MUSIC REVIEW: The Flower Kings - Stardust We Are

"Solid album, less filler than you might expect."

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, Genesis, and ELP, but there's lots more here. There are 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 and 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 its demonstrates proggy 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 epic prog ballads I've ever heard. The vocal melodies in the ten-minute ballad are completely engaging, 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 that evokes an epic journey. "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 less prominent 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.