Customer Reviews

Stardust We Are (2CD)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Weird as it seems, that title is the primary image the Flower Kings give me. Their style is primarily rooted in not-quite-copying ELP, Genesis and Yes, but they perpetually reach for anything and everything else they can think of; keyboard-heavy prog, straight rock, harmony-laden pop, classical, Baroque, reggae, folk, psychedelia, anything is fair game. They're a magnet for every overused 'pretentious' cliche the critics can dig out yet they seem utterly ego-free. Their reach is so far-flung that I can't help wondering if they'll ever grasp it all. Such bombast (I don't mean that as a bad thing) is perfectly suited to the grand sweeping double-album epics that marked the 70s prog movement, and they take full advantage of it with the monstrous 145 minutes of Stardust We Are. Just about any fan of said movement will like at least two-thirds of it.. provided they can stomach a generous helping of grand orchestrations with enough different keyboards to give Keith Emerson a headache. (If you don't know who Keith Emerson is, you probably shouldn't even be reading this review yet. Try Trilogy by ELP.)

All the other classic elements are here - three tracks stretch into the ten-minute zone and the three-part closer clocks in at a grand 25. That title track builds its mood with fantastic imagery and a wonderful piano bridge before soaring into space on an impossibly high-flying chorus. In anyone else's hands it would seem like pure cheese, but somehow it's utterly captivating. I consider "Circus Brimstone" the standout of the extended tracks, a dark carnival packed full of instrumental twists and turns that take days or weeks to get your head around. It seems the perfect complement to the acoustic wizardry of "...Ordinary Guitar" and the grand folk of "Man Who Walked With Kings." As a side note: occasionally I wish the group's mastermind Roine Stolt would take his own advice and "shut up just this once." Their instrumental tunes seem to invariably remain my favorites, and if the Flower Kings ever put out an entirely instrumental album I'd probably play it more than all the others combined. But that's just me. Speaking of instrumentals, I have to mention the beautiful solo piano of "If 28" and the dreamy forest groove "Don of the Universe." Wonderful stuff.

While the Kings quite often fall into the trap of sounding 'prog' rather than actually being progressive, they've got a nice knack for melody and there's a whole lot to appreciate in Stolt's guitar work. There's more stylistic variety in one of their discs than many others manage in a decade. If you haven't heard them yet, go for Space Revolver first.. if you don't like all those pretentious groups from the 70s to begin with, then you've been plenty warned.

Swedish prog rockers The Flower Kings are an accomplished group of musicians with influences deeply rooted in the 70s' progressive scene. The most prominent influences I hear are Yes and ELP, but there's lots more here. There are infrequent times when The Flower Kings veer dangerously close to aping their prestigious influences, but luckily they are skilled composers who can rely on their own imagination as less on the established conventions of the genre.

Stardust We Are is a monster of an album, spanning two discs for about 140 minutes of music. One might suspect that such an lengthy studio work would contain reams of filler material, but actually this is not the case. For the most part, Stardust We Are is a strong collection of songs. With a few tracks the album slips into mediocrity, but when the albums shines it's sheer excellence.

The energetic opener "In the Eyes of the World" is a good dose of solid progressive music, but it's far from the best this disc has to offer. "Church of Your Heart" is one of the most perfect songs I've ever heard. The vocal melodies in the ten-minute ballad are completely beautiful, with vocalists Roine Stolt and Hans Froberg trading leads to inject the most emotion into any given verse. After this, the album moves into instrumental territory. "Poor Mr. Rain's Ordinary Guitar" is a pleasant treat to some low-key acoustic wizardry from Roine. "The Man Who Walked With Kings" is an AWESOME, grandiose and uplifting instrumental. "Circus Brimstone" is a crazy instrumental, whose dynamics are enough to provide plenty of steam for its 12 minute length. It's pretty wacky stuff. The first disc closes with "Compassion," where Roine Stolt reveals one of his more subtle influences, Pink Floyd. There's a very cool instrumental section at the end (pushing the song beyond the indicated length), which is like Floyd's "On the Run" taken to the next level. The mesmerizing synthesizers make for an engaging section.

The second disc is as strong as the first, even though some average songs drag it down. The quick little instrumental "Pipes of Peace," where the band introduces the recurring theme from the massive title track, is strictly pipe organ, and it has a soaring, stately sound. "The End of Innocence" is melancholy and quite frankly I find it a little boring, but the next track, "The Merrygoround" compensates for this. As the name implies, it is a light, happy song, completely enjoyable. "Don of the Universe" is another big instrumental, this time not as overtly quirky as "Circus Brimstone," but still laudable. "Different People" and "Kingdom of Lies" are merely average pop/rock songs. Not bad, but not too memorable. "If 28" is a nice piano-only track. No pompous musicianship here, it's just a nice, melodic song. "Ghost of the Red Cloud" is cool, and I dig the faint Celtic touch. After yet another mini-instrumental, the album moves into its 25-minute magnum opus, "Stardust We Are." Here we have three sections and myriad musical ideas seamlessly merged together, forming a big prog epic. Unfortunately, like most of the Flower Kings long songs, it's awfully random, without much unity. The first two sections, sung by Roine Stolt, are plainly his best vocal performances. Before the inspiriting final movement launches, Tomas Bodin performs an killer classical piano solo (I'm a piano nut). Froberg sings the final section, with lots of emotional power and showing that he is probably the better singer between Roine and himself. The soaring chorus comes close to giving me goose-bumps.

So out of 140 minutes of music, there's probably 20 minutes that fail to impress. If you want to get mathematical, that makes for about 86% great music, which is enough to qualify for a solid rating, in my book. Not to mention the fact that the album is a great value, costing only a little. That's like two great prog albums for the price of one. Not a bad deal by any standard.

Truly a post-prog masterpiece. The perennial problem with many neo-prog bands is an annoying tendency to write "Close to the Edge Part II" and not be too creative. Sweden's Flower Kings evade this by doing their own thing...though what that is, I'm not quite sure! Led by guitarist/writer/guiding light Roine Stolt, they take you on a zany, breathtaking, spiritual, hilarious, bizarre journey through the realms of Yes, Genesis, Zappa, psychedelica, fusion, pipe-organ hymns,folk, and God knows what else...from the opening Hammond shuffle-crunch of "In the Eyes of the World" to the majestic, uplifting "Church of Your Heart" to the schizoid fusion instrumental "Circus Brimstone" to the haunting, almost industrial "Compassion" to the energetic world-beat playfulness of "The Merrygoround" to the pseudo-reggae "Ghost of the Red Cloud" to the masterful, 25-minute epic prog closer "Stardust We Are", the Kings leave few stones unturned. Keysman Tomas Bodin, singer Hans Froberg, bassman Michael Stolt(since replaced by Jonas Reingold), and drummer Jaime Salazar all navigate Roine Stolt's varied compositions with a cohesiveness that keeps you from noticing that the songs are barely contained musical anarchy. Lyrically, they navigate the treacherous waters of the heart and soul, much in the tradition of Yes. Positive hippie ideals resound, social justice comments are pointed, and pleas for heartfelt sincerity abound, underpinned with some subtle, unoffensive, vaguely Christian overtones. Stolt has something here; I'm not even sure he realizes how much he has. He himself is an unsung guitar god, running the stylistic gamut from muscular, zany Zappaesque licks to Dave Gilmour bluesiness to Vai/Satriani sonic experimentation to inspiring Steve Howe-ish musical tapestries to soaring, melodic leads reminiscient of Allan Holdsworth. He finds his perfect counterparts in his Moraz-ish co-writer Bodin, his grooving rhythm section (whose drummer sounds like a reborn Jeff Porcaro!) and guest percussionist(anarchist?) Hasse Bruniusson who is featured on pizza plates, chains, trash can lids, bells& whistles, and general percussive mayhem! Go ahead and take a journey to Stolt's world of adventures and discover the Flower Kings--for, truly, stardust they are.

I've heard many complains about Flower Kings using filler tracks on their album. Well, I don't agree with that expression. If you ask the question "Which songs are the fillers?" you will get a different answer depending on who you're talking to. And just because a song is short and the only instrumentation is piano or acoustic guitar doesn't mean it's not real music. No, the thing with this album is that it demands a wide musical taste from the listener. If some tracks don't appeal to you, well then they're just not you're musical style.

I feel I'm one of the few who actually can enjoy every track here, although i like some more than others depending on my mood for the time. Some, like "Circus Brimstone", took a little extra time to get to like, but hey! I like music that takes time to get into, 'cause it often means they will last longer.

So, if you like the more symphonic and majestic kind of tunes with a grand and melodic chorus you'll probably like "In the Eyes of the World", "Just This Once", "Church of Your Heart", "End of Innocence", "Merryground", maybe "Compassion" and the title track "Stardust We Are". If you want the more verse/chorus oriented normal-length songs then go for "Different People", "Kingdom of Lies", "Ghost of the Red Cloud" and maybe a couple of the afore-mentioned tracks. The rest of the tracks are instrumental, but they're quite different from one another, so it's up to each and every one who can manage without vocals to decide what's tasty.

Last of all, I must give credit to these guys for making me happy, and for being a pride of my homecountry.

Truly a post-prog masterpiece. The perennial problem with many prog bands is an annoying tendency to write "Close to the Edge Part II" and not be too creative. Sweden's Flower Kings evade this by doing their own thing...though what that is, I'm not quite sure. Led by guitarist/writer/guiding light Roine Stolt, they take you on a zany, breathtaking, spiritual, hilarious, bizarre journey through the realms of Yes, Genesis, Zappa, psychedelica, fusion, pipe-organ hymns, folk, and God knows what else...from the opening Hammond shuffle-crunch of "In the Eyes of the World" to the majestic, uplifting "Church of Your Heart" to the schizoid fusion instrumental "Circus Brimstone" to the haunting, almost industrial "Compassion" to the energetic world-beat playfulness of "The Merrygoround" to the pseudo-reggae "Ghost of the Red Cloud" to the masterful, 25-minute epic prog closer "Stardust We Are", the Kings leave few stones unturned. Keysman Tomas Bodin, singer Hans Froberg, bassman Michael Stolt(since replaced by Jonas Reingold), and drummer Jaime Salazar all navigate Roine Stolt's varied compositions with a cohesiveness that keeps you from noticing that the songs are barely contained musical anarchy. Lyrically, they navigate the treacherous waters of the heart and soul, much in the tradition of Yes. Positive hippie ideals resound, social justice comments are pointed, and pleas for heartfelt sincerity abound, underpinned with some subtle, unoffensive, vaguely Christian overtones. Stolt has something here; I'm not even sure he realizes how much he has. He himself is an unsung guitar god, running the stylistic gamut from muscular Rainbowesque licks to Dave Gilmour soulfulness to Vai/Satriani shred to inspiring Steve Howe-ish musical tapestries. Go ahead and take a journey to Stolt's world of adventures and discover the Flower Kings--for, truly, stardust they are.

I'm just now checking in the neo-prog world, but not due to indifference - only due to ignorance of this late 90s resurgence. Like many other prog heads I know, I've been stuck in time listening to the 70s masters, because I thought it all died with them, when the godfathers of prog all faded away or "popped out" in the 80s. How wrong I was. And thank god for Amazon.com. If it weren't for one of their user lists showing up when I recently did a search for the new Yes DVD, I still would be completely in the dark about this band, as well as others like Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Dream Theater, of which I am now also a very pleased listener. The Flower Kings were popping up in just about every user's list of prog rock favorites that Amazon has posted. It only took me a few sound clips from Stardust We Are to place the order. And I'm finding it very difficult to not go right ahead and order every other CD this band has put out, but I'm resisting that temptation because I want to fully digest and appreciate this one first, and then get each other release one at a time. In other words, I want to stretch out the salad days of this newly found love affair as long as possible. This CD is absolutely brilliant. There really is no way to appropriately describe the excitement, beauty, or grandeur this band produces on this masterpiece. You simply have to hear it to believe how good it is. Two hours and twenty minutes of intelligent and sprawling compositions, flawless musicianship, heartfelt singing, and incredibly creative instrumentation. I have not given a higher recommendation for an album in over twenty years. It gets better every time I listen to it. I can only hope that fans keep spreading the word about this band, so that no one else will have to sit out there trapped in time, unaware that the old 70s prog masters have now finally been succeeded. May you live forever, Mr. Stolt!

Stardust We Are, released in 1997, is the third album from Swedish prog rockers The Flower Kings.

I thought Retropolis (their second album, released in 1996) was excellent. But Stardust We Are tops even that one!

The title track to this ambitious double album, alone, is worth just about any price you could pay. I'm listening to it now and I'm completely awed.

There are 20 tracks on this double CD, so I won't go into detail about every single one. All I'll say is that my musical tastes are very discerning. I look for the "magic" in music to reach out and give my soul a big wet kiss. Such magic is hard to find, granted. So when I find it, I'm truly astounded.

Stardust We Are is chock full of so much magic that I can barely take it all in. This album is captivating. There's so much variety here! So many instruments! So many tracks! So many clever nods to the prog giants of old. On CD Two, for example, you can hear the influence of Camel, ELP, Ozric Tentacles, Eloy, King Crimson, Genesis and Yes!

Yet, despite the obvious influences, The Flower Kings have seemingly done the impossible: They've created their own unique sound, with music that can be at once stirring and plaintive, haunting and invigorating. Some of the songs and melodies on Stardust are achingly beautiful ("If 28" being one) while others ("The Merrygoround," for example) set my toes tapping.

I'm so glad I started listening to Transatlantic, the side project for Flower Kings guitarist/singer Roine Stolt, Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas, Dream Theater drum monster Mike Portnoy and Spock's Beard keyboardist/singer Neal Morse. If it wasn't for Transatlantic, I probably wouldn't have discovered The Flower Kings. (By the way, the more I listen to all the bands that make up Transatlantic, the more awed I am by the sheer talent of Transatlantic, the prog rock supergroup to end all prog rock supergroups. Any one band, alone, is enough to blow you away -- if you're a prog-head, of course -- but one group containing members of all four bands!?!?! Truly unthinkable!)

For my money, The Flower Kings has the most variety and depth of any of the aforementioned bands. They're probably the most prog rock-like of the bunch, with the possible exception of Spock's Beard. Marillion has sort of shrugged off their prog roots to become...I really don't know what. And Dream Theater is prog METAL.

If you're a fan of music that'll transport you to another time and place, please do yourself a favor and buy a copy of Stardust We Are.

The Flower Kings is a band that really amazes me. I joined in later, my first CD was Space Revolver, the CD after this one. When I bought this album, I realised they have managed to "produce" three studio albums and one live album in about three years, from which three are 2cd versions also! That means you are either a successful but non-original and just "doing it for the money" band or just brilliant and extremely creative. Well, The Flower Kings definately belong to that second category. The music is brilliant, perfect. It's extermely energetic and beautiful and sensitive at the same time. Disc 2 is somewhat different from disc 1, but they are both great in their own way. I constantly have the feeling I'm listening to some kind of musical. If you like think Spock's Beard is good, this band is fantastic. I'll be seeing them live this week. Can't wait ...

Look folks its quite simple. Flower kings are the best working prog band on the entire face of the earth. They deserve to be known worldwide. I dropped out of the whole prog scene in the mid nineties and just through pure chance I came upon this band and it changed everything. They are the absolute perfect balance of musicianship and melody. The vocals are magnificent and Roine's guitar playing is i think unmatched. He is the best prog guitarist EVER! This is the sort of music you wish you heard after you are dead and living in eternity forever in bliss!

Following on the heels of Retropolis, one might get excited by the prospect of a double-length Flower Kings CD. Unfortunately, Stardust We Are is the first real indication of one of the Kings' big weaknesses: Too much material, and not enough discrimination to filter out the questionable stuff.

Stardust We Are doesn't really have a grade-A track on it, though it comes close with "Church of Your Heart", which is a strong ballad with surprisingly emotional vocals by guitarist Roine Stolt.

One of the album's big problems is that it's littered with short tracks of little consequence, like "Poor Mr. Rain's Ordinary Guitar", "Crying Clown", "Pipes of Peace" or "A Day at the Mall". Another is that the title track is a whopping 25 minutes long, and has maybe 6 minutes worth of good ideas (mainly the refrain). The instrumental "Don of the Universe" is a more complex and enjoyable song, and is based around the same melodies of "Stardust We Are", to much better effect.

The other long tracks are merely okay at best. "In the Eyes of the World" is a straightforward rocker with some pecular circus-like melodies, and it doesn't hold together very well. "Compassion" is a very downbeat - and dull - piece. "Kingdom of Lies" is an okay but rather transparent pop piece. "Different People" is a smooth and rousing track. "The Merrygoround" is the best of this lot, with some exciting vocals and enjoyable bridging sections. All-in-all, though, there's a lot which could have been edited down or left out entirely without losing anything important.

Slogging through a mediocre album in search of a few gems is tremendously frustrating; one wishes the album would just be honest with itself and get downright bad. Stardust We Are doesn't reach this point, and it never quite manages to get really good or really bad, and most of what is good about it shows up on other Flower Kings albums in greater quantity.

If you've been curious about the Flower Kings and have considered starting with Stardust (as some have suggested), my advice is that you go elsewhere. Back in the World of Adventures, Retropolis, or Space Revolver would be much better starting points, both in quality and in focus.