The Flower Kings family

Or the Roine STOLT family ?

1. Transatlantic

Pete Trewavas - Mike Portnoy - Neal Morse - Roine Stolt
Bass - Drums - Keyboards - Guitars
All : Voices

Studio Albums

SMPT:e (2000)

Named after a recording technique. Funny fact, they never met to record this album, each one did his part and then Neal Morse mix them up. 'All Of The Above' the 30 minutes ruler of the album set the base for what this band become, 'My New World' A Roine Stolt main idea... and a cover 'In Held T'was' original by Procol Harum (1968).

Bridge Across Forever (2001)



2nd studio album. Two main epics 'Duel With The Devil' (26 min) and 'Stranger in your Soul' (30 min), 1 outstanding not-so-epic-for-them-but-still-epic 'Suite Charlotte Pike' (14 min) and the 5 minutes cherry in the top of the gigantic pie 'Bridge Across Forever'.

Demos and Mixes


Bridge Across Forever Bonus Disc (2001)



'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' studio version, 'Smoke on the water' more like a jam, some studio chat and work in progress, 'Dance With The Devil' is an early 'Stranger in Your Soul' choir and at last, some Stolt demo that had been prepared before the recording of 'Bridge Across Forever'.

SMPT:e The Roine Stolt Mixes (2000)



This is the same as SMPT:e but mixed by Roine Stolt. Highlights a remarkable version of 'My New Word' which main difference is the layers of guitar added all over.

The Transatlantic Demos by Neal Morse (2003)

Listen to early version and choirs of the tracks that ended up in 'Bridge Across Forever' and a funny recorded message of Neal to Mike.

Live Albums

Live In America (2001)

By this time they had only one album released.
They filled in with covers : Some 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in Mystery Train, a Genesis medley (Back in NYC, Watcher of the Skies, Firth of Fifth) and a cover from each band 'There is More to This World', 'Go the Way You Go', 'The Great Escape', 'Finally Free'.

Live In Europe (2003)

One of the all time epic prog statement. The fantastic 4 + the amazing Daniel Gildenlöw teach us what is prog about.
The beatlesque track 'Charlotte Pike' is turned into a meddley with the last half of 'Abbey Road' spread all over it. This version has a live version of 'Shine on you crazy diamond' at the end.
+ A double DVD pack.

Line up in the European tour :
Gildenlöw - Stolt - Trewavas - Portnoy - Morse

2. Agents of Mercy

This is a collaboration between Stolt and some dude named Nad Sylvan. Good guitars, keyboard, and so on. Also Jonas Reingold is credited because he did bass parts.

Agents of Mercy - 2009

Dramarama - 2010

3. The Flower Kings

They are the culmination of decades of development of the idea of "progressive music". The leader of this phenomenal band is the incredible Roine Stolt, previously the guitarist and co-composer of Swedish prog rock band Kaipa in the 70's. After doing disco albums for about ten years in the 80's he released the amazing album The Flower King in 1994 and from then on the Third Wave of Prog was born (though some say Anglagard started it, or even others before them). After the warm reception Stolt got from The Flower King, he decided to form a band based on the idea of creating amazing progressive music. Over the years he assembled an amazing collection if supremely talented musicians such as Jonas Reingold (leader of Karmakanic and also a member of The Tangent and a reformed Kaipa) and Tomas Bodin, known for his own solo albums which Roine helped him to produce.

Back in the World of Aventures - 1995

The first official Flower Kings album but sometimes considered the second by people who don't consider The Flower King a Roine Stolt solo album. Like The Flower King, Roine seems to have followed the formula of sandwiching amazing instrumental songs between equally amazing epics (with some vocal songs in between the instrumentals). The epics are, in this case 'World of Adventures' and 'Big Puzzle'.

Retropolis - 1996

Roine dropped his "instrumentals between epics" idea on this album, and began focusing on songs.

Stardust We Are - 1997

Unless you count Humanizzimo, this is the first Flower Kings album to contain a "mega epic". In this case, the song is the title track, Stardust We are. Though the rest of the album is quite good as well, it is in fact the centerpiece (even if it's at the end :o) ). Other highlights are the energetic 'In the Eyes of the World' and the unusual 'Circus Brimstone'.

Space Revolver - 2000

This time the album is sandwiched between two epics that are both parts of a whole, 'I Am the Sun'.

The Rainmaker - 2001

Highlights are, as usual, the epics : 'Last Minute on Earth', 'Road to Sanctuary', and 'City of Angels'. I happen to have the bonus tracks for this album which are consisting in a 2nd CD.

Flower Power - 2001

The first half of this album is the "mega mega epic" Garden of Dreams. It is an 18-song, hour long awesome suite of music. It is very unfortunate that the rest of the album isn't nearly as good. I read a review once for this album that suggested Garden of Dreams should have been its own album while the rest should have been reworked and released as something else. I completely agree.

Unfold the Future - 2002

At 2 1/2 hours, Unfold the Future is The Flower Kings' longest album. It even contains two mega epics : the first track, 'The Truth Will Set You Free', and the ending track, 'Devil's Playground'. Personally I think both are equally amazing, but most people tend to tell they prefer 'The Truth Will Set You Free'. The rest of the album is not quite as memorable as these epics, but it is still quite good. Also memorable is the normal length epic, 'Silent Inferno'.

Adam & Eve - 2004

Roine seems to have quit singing for this album, as Hasse Froberg seems to be much more noticeable. Epics are again at the beginning and end : 'Love Supreme' at the beginning and 'Driver's Seat' at the end. This is also the last album to have Daniel Gildenlow of Pain of Salvation as an official member. He sings lead vocals for the first and only time on the song 'A Vampire View'.

Paradox Hotel - 2005

Yet another incredibly long album, though still not quite as long as Unfold the Future. Paradox Hotel has a few really good epics like the mega epic 'Monsters & Men', and a few regular epics like 'End on a High Note' and 'Minor Giant Steps', however I think the whole album comes together so well that the whole thing might just be one huge epic. The only dark spot is Bavarian Skies, which was intended as a joke but ended up failing :P

The Sum of No Evil - 2007

Quite possibly my favorite album. While it only contains six songs, three of those songs are around 12 minutes long, and a fourth is at mega epic length, 25 minutes. The other two songs are around five minutes each, and one of those is a strangely delightful instrumental composed by Tomas Bodin.

3.1. The Flower Kings - Live Albums

And now is time for live albums. what to expect here? Lenghty recodings, epics half hour tracks everywhere, jam, prog jam, more epics and more jams.

Édition Limitée Québec (1998)

First Bootleg one might say. Is a short 45 minutes recording with jams and improvs.

Alive On Planet Earth (2000)

First Official live album. 1 hour 55 Minutes, at 2000 they were released 5 albums, so its a good source of early live material.

Live in New York (Official Bootleg) (2002)

Live at NEARFest 2003

This is an The Flower King's concert at the North East Art Rock Festival in Pennsylvania United States in 2003. It's four songs bootlegged.

Live in Nurnberg @ Hirsch (2003)

Meet The Flower Kings (2003)
2CD's and/or 2 DVD's

One of my two all time favorite live albums. Epic in every track and as a whole, 2 hours 33 minutes in 6 tracks (7 because Garden Of Dreams is cut out in two parts) a live show with little audience, made with the specific goal of releasing a live album and DVD.
At this time the line-up includes the amazing Daniel Gildenlöw giving hands at keyboards, guitars, percussions and stuff ; the a-show-by-its-own on the percussion kit, also whistle, chains bells, clown wannabe, and lot of noisy stuff Hasse Bruniusson, and of course the usual musicians Roine Stolt, Tomas Bodin, Jonas Reingold, Hasse Frogberg and Zoltan Csörsz. Thought it'll be more a drummer team along with Bruniusson and Gindenlöw at some parts.

The DVD gives 153 minutes of concert plus some short 'on the road' video takes of the band members.

BetchaWannaDanceStoopid!!! (2004)

This a collection of improvisations that Stolt grabbed from his bootleg archives and the whole sound has a surprinsingly good quality.

I dare you to recognize a name from the tracklist :
01. The Bridge Fetish (12:56) - 02. This Is The Night (6:59) - 03. BetchaWanna (Daytripper) (18:06) - 04. Bellydancers From Hell (10:35) - 05. Don't Forget To Flush (5:28) - 06. The Modal Acid Dance =Bonus= (10:11) - 07. Gold Fish In Bowl Trap =Bonus= (13:06). From where those titles are coming from ? Music is quite... no, very annoyous and difficult to listen to.

Southern Kings (Osby, Sweden) (2004)

A rare bootleg. Almost 2 hours, jams... Not good audio quality.

Circus Brimstone - BrimStoned In Europe (2005)

Circus Brimstone is TFK without Hasse, without the lead singer in their latest album you might think Sstolt got to sing more than he usually does. Well no ! They played a whole instrumental set statring with 'Cosmic Lodge' a piece from one Stolt solo album.

Instant Delivery (2006)

This is from the 'Paradox Hotel' Tour, so most of its tracks are from that album, but it picks a few tracks from every TFK album and even has some improvisations, like the 'Hey Jude' inside 'A kings prayer'.
The highlights for eg. could be 'Pioneers Of Aviation', powerful 'Life will kill you', 'Blade Of Cain' is played, and the ending of 'A kings Prayer'.
On a curious note, Stolt messed up a bit the lyrics in that one and Hasse jumped in to the rescue!
2 hours 31 minutes of live material, can't complain ;o)

Carpe Diem (Live in USA) (2008)

As far as I know this is the only recording Drummer Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson) have done with the band. 'Psychedelic Postcard' is played.

3.2. The Flower Kings - Fanclub albums

The Flower Kings are so full of ideas that even fan club albums are lengthy.
Usually full of bizarre, rare and experimentation stuffs and a lot of sense of humor. Good to listen to if you are a fan, not a good set to start with in this guys music.

Fan Club 2000

Fan Club 2002

They play Karmakanic (before the album release) in a kinda cover of 'Welcome To Paradise'.

Fan Club 2004

Includes a unusually heavy track called 'Psyconaut' in which Hasse screams his lungs out very a la heavy metal like.

Fan Club 2005

Discovery of the band Moon Safari with track #8 'Doorway'. This is not a real cover but a way to make know the band by the way of TFK..

4. Tomas Bodin

Well he is Mr keyboards... What would prog do without them... Here we have the solo discography of a master of the Hammond, the Mellotron and various other keyboards.

An Ordinary Night in My Ordinary Life - 1999

Pinup Guru - 2002

Sonic Boulevard - 2003

Swedish Family : Vintage Prog - 2004

This album is a pretend "Greatest hits" of a 7O's prog band called Swedish Family. This is clearly a joke, as the album is simply a solo album by Tomas Bodin :P

I AM - 2005

This album is unlike his previous four albums in that it is not simply instrumental, it is in fact a super epic three-part concept album that is both partly-autobiographical and fictional. It is rumored to be the first part of a three - part series, and for the love of the God.

Cinematograaf - 2008

Like I AM, this album is unlike previous solo albums of Mr. Bodin's, but it is not similar to I Am in any other way. It is a semi-ambient album that was created in the style of a movie score. I don't like this one a lot.

5. Kaipa

Ingemar Bergman, Tomas Eriksson, Roine Stolt, Marcus Österdahl
(original line-up)

One of the basis in the country that was about to become the standard in prog music. A band of four with a 17 years old Roine Stolt just starting and a very proggy keyboards by Hans Lundin marked the way so Kaipa became one of the most appreciated acts in the 70’s (ni Sweden at least).

Kaipa (1975)

Can you imagine being a lead guitarist at 17 years old and writing half of the album that would become a classic and fix a new standard in the 70’s prog era? Roine can, the whole band can, they were all young and fans of the good old happy / melancholic early 60’s music. This instrumental album has a very unique sound, imho reproduced only by Änglagård later in the 90’s -- Possibly :o)

Inget Nytt Under Solen (1976)

Second album was a bit less original than the 1st but keep the same spirit, you can heard much more complex compositions all over.

Solo (1978)

Händer (1980)

First album without Roine Stolt.

Nattdjurstid (1982)

Again with the 8O's beats...

Stockholm Symphonie (1993)

A live radio show (no audience) recorded after the first 2 albums and released in 1993, Stockholm Symphonie is an extremely rare, very limited, Japanese pressing that is almost impossible to find. Very recommendable .

Notes From The Past (2002)

An amazing beautiful comeback for the band, this time with Roine Stolt and also a female singer Aleena Gibson.



Aleena Gibson

Keyholder (2003)

Great addition to the Kaipa discography.






Mindrevolutions - 2005

High quality prog vintage with great tunes from the Roine Stolt's guitars.


Angling Feelings (2007)

A beautiful album ... if you like Aleena's voice, as Stolt is gone, she can sing all that she wants The music is really high quality prog.

6. The Tangent

Here's one of my fave modern prog bands. A highly recommended project by Andy Tillison. Full of epics and prog riff thats reminds you of the early 7O's good old prog also a bit of the Parallel or 9O Degrees sark agressive side but moderate.
This international progressive rock supergroup was formed in 2002 by keyboardists Andy Tillison and Sam Baine of Parallel or 9O Degrees and The Flower Kings guitarist Roine Stolt, bassist Jonas Reingold and drummer Zoltan Csörsz. The septet was completed by renowned saxophonist David Jackson of Van Der Graaf Generator and multi-instrumentalist Guy Manning. Since 2003 amid several personnel changes.


Members are/were : Andy Tillison, Guy Manning, Jakko Jakszyk, Theo Travis, Roine Stolt, David Jackson, Jaime Salazar, Jonas Reingold, Zoltan Csörsz.

On june 30, 2008 Tillison informed that The Tangent and Beardfish unite (to fill the places left due to Reingold, Salazar and Jonsson depart) and that both bands will also continue existing by their own. They just made only one album.

The Music That Died Alone (2003)

The World That We Drive Through (2004)

Pyramids and Stars (2004)

An official live bootleg ... As called :o)

A Place In The Queue (2006)

Going Off On One (2007)

Not As Good As The Book (2008)

7. Roine Stolt

A prog genius ? A prog genius !

Guitarist / singer /composer Roine Stolt led two of his country's most successful progressive rock bands : Kaipa in the 1970's and the Flower Kings from the 1990's onward. His distinctive guitar style combined David Gilmour's debonair mid-tempo, Steve Howe's sharp edges, and Frank Zappa's virtuosity. Or still somewhere between Beatles style and Canterbury style. His vision of a positive world governed by beauty (akin to Yes singer Jon Anderson or Neal Morse) gave his music an aura that appealed to many progressive rock fans.

Bands/Projects (albums) :

• The Flower Kings
• Transatlantic
• Kaipa
• The Tangent
  
• Agents Of Mercy
  
• solo
  
• ...

The Flower King (1994)

Hydrophonia (1998)

Wall Street Voodoo (2005)

8. Karmakanic

Jonas Reingold : Electric and fretless bass, additional keyboards
Göran Edman : Vocals
Zoltan Csorsz : Drumkit
Krister Jonsson : Electric and Acoustic guitars


Guests musicians : Roine Stolt, Jaime Salazar, Zoltan Csörz, Johan Glössner, Göran Edman, Robert Engstrand, Hans Bruniusson, and Tomas Bodin, not all of them at the same time though. :o)

Entering the Spectra (2002)

Wheel of Life (2004)

Who's The Boss In The Factory (2008)

9. The Power of Two

And the story still goes ahead. Under the name The Power of Two Karmakanic + Agents of Mercy have made a live which combines members of the both formation : Göran Edman - Vocals (Yngvie Malmsteen)
Nad Sylvan - Vocals & keyboards (Unifaun), Roine Stolt - Guitars, vocals & keyboards (Flowerkings & Transatlantic), Lalle Larsson - Keyboards, Jonas Reingold - Bass (Flowerkings), Nick D'Virgilio - Drums & vocals (Spocks Beard, Tears For Fears).

This Live USA 2009 is basically for fans. 

To be continued ;o)