredible), special mention must be made of drummer Jaime Salazar, who makes his final appearance as a Flower King on this CD. His drumming is wonderful throughout the album, and he will definitely be missed.

This one is simple - if you love good music with musician that can play the hell out of their instruments, but still focus on songwriting and melody, then you should buy this CD. And, if you're one of those who thinks the music world starts and ends with MTV, come check out what people with actual talent can do when they set their minds to it.

I know that tastes differ widely-even among rabid FK fans, but its hard to imagine that we are listening to the same CD after reading some of these reviews. I guess I can partly understand the feast or famine response to this album-is it because it actually is less quirky and more consistant than all of their others? Yes it is more serious and a little more brooding at times-but these are incredibly intricate and tightly played songs-even the straight forward "World without a Heart". "Thru the Walls","Sword of God", and"Serious Dreamers". And how can you not realize that "Road to Sanctuary" is probably the most beautifully crafted 10-15 min. mini-epic they've ever recorded! Featuring a haunting accoustic mid-section,a beautiful yet powerful bass line by Jonas Reingold(at the end)and powerful lyrics and singing throughout by Roine Stolt."Last Minute on Earth" is not far behind-and one of their best openers-and even though it rocks harder than most FK songs-they pull it off brilliantly. "City of Angels" is another under-rated mini epic reminiscient of "Back in the World of Adventures". I will admit the instrumentals don't do a whole lot for me and are the weakest links on the CD-but this is still by far the most consistent FK CD out there IMO-and a must for all PROG fans! The FK still reign supreme!

Before this release, I asked myself how can this band possibly follow-up the astonishing work of 'Space Revolver'? Somehow, Roine Stolt (Lead Guitar, Vocals) and his Flower Kings have taken a solid progressive foundation and has built on it's outstanding musicianship and style over the years. You may have heard that "The Flower Kings is today's YES", well I can assure you that this is absolutely true! No other band in the world today epitomizes solid creative and melodic progressive music than this 'musicians dream' band. You hear 'something new' everytime you play this CD, just like the previous works. The more you become familiar with these songs you will pick up melodic weavings and themes you may not have noticed before.
It is really and impeccable work of art.

I was lucky enough to see Roine and the boys live in Cambridge a few days before this CD was released, and they exceeded all of my expectations. What an awesome show!
Michael Stolt and Jaime Salazar have departed but yet the Kings have gotten even better! Tomas (Keyboards)is perfect for this band, Hasse (Vocals, Guitar) is absolutely amazing! Jonas (Bass) is one of the best and most melodic Bass players I've ever seen, and Zoltan (Drums) is not only a great guy to talk to, but one hell of a accomplished Prog Drummer!
This Band Rules! The RainMaker is a must for any progressive music collection. Thank God for the Flower Kings!!!

I'm still waiting for this album to grab my the way "Space Revolver" did after a few listens... Don't get me wrong this album has some absolutely mesmerizing moments, but i think overall... the flow of the CD is absolutely destroyed by the poor lyrics... not only the words chosen but how they are sang. Listen to Space Revolver right after this and see if you still think this album deserves a perfect rating. I've heard some complain about the chorus on City of Angels.. while that is annoying, I found the chorus on Serious Dreamers to be near grating. thankfully it's only repeated a couple of times. I think I would break the CD down as follows:
Instrumental side: 5
Vocal Side: 3 1/2 (It's still better than 100% of the MTV bands.)
Lyrical Side: 2 (This album's lyrics are really lacking.)

Overall: 3.75 Good but far from the best TFK release. I realize they were trying to go for a darker feel... but I think they need to do a little more experimentation to get the "feel" right. If you want Awesome Dark prog check out Ayreon's "the Dream Sequencer." That is one of the few albums I can listen to start to finish without skipping any track. And for TFK fans, I would get "Space Revolver" instead which is BY FAR the best TFK release.

If Roine Stolt--aka "The Flower Kings"--seems to be a bit locked into a pattern determined by earlier efforts (as some other reviewers seem to suggest), maybe that's because he's been going about it the right way all along. From a historical perspective of prog, fans who have been around the sound as long as I have have seen the original generation of prog either "change with the times" and go down the tubes as a result (Soft Machine, Gentle Giant), make the "right" changes and end up non-prog as a result (Genesis, 80s/ 90s Yes), or just keep on playing what they want to play for whoever wants to hear it (Jethro Tull). Although Stolt is stylistically absolutely nothing like Ian Anderson, in spirit he has that very same resistance to mass market conformity Anderson has. Stolt has also sensed that the metal-based Dream Theater may have a completely viable thing going, but that doesn't mean everybody has to go that route. I'm not going to break down this album track by track like a lot of us have done on earlier FK efforts, except for the fact that the opener "Last Minute On Earth" is a lot like one or two Kansas-type anthemic numbers on those albums--and is just as effective here as before. Plus, there's also a bit of Kerry Livgren in the song "Elaine" with lyrics about alienation, even though the phrase about dancing to a common beat is a bit cliche. All I'm trying to say is that if you liked older FK albums, you'll like this one. If it seems a bit been there/ done that to people who know those other discs, there's also a certain fulfillment in continuing to find what you've come to expect. Flavor-of-the-month artists belong in top-40--when eclectic artists do it, they "adapt" themselves right off the radar screen.

If you're new to the band, save this purchase for last. If you've bought a few albums and like what you're hearing, you should still save it for last.

It's not that it's altogether terrible, but is obviously a transition album. It was the last recorded with their drummer Jamie Salazar, and they knew it while they were recording it, which I'm sure affected the mood somehow. Keyboardist Tomas Bodin, who is responsible for a huge portion of their bombastic prog excellence, was absent for a lot of the sessions due to a divorce. This is also the 2nd album with jazzer Jonas Reingold on bass, and it's obvious he wants to stamp more of his own style on the Flower Kings sound, as evidenced by the smooth jazz-bass/sax jam on the second half of the otherwise boring "Elaine".

This album almost totally does away with the sound they stuck with for all of their previous albums, which was a heavily orchestrated, glorious wash of vintange keyboards and uplifting melodies with just enough of a bit of humor and whimsy for good measure. The Rainmaker has a very dreary and deadly serious feel throughout which doesn't let up, which can be wearing. Even down to the cover art, the album is a very somber and dark affair. Even the more melodic sections of the album have a darker feel to them.

It is a fragmented release which constantly tugs between jazz, mood music, and dark, heavier riffs, which were styles they started experimenting with most on this record. In some places it works very well. "The Last Minute On Earth" is a fantastic piece of schizo prog, with a main guitar riff very reminicent of Black Sabbath or Tull, which was totally out of character for them. "The Sword Of God" is a more straightforward hard rock track with thick, distorted hammond a la Jon Lord and a vocal performance by Hasse Froberg that would have made this a legendary track, had it been released in the 70's. He really gives Paul Rogers a run for his money! Towards the end of the album you get the melancholy pop song "Thru The Walls" and "Serious Dreamers" which as Roine Stolt said himself does kind of sound like Tears For Fears. It's an excellent epic though, with a really great bouncy bass groove towards the end. "World WIthout A Heart" is one of the more straight-ahead acoustic-type numbers which I really like but doesn't seem to impress most fans.

Sadly, the rest of the album doesn't hold up so well. Two of the other epics, "Road TO Sanctuary" and "City Of Angels" are fragmented and do not work well within the format they are presented, which is an overlong song stuffed with way too much junk. "Road To Sanctuary" has a very promising first few minutes but soon meanders off into musak territory. "City Of Angels" just STARTS in musak territory and is one of their grossest and most boring songs, as far as I'm concerned. Hey, an album is entitled to a few clunkers but not ones that go on for 15 minutes.

None of the instrumental tracks are anything noteworthy. They would be good for a film score, but it's not the kind of music that reaches out and says something to you like their other grand instrumentals "The Man Who Walked WIth Kings" or even Tomas's quiet, gentle "Power Of Kindness." They are just background music, and serve no purpose.

However, the experimentation with jazz, darker music and heavier riffs ended up resulting in something magnificent, which was their next double-disc release Unfold The Future. All of the styles they experimented with on the Rainmaker collided with the familiar and wonderful Flower Kings sounds on prior albums, with stellar results and a few of their best-ever tunes.

So in that sense, it's great that the Rainmaker came when it did. It serves it's purpose in their history. It's best appreciated after you own most any of their albums BUT this one first, though.

How did I get to the conclusion that "Rainmaker" is my favorite Flower Kings Cd? Easy. In my 600 plus cd collection (including all the Flower Kings cd`s) is the one that gets in my cd player the most often. Then I ask myself why. After all, this group had recorded the best progressive rock music in the last 5 or 6 years IMHO. Retropolis, Stardust we are, are great. Revolver and Unfold the Future? Well, great musicianship and performance (great bass and drum playing), but "Rainmaker" has something that is lacking in the previous two cd`s mentioned (Revolver and Unfold the Future), that is beautiful melodies that floats and are constantly present on your mind. At first listening, songs like "World without a heart", "Elaine" and "Thru the walls" seems simple to Flower Kings standards but, after few listenings, they became addictive (at least in my case). "Serious dreamers" is the best of all. The vocal harmonies of this song are the best they have done. In fact, Stolt`s voice in this cd had never, ever sounded so good. That is why I was disappointed with "Unfold the Future", altough a great record with incredible technical prowess and musicianship (great recording too), does not have even one song that can compares to the melodically, beautiful songs that you find in "Rainmaker". I hope that the direction that the group has taken with "Unfold The Future" is not definitive. I`ll be waiting for the next record, anxiously, but, Flower Kings, remember that there is more in music than great musicians or performance. We need good music and melodies that touch our hearts and minds, too.

First of all, I must say: U have to listen to this quite several times to get the music idea here. It's pretty difficult for a pop-rock minded person. If u are tottaly into progressive rock, like Yes, King Crimson or others, ok, its gonna be painless...

But this is a great work indeed. Solid as a rock as I said. The opening track "Last Minute on earth" is a hard prog rock majestic title that will blow u into pieces. Road to sanctuary, World without a heart, Sword of god, are all majestic, with that "Flower touch", much more complicated than before, but still great.

A great song for me was "The Rainmaker" a classical-movie sountrack epic that I really enjoyed... a lot. All the other songs are great, really great indeed. Since "Stardust we Are" I think this is their more solid work at date. Let's hope that the next album with Mr. Czorz replacing Jaime Salazar will be THE album, as I'm really sure Roine Stolt is up to something really, really great. A masterpiece, like Spock's Beard "Snow", a must buy album, not only for prog rock lovers, but for music lovers.

To close, I must say that is a relief that good music lovers can run for shelters in bands like this, in rock, jazz, world music , classical and even pop that may not have the recognition that they deserve (Hey, Orson Welles, Kubrick, Hitchcock, never got an Oscar) but that we know are true to themselves and make some really good music for us people to listen.

Poor mainstream guys... well ... theyll die never knowing this music...mmm poor mainstrem guys.

-Long live music (good)

Being a huge Flower Kings fan, it is hard to admit being disappointed by anything the band has done, but in the case of The Rainmaker, I was disappointed. While a good cd, when your previous efforts were as great as Retropolis, Stardust We Are, Flower Power and Space Revolver, you set the bar very high and, in this case, they fell a bit short. There are a lot of good things on this album, but the overall sound is not as emotional or soulful as all of their other releases. There is a glaring lack of exciting and gorgeous keyboard work, that is a trademark with this band. There are still some good guitar solos and instrumental passages, but nothing on par with what we have heard from them before. Still, you compare this album to what you hear on the radio and it destroys them all.

To comment as well on Froberg singing lead vocal too much, I also missed Stolt's voice to a great degree. Froberg probably has a better voice technically than Stolt, but Stolt's voice is much more engaging and likeable. However, I will say that the main passages in Last Minute On Earth and City Of Angels wouldn't have sounded right with Stolt singing them, so it made sense to have Froberg sing them. Still, I want to hear Stolt sing as much as possible, as his vocals were on of the first things I loved about this band.

Bottom line: "The Rainmaker" has some great epics with elaborate stylistic changes and wonderful melodies, but it also contains some "average" (for TFKs) compositions that don't exactly make my pupils dilate in astonishment. Roine's a brilliant musical iconoclast and the band brims with inspired invention. Despite their strong points, I could have done without "Sword of God", which seems mediocre in comparison to some of the other tunes. "Blessing of a Smile", "The Rainmaker", and "Red Alert" seem like recycled throwaways to me. Fortunately the rest of the album is strong enough to elicit forgiveness for these missteps. I think The Flower Kings are at their best when they compose songs like "Monster Within", which frankly is a kick-a#$ barnstormer of a song, and instrumentals like "Circus Brimstone". If you have the talent, use it. Fans are inevitably going to be disappointed by mellow minimalist songs like "The Rainmaker". As others have articulated, anything by The Flower Kings buries most commercial music out there. In my opinion, however, they can do better than this. "Space Revolver" proves me right.