Customer Reviews

Wall Street Voodoo

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I get the feeling that this album has been germinating in Mr. Stolt's mind for many years.

Over the years, we Flower Kings fans have easily recognized his early prog influences such as Yes, Genesis, Crimson and ELP (among others), and his Gibson Les Paul guitar styling has frequently had a very Steve Howe-ish sound. But just as Howe was deeply influenced by some seemingly unlikely suspects like Chet Atkins and Bob Dylan, Stolt bares his soul (no pun intended) on Wall Street Voodoo with nods to some of the early blues-based guitar masters of the late 60's.

For me, this album answers a lot of questions about why Stolt has used certain effects, riffs or political lyrics in recent TFK outings where I thought they sounded a bit awkward or out of sync with the rest of a particular song or album concept. (I'm thinking of the rockier "Don't Let The Devil In", "Monkey Business", "Adam and Eve" and "Genie in a Bottle"; or the more political "Thru the Walls", "Devil's Playground" and "Slave to Money"). In the past, I always attributed it to the quirkier Zappa side of Stolt; but now I suspect it was just Stolt trying to let these important root yearnings of his out to see a little light of day. Even the name of the group and many of their album covers have evoked the "flower power" era of rock 'n' roll.

There's a lot of great music here folks, with inventive guitar solos galore. Just as some blues and classic rock sounds tend to creep into the occasional TFK composition, Stolt has a little trouble keeping some prog from peering around the edges of this latest album of rhythm and blues (and that's just fine with me!). And I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that part of the reason that you can't totally escape the TFK sound here is because along with Stolt and TFK drummer Marcus Liliequist, you have bassist Jonas Reingold(?) masquerading as "Victor Woof", and keyboardist Tomas Bodin(?) as "Slim Pothead" - am I right, Roine?

The first disc starts off with four really good tunes - cool lyrics, catchy refrains, and lots of layered guitar. I love the slide guitar (a la Duane Allman and George Harrison) that shows up in many of the songs. The middle few songs on this disc get a little repetitive for me, and can get pretty angry-sounding. But the disc finishes nicely with a Joni Mitchell cover ("Sex Kills") and "Outcast".

He does more voice effects on the second disc, and quite honestly, I've just never been a big fan of that. So while I absolutely LOVE "Remember", "Hotrod" and "People That Have the Power...", I don't care for portions of "The Unwanted" (great instrumental section, though), the Lou Reed-ish/near-rap of "It's all about Money", or the sittin'-on-my-front-porch-strummin'-my-guitar "Mercy" (mercifully short in duration).

So, as with many TFK albums, one is left with an album that's filled about 85% with just awesome, creative music - dare I say, the best being made today (even when it's not prog!). But then you have to endure the less-than-optimal quirkier stuff that the artist feels compelled to do, but may not quite jibe with your interests. Thus my 4-star rating.

I strongly suspect that, with this project out of Stolt's system, the next Flower Kings album is going to be that PERFECT one we've all been anticipating. (Yeah, I'm a pathetic optimist ;-) If you are an exclusive prog rock listener, you should probably pass this album up. But if you are an overall rock music lover, or if you have an open mind to music, and especially if you are a fan of Swedish guitar-god and hippie-wannabe Roine Stolt, this album is INDISPENSABLE in understanding and enjoying more of this man's great music. It's far out, man.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 8.1/10; Performance = 9/10; Production = 9/10; CD length = 10/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.7 ("4 stars")

Ah, politics in music again, we just can't seem to escape it these days, can we? I am a long-time Roine Stolt fan and have been dazzled by the music on this album, so I'll let his idealistic anti-capitalist rants slide. Anyway,this project is supposed to be Stolt's nod to his musical influences of the sixties and that decade was nothing if not quite radical in many ways.
I am politically a very conservative guy, but being of the sixties I can see where Stolt is coming from with his lyrics here. He is asking questions that never get answered and shows his irritation with a world that seems to be spiralling into a cesspool of greed, corruption and degeneracy. Wall Street Voodoo, idealistic yet somewhat naive, is the reborn spirit of the sixties and it should be refreshing, no matter your politics, to hear such an eloquent expression of discontent as this is.
I like the whole CD, though there are parts that seem a little drawn out. But to me, the highlights are many, and they are as follows:
Disc 1:
1)The Observer-a sledgehammer of anti-capitalist invective with a soulful refrain.
2)Head Above Water-features an excellent Deep Purple style organ interlude.
3)Dirt-Powerful, accusing lyrics and gripping instrumentation.
4)Everyone Wants To Rule the World-With the exception of the refrain, this overflows with Floydian lyrics and imagery.
5)Spirit of the Rebel-A driving, pounding vision of hopelessness.
6)Dog With A Million Bones-a bitter polemic against those who have no wants yet will not share. Some great Luddite invective.
7)Sex Kills-An old Joni Mitchell tune, bitter and enraged, fits perfectly with the spirit of this CD.
8)Outcast-In my opinion, the best song among many good ones. Here are the blues. Its not a BB King ripoff as someone claimed, I hear it far closer to Peter Green than to BB King. Sublime blues guitar and desolate lyrics will mesmerize you!
Disc 2:
1)Remember-A great rocker, with a whiff of Crazy Horse. This just cooks.
2)Its All About Money-Who can disagree? Good lyrics with a lame semi-rap delivery, but instrumental portion excellent.
3)Everybody Is Trying To Sell You Something- True enough. A funky lyrical reiteration of the theme of The Observer.
4)People That Have The Power To Shape The Future-Great song taking a crack at the emptiness of a life devoted to serving a faceless corporation. Even if you are a company man/woman, you must experience similar feelings at some point in your career. Great soulful vocals.
Wall Street Voodoo is one CD I will be promoting for a long time, at least until Stolt records something even better! If you have an open mind and a love of dynamic and interesting music, then don't miss this. An album such as this one comes along only rarely.

Okay, I went out and bought the new FLOWER KINGS cd 'Paradox Hotel' when it came out last week, and since there was such a good deal from amazon if I bought stuff over 25 bucks, I decided to grab this release.. two days ago both arrived.

I have not yet listened to the new FLOWER KINGS cd yet.. although I am looking foward to it... I decided to listen to the release I thought would take less time to absorb.. and normally the side releases of any band member tends to be less valuable than the output from a whole band.. but this is a rare example of breaking that rule.

Songs like DIRT, EVERYONE WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, THE UNWANTED are just three songs over the two disc's that really stand up and grab you outright... but there are so many..

GUITAR playing on this release is just out of this world. There are keyboards on this release, but the tendency to show them off on a typical Flower Kings is absent on this release.. this is all RS jamming and doing it in ways that are not quite typical of RS playing...

Sometimes RS does a completely convincing Jimi. Clapton. Zappa. Quite incredible. And if you like Guitar playing like I do, you will love this CD.

What makes this quite enjoyable is the fact that I didn't quite expect to have this much guitar, and neither did I expect to hear ex Spocks Beard frontman Neal Morse.. and it was all this bonus boost that really makes this release a smash.

I really think that if you like the Flower Kings or anything to do with good guitar playing.. you need to get this CD. Simple as that!

Have fun

I don't understand why some people are so shocked that Roine Stolt put out a blues solo album. It is very clear to me that Roine is a very good blues guitarist. There are heavy blues influences all over the place in previous Flower Kings albums

Roine's lyrics on WSV are nothing like the lyrics I have heard on previous Flower Kings albums in the following ways. They don't sound like they came straight out of 1968. They are political, and I found that interesting. They are much less spiritual than the lyrics he wrote for the FK albums in the past.

Roine's voice works on a blues album. I was somewhat worried that a man singing the blues with a Swedish accent wouldn't work out well, but he pulled it off brilliantly.

Neal Morse was not an asset to this album. I'm not sure what Neal's problem was, but it seemed to me that he somehow managed to impose a Beatlesque overtone on some of these blues songs. It didn't work for me at all.

This album would have been better if it was a single CD. If Roine had forced himself to put everything he wanted on this blues album in one CD, it would have been incredible!, Sometimes less is more. That's why I gave this album only 4 stars.

Anyone that can't hear a blues influence in Roine's guitar work with The Flower Kings has to take the wax out of their ears. It's all over the place in very heavy doses.

If anyone reading this likes the blues, buy this album. I think you'll enjoy it. Roine is a spectacular and talented guitarist. He is a first class blues guitarist as well.

I wish Roine had released this album on a blues label. I believe many blues lovers would be happy to have it in their collection. It was released on a prog label, probably because The Flower Kings are a prog band. It's a shame more blues lovers will never have a decent chance of hearing this album.

If you are thinking of buying Wall Street Voodoo, the new solo album of Roine Stolt, you'd better forget about the countless prog monuments Stolt has created with his own band The Flower Kings or his side projects with Transatlantic, The Tangent, and even Kaipa. As clearly stated, this is a solo album and it's meant to differ from his progressive rock driven back catalog tremendously, as Stolt has stated many a time during the making of this album that Wall Street Voodoo was going to be a tribute to his earliest inspirations, mostly focusing on blues rock. It sure is interesting to discover Stolt's musical background and see him reaching back to his roots and finding every little element that made him pick up the guitar and make music. Although this is primarily a straight-up blues rock disc mostly emphasizing Stolt's guitar playing, some of the songs are also decorated with late-60's era political texts.

With two discs and over 115 minutes of music, Wall Street Voodoo features only two of Stolt's band mates in The Flower Kings: Hasse Bruniusson on percussion and new drummer Marcus Liliequist who also played on Tomas Bodin's amazing I Am album earlier this year. The other musicians, however, are unknown at this point, as they seem to be using fake names due to contractual obligations. On bass, there is a guy called Victor Woof; while someone named Slim Pothead handles the piano, Hammond and keyboard duties. No worries though, they both do a mighty job on the album, especially given this isn't one of those discs where excellent instrumental ability is required. Not to imply they couldn't pull off more challenging tasks, but it just seems they are a great fit for Stolt's material on hand. Also, there is another musician called Gonzo Geffen credited as the percussionist also responsible for 'loop treatments'. Finally, we have a great guest on the disc, Stolt's band mate in Transatlantic and the former Spock's Beard songwriter: Neal Morse. Morse not only contributes a good deal of vocal lines, but he also plays his unique Hammond solos on more than a few cuts.

Seeing as they are all heavily blues inspired, the songs are hard to tell apart in most parts. That said, some of them do stand out with interesting traits, be it melody, arrangement, vocals, or simply guitar and Hammond solos. The first disc decidedly has a more unified nature, as it isn't as experimental and quirky as the second one. It begins with the 11-minute "The Observer" which has a great wah guitar section with harmony vocals that lead into the relatively more upbeat and funky piece "Head Above Water". One of my favourites on the album, this song is more concise (and therefore more effective) and features an extended guitar and Hammond interplay where both Stolt and Morse create magic. Arguably, the longer songs can be a bit monotonous, given they stick to Stolt's love for 60's blues and cause the album to lose some of its momentum. Whereas the shorter, and by short I'm still referring to 6+ minute tracks, songs have a better flow and spontaneity. "Spirit of the Rebel" is one of these tracks, starting in a very dark and moody style with oddly tuned guitars, before it leads into a classic rock tune with jumping bass lines and 4/4 drum beats. On "Dirt", Stolt not only plays delicate acoustic guitars, but he also overdubs his vocals delivering a sociopolitcal message. I love the clean blues guitar tone he employs in the runout solo of this piece. The first disc is sealed with a nice Joni Mitchell cover (awesome bends by Stolt here) and the slow yet haunting blues piece "Outcast", a song that must have been inspired by the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.

As stated earlier, on the second disc, Stolt, while still retaining his bluesy leanings, also utilises more modern soundscapes and funk rhythms. "The Unwanted" has a very different vocal style as well as a drawn-out middle point where all you hear is silence and sparse Moog sounds. The song then segues into a pretty Hammond lead and combines with the more modern sounding "Remember". Electronics, synth effects and a funky bass drive are heard on "It's All About Money", one of those longer songs whose ending is a bit too repetitive for my tastes. Stolt's love for funk guitar is continued on "Everybody is Trying to Sell You Something" and mixed with quirky synth signatures. The shortest piece "Mercy" has one of the weirdest vocal recordings of Stolt where his voice is overtly processed and harmonised with what seems to be an equally processed voice of Neal Morse. The duo sing together over acoustic guitars, but their lyrics are hard to follow. Percussion and loops on "People That Have the Power to Shape the Future" bring the album to its end, with more odd vocals from Stolt. Personally, the first disc has more appeal to me, because it is more direct and honest in its delivery.

With all of these things taken into consideration, Wall Street Voodoo certainly serves its purpose as a solo album, and I am glad Stolt got these ideas out of his system in order not to be confused during the writing process for the next Flower Kings offering. Because they really wouldn't work in a progressive context, hence his choice for a solo album.

First off, go buy this CD if you were brave enough to follow the Flower Kings musical explorations now you have the challenge of embarking on a new adventure with Roine's new CD! I found it particularly refreshing and filled with great lyric content and great guitar riffs (of course). But the meaning behind the songs very much apply to the tragic shape we are in on this planet today. I can totally relate to this CD. Very great work by a modern master songwriter and guitarist. And if you like like blues-rock stylings and Hendrix/Claptonesque music stylings you are gonna love this CD. If you just want a repeat of The Flower Kings you will be a little disappointed because the idea is to do something that sets it apart and Roine has succeeded in giving us something different to listen to but also has created something equally as strong as any of his other work.

Roine Stolt, The Flower King and arguably the godfather of modern Prog, releases his first solo recording in six years and the fourth of his career counting 1994's "The Flower King". This is a two-disc set but editing it to a single disc would have made for a stronger album and left the listener hungry for more. However, that is not Roine's style and sometimes his TFK output suffers from the same affliction.

This is, admittedly, not a Prog record. Here, Roine pays tribute to the music of his youth - straight-ahead rock and blues with a little jazz thrown in. It kind of reminds me a bit of what Steve Morse did with his Major Impacts releases.

Roine reveals to us his alter ego - The Rocker. His lyrics, and his guitar, bite. Instead of the sensitive, Flower King-seeking, new age Prog man, we meet a man who is cynical and more than a little bitter. In veiled commentary, he takes on the current U.S. administration and the Iraq war with standard issue, Hollywood-style, left-wing arguments. In fact, he is sounding very Daniel Gildenlow-like. Roine even peppers his lyrics with a few expletives, and like Bruce Springsteen last year, drops his first recorded F-bomb.

In It's All About The Money, Roine sings, "Too many towers have been struck down lately, Because of decisions from the business chambers ". Is he referring to the Twin Towers? I hope he is not laying blame for 9/11 on "greedy corporate America" thereby justifying the actions of radical Islam. Say what you will about President Bush and the War, but please do not trample on our collective memory of what really happened on that day.

With an album that pays homage to the music of the `60's and `70's - a period scarred by the memory of Nixon, Vietnam and social injustice which was well documented by the music of the day - it is interesting that Roine makes a record that reflects a world which finds itself in similar circumstances today. Like Sting said, "history will teach us nothing".

Politics aside, there is some fine music to be found here. Roine is sincere about this music and he appears to be having some fun.

Those of us who have been debating the chops of new Flower Kings' drummer Marcus Liliequist have plenty of opportunity here to listen to his work. He is a competent rock drummer. No question should remain about that. However, one still wonders how he will do in the more elegant Prog arena. The wait will end in a couple of weeks when the new Flower Kings CD is released.

There may have been an opportunity here for Roine to attract some rock guitar fans who have a hard time with Prog. However, due to the length of most of the songs, the average rock fan would probably lose interest. Roine will have to be content with allowing the average Prog fan a little diversion and cementing his reputation as all-around first-rate talent. The amount of quality music this man has produced in the last ten years is mind-blowing.

Stand out tracks:

The Observer - Nice bluesy guitar work built on a traditional rock `n roll riff

Head Above Water - Starts of with a Cream-like wha wha guitar line and vocal harmonies. Features Neal Morse on lead vocals. Radio-friendly if this was 1972.

Unforgiven - An ominous title given to otherwise upbeat and catchy (and danceable) shuffle.

Sex Kills - A rockin', first-class remake of the Joni Mitchell song (I think I hear a cowbell!).

Outcast - Soulful blues. I love Roine's voice but this is made for someone like Robert Cray. Nice keyboard work by Slim Pothead (widely thought to be Tomas Bodin).

Remember - The follow-up single to Head Above Water if this was 1972. Neal Morse sounds great here.

Everybody is Trying to Sell You Something - Roine slides into the 80's sounding like Talking Heads in a weird way.

Mercy - A strange little tune but I like it a lot. The acoustic guitar is so moving and sounds so lonely. Reminds me of Stephen Stills.

This is NOT a Flower Kings CD. And that IS NOT a bad thing. But, it IS a Roine Stolt CD! That means you are getting great song writing and phenomenal guitar playing. Those who turn their noses up at progressive music need to look into this recording, just to discover Roine Stolt. I really do not consider this a prog work at all but a fine group of songs with a wide variety of styles.

With songs of a shorter nature and much more "main stream" rock influenced do you think Roine might finally get discovered by main stream rock stations? Don't count on it. He is just too darn good and creative for them. We get to keep him as "our little secret".

The only reason I gave this CD only four stars is because I find a couple of the songs kind of boring. (Hey, everything can't always be five stars)If I reach for my CD's skip button at any point that means only four stars. I got tired of "Outcast" pretty quickly. But, putting out a double CD with every song being "killer' is a tall order.

This is a "must buy" for any TFK fan and anyone who loves outstanding guitar work. He is one of the best around today.

Had to wait for Christmas to get this one. A great CD. Powerful, bluesy, and his lyrics have improved to the point of being very prolific. Guitar playing is outstanding. The production is top notch. His and Neal Morse's vocals are very good. The band is crack. I believe all his Flower King mates are on board with psuedonyms( Victor Woof and Slim Pothead)due to contractual obligations. Get it and see what we are all raving about.

I am a big time Flower Kings fan, which segues into maybe the ONLY problem with Wall Street Voodoo. That is, you might expect a Flower Kings vibe from this work. Actually, this is one of the best things about this work; that it is NOT a FK work! It is something genuinely unique.

The best thing about this work is that it just WORKS! It takes a few listens, but once you get the vibe it stays with you on repeated listens. The guitar work is absolutely SUBLIME. The composition is outstanding. However, the composition early on does not seem to be as complex or intricate as FK. Over time, one realizes that this is not the case. The composition is up there with FK. The song writing is superb. Again, it takes more than one listen to really appreciate what Mr. Stolt has created. He really hits the woes, tribulations, and problems our world is facing and he does so in a way that touches the soul.

I have the FK concerts on DVD and would like more of them. But, I would treasure a concert DVD of this work. I think that it would really play well live! Some people criticize Mr. Stolt because he doesn't move around much when playing live. I could care less about this because seeing him and the band play live is just out of this world. Why would anyone care if he jumps up and down. He is a master guitarist and that is good enough for me.

In closing, any fan of incredible, colorful, soulful, and varied guitar work should treasure this work. Moreover, like FK, the songs vary in composition, tone, and presentation. Admittedly, on early listens I did not think that Wall Street Voodoo was comparable to FK albums. But, it definitely can stand up to any of them IMHO. Don't get me wrong, I own and love the entire FK catalog. Maybe I have heard the FK albums so many times that I needed something with Mr. Stolt that was different. Bottom line, this is a great work of art!