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)
World Without a Heart
The Flower Kings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When it's getting out of hand, how am I to understand
And then you may think there's no turning back
Running low on self esteem
falling back into your dream
There's this endless hole in the wishing well
Wish you were somebody else
Would you play a part in the scheme of things
And I will depend on you, if you show me how to do
We are the troopers, pick up the losers
and turn into a better day
Pick up the sceptics, the non believers
and turn into a brighter day
And the winner smiles and she takes it all
And you are lonely and afraid,
but she doesn't look your way
And they know the drill, taking you apart
And the world that you have known
is a world without a heart
We are the troopers, pick up the losers
and turn into a better day
Pick up the sceptics, the non believers
and turn into a brighter day
When you turn away and lock all your doors
When it's getting out of hand, how am I to understand
And then you may think there's no turning back
Running low on self esteem
falling back into your dream
We are the troopers, pick up the losers
and turn into a better day
Pick up the sceptics, the non believers
and turn into a brighter day (x2)
(reverse)
Who can tell the price of learning,
steppin out and turn the key
slow and steady fire burning,
feeding on it's self esteem.
The Flower Kings’s song "World Without A Heart" speaks to the struggles of feeling alone and disconnected. The first stanza illustrates the feeling of being shut out by someone, leaving the singer feeling lost and confused. There is an underlying sense of vulnerability and sadness as they try to make sense of the situation. The chorus is a call to action for those who feel like they are troopers in life, picking up the "losers" and "non-believers" along the way to turn them into a better day. The lyrics express the idea that while life can be cruel and heartless, it is possible to find hope by helping others.
The second verse touches on the desire to be someone else, but feeling too afraid to ask for help. The singer is stuck in a world without hope, until someone takes notice and reaches out to help them. The winner in this scenario is the one who “takes it all,” while the singer is left feeling lonely and forgotten. The final chorus brings back the message of hope, while the last few lines are a reminder that there is a price to be paid for learning how to overcome life’s obstacles - it takes time, patience, and the willingness to face your fears.
Line by Line Meaning
When you turn away and lock all your doors
You're shutting yourself out from the world and refusing to let anyone in
When it's getting out of hand, how am I to understand
I don't know what's going on with you and I wish I could help
And then you may think there's no turning back
You feel like you're stuck in a bad situation and don't know how to get out
Running low on self esteem
You're losing confidence in yourself
falling back into your dream
Escaping reality and retreating into your own thoughts
There's this endless hole in the wishing well
You keep hoping for something better, but it never seems to come
Wish you were somebody else
You're unhappy with who you are and think someone else would have it better
but too afraid to ask for help
You don't want to admit to your struggles or ask for assistance
Would you play a part in the scheme of things
Are you willing to take action and make changes in your life?
And I will depend on you, if you show me how to do
If you can guide me and show me the way, then I'm willing to follow your lead
We are the troopers, pick up the losers
We're here to support those who are struggling and help them find their footing
and turn into a better day
We want to help create positive change and make things better
Pick up the sceptics, the non believers
We want to inspire and encourage those who don't have hope or faith
And the winner smiles and she takes it all
The person who succeeds may not care about those who struggle and get left behind
And you are lonely and afraid, but she doesn't look your way
You feel isolated and scared, but the successful person doesn't pay attention to you
And they know the drill, taking you apart
Those who are successful or in power may use it to dismantle those who are vulnerable
And the world that you have known is a world without a heart
The world can be cruel and uncaring, especially towards those who need help the most
Who can tell the price of learning,steppin out and turn the keyslow and steady fire burning,feeding on it's self esteem.
We can never fully know the challenges and costs of making changes and trying to improve ourselves
Contributed by Tristan W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
raegoul22
excelente temaaaa...TFK rulz!!
gerard gioda
The best group in the world, with a wonderful song !!!!!
Angel Grimalkin the sweet boi cat
Awesome
Hatch Radio
If you like this song please tune into Hatch Radio,
https://www.radionomy.com/en/radio/hatch/index
Not trying to spam, just sharing good music that doesn't get enough airplay or attention.
Thank you.