The Flower Kings - Space Revolver

Pretty good modern prog album.


The Flower Kings' music took me awhile to warm up to. Maybe I've never fully warmed up to it. Sometimes prog is easily accessible and it becomes more engaging as you pick up the wonderful nuances of each song. Not so with Flower Kings. While it has its catchy moments and moments of awesome progginess, you can't really appreciate this one until you spend a lot of time listening to it. If you're already a Flower Kings fan, it won't take as long, but it's still a bit of 'work'.

But it's worth it... mostly! The two part epic "I Am the Sun" (that opens and closes the album) is brilliant, weaving intricate soundscapes and moving from heavy moments to a more jazzy groove (and many other changes) very smoothly. "Dream on Dreamer" is a ethereal, strange song that doesn't really seem to serve much purpose aside from moving into the next track. The cool instrumental "Rumble Fish Twist" is a crazy 8-minute ride...it's exhilarating and fun at first, but then it changes and becomes a slow, lugubrious tune that leaves you feeling down (in a good sort of way). "Monster Within", one of the album's longer tracks, took a really long time to really get into (for me, at least), but it's strong prog moments make it one of the better tunes. The song seems to meander a bit at times though and loses focus. A common issue with Flower Kings epics. "Chicken Farmer Song" is a silly, upbeat tune that remains the catchiest song on the album even if it's the cheesiest (it's probably a guilty pleasure to like it, but whatever...it's cool). "Underdog," "Slave to Money" and "A King's Prayer" are all solid tracks, while "You Don't Know What You've Got" -- which is principally a pop song -- is okay but it sounds like something you'd hear on Lite FM.

All in all this is a good album, but although I like Flower Power and Stardust We Are more. If you're new to Flower Kings, I'd go with one of those. If you're already a fan, pick this one up.