Unfold The Future

The Flower Kings | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Inside Out U.S.
• ASIN: B00006L83O
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,405 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Truth Will Set You Free: Lonely Road/Primal Instincts/From the Source

2. Monkey Business

3. Black and White

4. Christianopel

5. Silent Inferno

6. The Navigator

7. Vox Humana

Disc: 2

1. Genie in a Bottle

2. Fast Lane

3. Grand Old World

4. Soul Vortex

5. Rollin' the Dice

6. The Devil's Danceschool

7. Man Overboard

8. Solitary Shell

9. Devil's Playground

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Depth, variety, and originality, but still unmistakably prog, August 27, 2004

By 

Billy Hollis (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unfold The Future (Audio CD)

I like the Flower Kings in general because they do such a great job of melding classic prog influences with their own flavor, producing music you can listen to over and over. All their efforts are good, but this one has risen above the rest to become my favorite.

The first cut (The Truth Will Set You Free) is worth the cost of the album alone. It's their best single song on any album, and stacks up well to prog epics of any era. At over thirty minutes, it's got space for a lot of variety, and it has it, with nuances that remind me of bands like Yes, Traffic, and others. But it's not derivative - far from it. It's also more cohesive than many prog epics, and, like most other Flower Kings, has good lyrics to go with the music. If you like prog in general, but hate those goofy lyrics that seem to come along with much good prog, Flower Kings can be your solution.

I'm also fond of Silent Inferno on the first disk. It has a lot of instrumental segments, and they are a bit punchier than most prog. It illustrates the other advantage the Flower Kings have over many prog bands, which is an emphasis on cohesive compositions. In a lot of modern prog, I get the idea that the band members are mostly trying to show what virtuosos they are instead of concentrating on making good music. Not so with the Flower Kings.

All of the first disk is excellent. I did get tired of Monkey Business (the second cut) sooner than the rest, but not because it's bad - it's just not as deep a composition as the rest.

The albums biggest flaw is that the second disk does not come up to the overall quality of the first. It's not bad - just not as rich and deep. I find I listen to it only about a third as often as the first disk. But you could throw away the second disk, and still get one of the best prog albums ever made.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Early Yes Meets Fusion, October 9, 2003

By 

Gregory Shreeve (Salt Lake City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unfold The Future (Audio CD)

For those of you who are in your fifties: This album is like listening to old Yes and Weather Report together. What a killer combo, wouldn't you say? Disc 1 is unbelievable! A must-have album for you original prog rock lovers! Bass players!: You gotta listen to this one!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great background music interrupted by moments of brilliance, March 10, 2003

By 

"open-eared-one" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unfold The Future (2CD) (Audio CD)

There is no shortage of creativity here. Roine Stolt and the Flower Kings have assembled a tremendous display of ideas. You'll hear some great rock and fusion in parts of "Genie in a Bottle," "Fast Lane" and "Rollin' the Dice. And you will find several pleasant ballads including "Vox Humana," "The Navigator" and "Solitary Shell."

Add to this a pair of undistinguished improv-jazz pieces "Christianopel" and "Soul Vortex" and a pair of epic-length pieces without epic themes. The overall effect is dilution.

There are truly great passages included here, and plenty of them. Clear standouts are the symphonic "Silent Inferno," the bass and trumpet driven "Devil's Danceschool," the afore-mentioned sweet ballad "Vox Humana" and large sections of "The Truth Will Set You Free" and "Devil's Playground." The problem is that the filler quotient is too high. Each of the tracks mentioned here as standouts contain passages that add nothing to the mix, doing nothing to move the song along.

Had as much effort gone into editing as went into the initial creativity, "Unfold the Future" would have ended up a 60-70 minute masterpiece. Instead, it is a 2-hour set of damn good background music, interrupted by occasional moments of brilliance. I'll keep it in my collection, and I will pull it out from time to time, but it won't be getting the call with a great deal of frequency.