The Flower Kings

瑞典這個北歐國家在90年代前衛(wèi)搖滾復(fù)興中始終扮演著一個重要角色，90年代早期在深受King Crimson風(fēng)格影響的瑞典樂團(tuán)Anekdoten以及Anglagard光環(huán)之后，The Flower Kings所處的位置似乎有些尷尬，但隨著全世界新起的以Spock's Beard引領(lǐng)的新前衛(wèi)搖滾浪潮之風(fēng)下，The Flower Kings逐漸在瑞典乃至全世界站穩(wěn)腳跟，并且在近兩年，由于Spock's Beard中的核心人物Neal Morse的退出，The Flower Kings已經(jīng)漸漸成為了主流前衛(wèi)搖滾領(lǐng)域中的領(lǐng)軍人物！
 
Roine Stolt是The Flower Kings的首腦，在1994年，他以個人名義發(fā)行了一張名為The Flower Kings的專集，盡管在記錄上這并非TFK的首張專集，但所有人都可以認(rèn)為這就是TFK的雛形，因?yàn)檫@個除了Bass和鼓手與現(xiàn)任不同的陣容已經(jīng)維持了整整10年。當(dāng)時Roine Stolt的理念是與70年代在歐洲相當(dāng)著名的本國前搖樂團(tuán)Kaipa相靠攏，其實(shí)Roine Stolt在1975年年僅19歲的時候就已經(jīng)是Kaipa的主音吉他，看得出，他對Kaipa有著相當(dāng)深厚的感情，乃至于在TFK已經(jīng)相當(dāng)成名了之后他還于2002和2003年參與錄制了Kaipa時隔多年的新專集Notes From The Past（2002）、Keyholder（2003），可以說是幫助Kaipa獲得了重生，與年少時的伙伴再次一起同臺的感覺相信對他來說也是非常美妙。
 
Sweden played a crucial part in the progressive rock revival of the 1990s, but amid dark-sounding King Crimson-influenced bands like Anekdoten and Anglagard, the positive-thinking Yes-enlightened act the Flower Kings felt almost out of place. Yet, the Flower Kings became, along with the American Spocks Beard, the 90s prog rock band with the largest fan base, the biggest sales, and the widest international appeal.
 
The Flower Kings came to life in August 1994, but retrospectively, their first album came out before their inception. That year, guitarist/singer/composer Roine Stolt, who enjoyed relative European fame in the 1970s as a member of the Swedish progressive rock band Kaipa, brought together ex-Jonas Hellborg drummer Jaime Salazar and ex-Samla Mammas Manna percussionist Hans Bruniusson to record a solo album, The Flower King. Stolts music was graced by a Jon Anderson-like aura and combined complex structures with catchy heartfelt melodies, and the prog fans welcomed the album with open arms. Roine brought in brother Michael Stolt (bass, vocals) and longtime friend Tomas Bodin (keyboards) to perform the material live, and thus the Flower Kings were born and The Flower King, the album, is now usually perceived as the bands first.
 
Back in the World of Adventures was released in November 1995 on the bands own label, Foxtrot Music, and contained the stage favorite Big Puzzle, while the Flower Kings started to tour in Europe. It was shortly followed by Retropolis (May 1996), the bands most 70s-influenced album to date, which yielded The Judas Kiss and There Is More to This World, still arguably one of their best anthems. Retropolis helped the Flower Kings reach Japan, South America, and North America (especially Quebec). The mammoth two-CD set Stardust We Are, which included In the Eyes of the World, Church of Your Heart, and the 25-minute epic Stardust We Are, was released in 1997. With four albums (including one double CD) released in less than four years, music critics around the world started to wonder how Roine Stolt managed to write this fast. Obvious filler material on Stardust We Are had people thinking the band should have been a bit more selective and made it a one-CD affair. Still, the bands fan base was growing, as were the sales. A compilation album, Scanning the Greenhouse (containing a fantastic rendition of Genesis The Cinema Show) was released to prepare Americans for the bands first U.S. tour, and a limited-edition CD containing live improvisations and unreleased tracks was issued by Ipso Facto for the Quebec market, while Roine Stolt released his critically acclaimed solo album Hydrophonia — all in a years work.
 
Another two-CD set, Flower Power, saw the light of day in early 1999. Even more ambitious, it contained the 60-minute suite Garden of Dreams and the quirky Psychedelic Postcard, which paid tribute to one of Roines main (although rarely detected) influences: Frank Zappa. Flower Power was the bands first album to be released in the U.S. by Inside Out Music America, which acquired rights to the bands complete catalog for domestic distribution. The Flower Kings first live album, Alive on Planet Earth, was released in 2000 while Roine was touring with the supergroup Transatlantic (with Pete Trewavas of Marillion, Neal Morse of Spocks Beard, and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater). A new studio album, titled Space Revolver, followed later that year with bassist Jonas Reingold replacing Michael Stolt. Unfold the Future appeared in 2002, with the live set Meet the Flower Kings following in 2003. Paradox Hotel was released in 2006.