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)
Vox Humana
The Flower Kings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
See them riding kites across the sky
Take them gently in, into the new design
See if the magic will prevail
If you listen close now, you can hear a stream
Running from a sacred place within
Calling gently without promise but a dream
Now this moment all the pieces find it's home
Strung high, but touch gently
We can figure out the steps that need to be
To get home, see clearly
The one future
Sincerely depend on you
Any way you like it, any way you hope
Any of the details of your dream
You can make it happen as you realize
The gates of Eden lies within
Everybody loves you, even try to care
Dive into the multicolour scene
You can stop the nursing of the deadly sins
And give the wheel of love a spin
Now this moment all the pieces find it's home
Strung high, but touch gently
We can figure out the steps that need to be
To get home, see clearly
The one future
Sincerely depend on you
We all depend on you
I am You and you are Me
Now straight from the heart
Your dreams will tell you where you will begin
It's straight from the source
The image from a long forgotten dream
Look into the flow
Your thought will dance into the evening sun
As good as it gets
We all remember days of future spent
The lyrics to "Vox Humana" by The Flower Kings convey a message of hope and the power of kindness and love. They urge us to take care of children and cherish their innocent and playful nature. The song encourages us to listen closely to the quiet voice within that guides us towards our dreams and passions. The idea of a "new design" symbolizes the power within each of us to create a better future for ourselves and those around us.
The lyrics also speak of the importance of letting go of negative influences and embracing love instead. The line "You can stop the nursing of the deadly sins" implies that we should focus on loving and caring for ourselves and others, rather than indulging in harmful behaviors. The idea of everyone depending on each other is emphasized with the phrase "I am You and you are Me."
The overall message of the song is one of hope and positivity, urging listeners to embrace love and kindness and to follow their dreams.
Line by Line Meaning
See the children playing in the evening sun
Observe the innocent youth participating in an enjoyable activity beneath the sunset
See them riding kites across the sky
Take notice of the children controlling the aerial movement of their objects high above
Take them gently in, into the new design
Provide them with a peaceful entrance into a fresh, innovative way of living
See if the magic will prevail
Examine whether or not the enchantment will continue on its own
If you listen close now, you can hear a stream
When attentive enough, one can perceive the sound of water flowing nearby
Running from a sacred place within
Emerging from a location that is considered to be holy to an individual
Calling gently without promise but a dream
Quietly beckoning without any guarantee beyond an aspiration
To let the flood of love begin
Initiating the rush of attachment to multiple individuals
Now this moment all the pieces find it's home
Currently, everything falls into the right, comfortable place
Strung high, but touch gently
Fixed far up above, yet deserving of handling with care
We can figure out the steps that need to be
Together, we're capable of determining the necessary courses of action
To get home, see clearly
To efficiently reach a state of familiarity, one must perceive their surroundings with accuracy
The one future
A sole destiny awaits us all
Sincerely depend on you
I rely upon you in earnest
Any way you like it, any way you hope
In whatever manner pleases or brings hope to you
Any of the details of your dream
All aspects of your vision for the future
You can make it happen as you realize
You possess the ability to turn your desires into reality once you comprehend them
The gates of Eden lies within
The entrance to paradise resides internally
Everybody loves you, even try to care
All others feel affection towards you and attempt to demonstrate it
Dive into the multicolour scene
Fully immerse yourself in a variety of vibrant environments
You can stop the nursing of the deadly sins
It's possible to cease the upbringing of immoral vices
And give the wheel of love a spin
Take the initiative to begin the cycle of fondness
We all depend on you
Each of us rely on you
I am You and you are Me
I am identical to you, and you are identical to me
Now straight from the heart
Completely sincere, from one's very core
Your dreams will tell you where you will begin
Your aspirations signal the start of your journey
It's straight from the source
It proceeds directly from the origin
The image from a long forgotten dream
A picture originating from a far-removed memory
Look into the flow
Stare at the progress of forward movement
Your thought will dance into the evening sun
Your mind will joyfully move along beneath the setting sun
As good as it gets
Reaching the maximum level of satisfaction
We all remember days of future spent
Each of us reminisces about memories that haven't come to fruition yet
Contributed by Gianna B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.