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 Fröberg 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 Fröberg 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 Csörsz. Daniel Gildenlöw 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 Csörsz 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 Hammarström 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, Fröberg 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, Fröberg 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 Spock’s 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)
Timelines
The Flower Kings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Embedded them years in the texture of skin
Slide down the timeline of youth and sobriety
Passing the filters of acceptance and charm
All of a sudden you're rocking he cradle
Born out of love for the memory spin
One hand the rattle, the other a hammer
You can't fight time and you can't just shine on
Like in big bold American style
There is no facelift to cover the scars
So just sit back and enjoy for a while
My generation is fresh out of school
My generation is close to the rim
Shuffle the options of life's complications
Scrambling the landmarks, still wearing it thin
Trading your freedom for a lifetime achievement
Sign up for life on a path that grow dim
Chained to the customs and daily routines
Things will be different, but God knows when
You can't fight time and you can't just shine on
Like in big bold American style
There is no facelift to cover the scars
So just sit back and enjoy for a while
The ticking of time is non reversible
So sit back my friend, enjoy the ride
All of a sudden you're rocking he cradle
Born out of love for the memory spin
One hand the rattle, the other a hammer
You know racing with time is where you can't win
The Flower Kings's song Timelines describes the unstoppable nature of time and the different stages of life that each individual goes through in their journey. The lyrics invoke a sense of nostalgia and contemplation while highlighting the inevitability of aging. The first few verses talk about how time passes by silently and leaves its imprints on a person's skin as embedded timelines. The song then talks about how youth and sobriety, once things that one takes for granted, slip away as one moves through filters of acceptance and charm. The lyrics then touch upon the idea of starting a family, and how it can seem like a fast-forward of time where there's no way to keep up. There's a sense of acceptance of the inevitability of aging, and the lyrics advise us to sit back and enjoy the ride, for we cannot fight time or shine like a big American star. The final lines of the song reiterate this unique message with the idea of having one hand holding the cradle and the other a hammer, a metaphorical representation of how we cannot have everything at once in life and must find satisfaction in what we have.
Overall, the lyrics of Timelines are introspective and thought-provoking, evoking a sense of nostalgia and melancholy while advising the listener to accept life as it comes and make the most of it. The song reminds us that we are all on a journey through time, and there's no way to turn back the clock or stop it from ticking. Instead, we must embrace the changes that age brings and find joy in the little things in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Time is a thief and timelines invisible
The passing of time is like a thief stealing our moments, and we cannot see or predict the timeline of events in our lives.
Embedded them years in the texture of skin
Our experiences throughout the years become a natural part of us that we cannot erase.
Slide down the timeline of youth and sobriety
As we age, we move along the timeline of our lives from our youthful and sober days.
Passing the filters of acceptance and charm
Throughout our lives, we undergo various social filters that require us to fit in and be charming in order to be accepted.
All of a sudden you're rocking he cradle
In a sudden moment, we can find ourselves becoming parents and caring for a new life.
Born out of love for the memory spin
Our love for the memories we create gives birth to new memories.
One hand the rattle, the other a hammer
We have to balance our playful and nurturing side with our more serious and practical side in life.
Racing with time is where you can't win
Trying to outrun time is impossible, and we must learn to live in the moment and appreciate the time we have.
You can't fight time and you can't just shine on
We have to accept that time will pass and change us, and we cannot simply ignore or deny it.
Like in big bold American style
The American culture often emphasizes a youthful and energetic lifestyle that cannot be sustained forever.
There is no facelift to cover the scars
We cannot cover up the effects of time on our lives, no matter how much we try to hide or mask it.
So just sit back and enjoy for a while
We should take a moment to relax and appreciate the good things in life, rather than constantly trying to stay ahead of time.
My generation is fresh out of school
The singer's generation is recently graduated from school.
My generation is close to the rim
The singer's generation is approaching a turning point or a crucial moment in their lives.
Shuffle the options of life's complications
We have to sort through the complex options and decisions that life presents to us.
Scrambling the landmarks, still wearing it thin
We may feel lost or unsure of our path in life, even as we try to maintain our composure.
Trading your freedom for a lifetime achievement
We often sacrifice our freedom and spontaneity in order to achieve long-term goals and success.
Sign up for life on a path that grow dim
We may commit to a path in life that will ultimately fade away or lose its luster.
Chained to the customs and daily routines
We may feel trapped by the expectations and routines of daily life and society's customs.
Things will be different, but God knows when
We cannot predict when or how our lives will change, but we can have faith that they will.
The ticking of time is non reversible
Time marches on, and we cannot reverse or undo its effects on our lives.
So sit back my friend, enjoy the ride
We should relax and appreciate the journey of life, even as it takes us through ups and downs.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Vladimir Nestorović
That chorus.