Formation
In early 1993, guitarist and singer Roine Stolt had written material for his third solo album The Flower King and sought for musicians to perform it. He had wanted to release a progressive rock-style album for a while and felt the time was right to pursue the project. The album features Stolt on vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards, Jaime Salazar on drums, and Hasse FrΓΆberg on vocals, and was recorded in Sweden between May 1993 and January 1994.
In preparation for Stolt's concert tour to support the album's release, Stolt, Salazar, and FrΓΆberg were joined by Stolt's brother Michael on bass and Tomas Bodin on keyboards. The five performed their first gig on 20 August 1994 at an outdoor festival in Uppsala, Stolt's hometown and the city where The Flower King was recorded. After they decided to become a full time band, they officially adopted the name The Flower Kings, named after Stolt's album. Stolt had produced a list of potential titles for the record, one of which was "The Flower King", and chose it because of its positive meaning and its reference to the hippie era of the 1960s.
Activity
After performing a series of concerts through 1994, the band entered the studio in December 1994 to record their debut album, Back in the World of Adventures. The recording process was gradual, finishing in September 1995.
In 2000, Michael Stolt was replaced by Jonas Reingold. Two years later, Salazar was replaced by Zoltan CsΓΆrsz. Daniel GildenlΓΆw of Pain of Salvation joined the band the same year as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist.
Other contributors have included Hasse Bruniusson (percussion) and Ulf Wallander (saxophone).
Stolt has written the vast majority of the material the band has recorded, with Bodin contributing most of the rest. The music is best described as symphonic progressive rock, bearing a strong resemblance to the music of Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and early Genesis, with jazz fusion and blues influences. The band's lyrics are almost uniformly positive and uplifting, affirming such values as love, peace, and spirituality, and furthering their association with Yes.
Their 1999 album Flower Power contains the eighteen-section, almost 60-minute "Garden of Dreams".
In June 2007, they released The Road Back Home, a compilation of remixed songs from 1994 to 2006, plus "Little Deceiver" (a previously unreleased track) and the full version of their cover of "The Cinema Show" by Genesis.
Zoltan CsΓΆrsz was replaced by new drummer Marcus Liliequist for one album, but returned for the 2007 album, The Sum of No Evil. He was subsequently replaced by Erik HammarstrΓΆm in 2008.
In 2008, Ola Heden, previously of Reingold's side project Karmakanic, joined on guitar, vocals and keyboards.
In November 2008, the band were the opening act of the Ecco Prog Fest in Moscow.
After touring in 2008, The Flower Kings were inactive for four years. Stolt felt the band had varied levels of focus in their direction and had started to feel lost. They reunited in 2011 to work on new material after Stolt felt it was the right time and sensed eagerness from the other members to work together. This marked the arrival of German drummer Felix Lehrmann. Banks of Eden, the group's eleventh album, was released in June 2012 and was recorded with analogue recording techniques and styles reminiscent of the height of vinyl records. This was followed by Desolation Rose in October 2013.
The line up of Stolt, Bodin, Reingold, FrΓΆberg and Lehrmann played together for the last time in 2015. 2016 and 2017 saw the bandmembers busy with other engagements.
In December 2017, the first part of a career-spanning box set titled A Kingdom of Colours was released. This first box, with 10 discs, covers the period from 1995 to 2002 and includes the studio albums from Back in the World of Adventures to Unfold the Future. The second box set, titled A Kingdom of Colours 2 and covering the albums Adam & Eve through to Desolation Rose, was released in June 2018.
In September 2018, Stolt announced a new album named Manifesto of an Alchemist. The album did not feature long-time keyboardist Tomas Bodin, and as such it is credited to "Roine Stolt's The Flower King" rather than "The Flower Kings"
In August the same year Roine Stolt presented a new band called "Roine Stolt and friends play The Flower Kings". The band featured Stolt, FrΓΆberg and Reingold with new keyboard player Zach Kamins and new drummer Mirko De Maio. Roine Stolt stated that he was done being in a group and wanted to tour as a solo artist like Roger Waters or Steven Wilson. Tomas Bodin was not a part of this group and made his displeasure quite public. The band toured with Spockβs Beard in November and December 2018 and continued to do shows in 2019, this time under the name "The Flower Kings Revisited".
In July 2019, "Revisited" was removed from the band name, making it clear that this line up was now "The Flower Kings". The band went on to release the double albums Waiting for Miracles in 2019 and Islands in 2020, the latter having been recorded entirely remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 24 March 2021, Roine Stolt announced two big projects. The Flower Kings are working on a brand new album "in the same innocence" of Stardust We Are. On 19 April 2021, Roine officially teases that Stardust We Are is getting a brand new vinyl remaster.
On April 8th 2022, InsideOut and Roine Stolt announced that Back in the World of Adventures and Retropolis were getting "remastered and partly remixed". The release date for both was placed on May 27th 2022. Also Stardust We Are and Flower Power are getting remixes and remastered in June.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flower_Kings
Studio albums
The Flower King (1994)
Back in the World of Adventures (1995)
Retropolis (1996)
Stardust We Are (1997)
Flower Power (1999)
Space Revolver (2000)
The Rainmaker (2001)
Unfold the Future (2002)
Adam & Eve (2004)
Paradox Hotel (2006)
The Sum of No Evil (2007)
Banks of Eden (2012)
Desolation Rose (2013)
Manifesto of an Alchemist (2018)
Waiting for Miracles (2019)
Islands (2020)
By Royal Decree (2022)
Painter
The Flower Kings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stand by me and make me smile, make us wonder for a while
Angel paint my world in green, open up a world unseen
Lay me down on wonder weeds, so love is all we really need?
The world is falling apart, but I'm still falling in Love
Sisters they've have fallen from Grace, now shaken, confused and dazed
You mayspin the stars around my hart, but simplify my piece of art
Angel paint my world with light, ride my fear, ride thru the nigght
Don't make me scream. just make me sing,
now make some sense of everything
The world is falling apart, but I'm still falling in love
The clouds may fall from the sky, Kings may not stay all time high
The world is cracking the seams, noone knows what it means
the last few couple of spins, the soaring beauty within.........
Angel paint my night with stars, speak to me of who we are
Talk to me of days to come..........'til the end, until I'm done
The lyrics to "Painter" by The Flower Kings are essentially a request for an angel to paint the world in various colors, in order to provide a sense of wonder and beauty in a world that is falling apart. The first verse asks for gold to justify the world, green to open up an unseen world and wonder, and wonder weeds on which to lay down so that love can be all that is truly needed. The second verse asks for red to bring roses to a flower bed, to spin stars around the heart, and to make a piece of art that is simplified. Lastly, the request is for light to ride through the night, make sense of everything, and not make the singer scream but sing. The final request is for the angel to paint the night sky with stars, to speak of who we are and of days to come, until the end.
Considering the tumultuous times in which we live, the lyrics to "Painter" can be interpreted as a plea for beauty, wonder, and love to coexist with the chaos and uncertainty. The idea that the world is falling apart is a common fear that many people face, and the singer in this song seems to be seeking comfort and reassurance in the form of a peaceful and beautiful world that is just beyond reach. The idea of simplifying art and focusing on love also appears to be a response to the complex and confusing nature of the world as it currently stands.
Line by Line Meaning
Angel paint my world in gold, justify the world, behold
Ask a higher being to make your world perfect, reveal its true beauty
Stand by me and make me smile, make us wonder for a while
Stay close to me, bring happiness, inspire curiosity
Angel paint my world in green, open up a world unseen
Create a fresh world, show me new things and possibilities
Lay me down on wonder weeds, so love is all we really need?
Surround me with beauty and nature so that love is the only important thing
The world is falling apart, but I'm still falling in Love
Despite challenges in the world, love perseveres
Sisters they've have fallen from Grace, now shaken, confused and dazed
Women have lost their dignity and are struggling
Angel paint my world in red, bring roses for my Flower bed
Create a passionate world, bring love and beauty
You may spin the stars around my heart, but simplify my piece of art
Make life exciting, but keep it simple
Angel paint my world with light, ride my fear, ride thru the nigght
Bring hope and courage, be with me even in the darkness
Don't make me scream, just make me sing, now make some sense of everything
Help me find meaning and harmony, give me joy and understanding
The clouds may fall from the sky, Kings may not stay all time high
Anything can happen, even the powerful can fall
The world is cracking the seams, no one knows what it means
The world is becoming unstable, it's unclear what will happen
The last few couple of spins, the soaring beauty within.........
Despite chaos, there is still beauty in the world
Angel paint my night with stars, speak to me of who we are
Enrich my life, help me understand my place in the universe
Talk to me of days to come..........'til the end, until I'm done
Help me look to the future, guide me until the end of my time
Contributed by Jayce E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.