The Flower Kings-The Rainmaker (2001)

Disc One

1. Last Minute On Earth (11:40)

2. World Without A Heart (4:29)

3. Road To Sanctuary (13:50)

4. The Rainmaker (6:02)

5. City Of Angels (12:04)

6. Elaine (4:55)

7. Thru The Walls (4:31)

8. Sword Of God (6:00)

9. Blessing Of A Smile (3:12)

10. Red Alert (1:10)

11. Serious Dreamers (8:59)

Disc Two

1. Excerpt From Valkyrian (3:14)

2. Mr. Hope Goes To Salzburg (0:50)

3. One Whole Half (5:16)

4. Agent Supreme (2:32)

5. Violent Brat (4:31)

6. The Woman With No Shadow (2:16)

7. Interactive Section: Flowerkings Movie 1 (11:17)

8. Flowerkings Movie 2 (9:13)

Musicians:
Roine Stolt - vocals, guitars
Tomas Bodin - keyboards
Jonas Reingold - bass
Jaime Salazar - drums (this album marks Jaime’s final recording as he has now been replaced by 24 year old Hungarian drummer Zoltan Csörsz)
Hasse Fröberg - vocals, guitar
Ulf Wallander - soprano sax

No doubt most of us were very excited once we heard Space Revolver. The arrival of Jonas Reingold kind of introduced a different approach, so we were kind of wondering what the band could think of next in order to make it even more surprising. The new album marks the final Flower Kings album for long time drummer Jaime Salazar, and kind of reaches back to the Back Iin The World Of Adventures period. Starting with vocal exercises as delivered by the likes of the singers from Tuva (Siberia), of course everyone is 100% concentrated to know what is going to happen next during "Last Minute On Earth." Then the band sets in with a heavy guitar riff, soon to be backed by powerful organ, before introducing Hasse’s vocals. It once again becomes clear what an important role Tomas Bodin will play in creating the distinctive Flower Kings sound. It’s stunning how his Fender Rhodes electric piano suddenly has the power to stop all other instruments before introducing a wild and frenetic part leading towards one of Roine’s first guitar solos. Towards the end, Roine sings a very powerful melody before it’s time for Jonas to let his fretless bass shine in all its glory, even ending in pure improvisation. What an opening track!

Talking of strong melodies, wait till you hear "World Without A Heart" which holds some strong Steve Howe like guitar playing and a singalong chorus that blends with the acoustic nature of the song. Also note the Patrick Moraz-like inclusion of synth. Right at the very end there’s a reversed tape loop, which in a way wouldn’t surprise me if it was John Lydon with a backwards version of PIL’s "This Is Not A Lovesong"! The longest track on the album is the swirling "Road To Sanctuary," which the band feels holds a lot of ELP flavour whilst bucketloads of odd time signatures also come close to the mighty Zappa. Hasse certainly knows how to try his hand at singing a Brain Salad Surgery outtake. By means of a small bit of Oldfield guitar, the feel of the song changes towards ominous soundscapes, relieved by wonderful acoustic guitar that kind of introduces the warm Mediterranean climate. It’s once again Tomas Bodin’s glorious Hammond playing that takes the music into another, heavier direction. Title track The Rainmaker is built around a bolero mould, sporting some great orchestral arrangements and a guitar solo which holds the middle between metal and blues.

Stolt himself likes you to recall Relayer once you listen to "City Of Angels," which indeed holds a lot of pure Steve Howe licks plus the fact it’s done in the not so easy 11/8! It has loads of vocal harmonies swimming between the jazzy George Benson-like guitar interventions. There’s also a laidback, sunny, funky feeling running through the song before it glides into a climax introduced by Tomas’ majestic keyboards, letting the guitar shine through as if it were rays of sunshine. “Elaine” is a gentle song with Roine’s original vocals being backed by Reingold’s bass, mellotron and fragile twelve string. Will you be surprised when we say it gets close to vintage Genesis? Kind of a Wind And Wuthering feel creeps in during "Thru The Walls" not in the least because of the keyboard parts. Humour sets in when the Tuva tribe opens their lungs again! A female choir opens the path for "Sword Of God" which soon turns to unbridled heavy metal with Hasse being helped out by technology to get as close to Paul Rodgers as possible! There’s a short folky interlude in the middle before the fire hits the fan once again adding a fair amount of percussion.

Calm sets in with the almost medieval sounding "Blessing Of A Smile," also incorporating some soprano saxophone that blends ever so well with the low bass sound ending almost like "Los Endos." Again very Genesis like is the short instrumental "Red Alert," which sees vibraphone blend with the "logical" sounds. The Rainmaker ends with "Serious Dreamers" a storytelling song incorporating divine harmonies together with distinctive Flower Kings trademarks and even more Patrick Moraz-like synths before turning towards Genesis by means of twelve string guitar. Right at the very end, piano and guitar open up for a repeat sequence of the chorus, this time with more of a funky beat.

When I heard this album for the very first time I dare say I was disappointed. To me The Rainmaker felt less interesting than Space Revolver and it’s always difficult to take one step backwards. Ask the millionaire who just lost all of his money in Vegas! But then I listened to the album again and again and it kept growing on me time after time. It certainly is not as experimental as Space Revolver and therefore maybe lovers of the Back In The World Of Adventures and Retropolis period of the band will be pleased to hear Flower Kings kind of are looking up their roots once again. Nevertheless, when listening close to what’s on offer here, one has to agree it is once again a very diverse collection with some surprising hard edges. It will be even more surprising to hear what the new drummer adds to this band, but for the time being let’s say the band has added another eleven classic cuts to their already impressive output. Well done chaps!

Wagner’s "Excerpt from Valkyrian" illustrates the talents of master magician Tomas Bodin. Witty as he is, this arrangement nevertheless proves what a fantastic professional he is, strongly rooted in the classics. In fact, whilst I was in Sweden in August, I phoned Roine Stolt who told me Tomas would be in that particular afternoon with some extra material for the bonus disc. That’s when I knew it would be a good investment to get hold of the limited set because a lot of the stuff would be Bodin material and if you have witnessed his An Ordinary Night In My Ordinary Life solo album you know you can’t wait for his second solo offering! "Mr. Hope Goes To Salzburg" is a funny, short intermezzo with a playful melody.

"One Whole Half" is Jonas Reingold’s pièce de résistance, being pure fusion with Stolt sounding like Holdsworth’s little brother and Reingold pulling those strings powerful enough to make his fingers bleed until the next tour! Having always been a big fan of anything fretless, of course I’m bewildered by the middle section here. The little percussive details certainly enhance the total feel of the song, which can easily be fit next to the Brand X output. Great electric piano also from Bodin. Next up is the bluesy, funky Stolt original "Agent Supreme" which gives way to pure improvisation, emphasising the percussive nature of the idea. Complete keyboard madness strikes towards the end with "Violent Brat," before evolving into pure bombastic vintage prog, almost turning towards a film score. Great organ playing spices up the song, and together with the multiple drum breaks and rhythm changes courtesy of Zoltan Csörsz, it marks this song as being my favourite of the pack. Bodin is probably one of my all-time favourite keyboard players and is ever such a nice guy as well! The bonus section ends with another Bodin original. This time "The Woman With No Shadow" sees Tomas add some background organ to a fragile female voice resulting in a Wishing Tree meets Clannad atmosphere. Seashells are the percussion whilst the song ends with the washing of the sea.

The interactive section is divided into two separate films, a biography and link to the band’s website. The first film sees the band in the studio. Jonas Reingold tries his hand at the classic Nat King Cole song "Mona Lisa" whilst Hasse Fröberg rehearses the high notes for "Last Minute On Earth." It also shows us the many talents of Hasse Bruniusson on percussion, sometimes in duel with newcomer Zoltan Csörz. As probably all narration is done in Swedish, no doubt Swedish fans will have that little bit extra because they will know what the band is bloody talking about! Suddenly there’s this view of an unknown guy behind the mixing console. Could he be the mysterious Don Azzaro? Who can solve the mystery here? We see Jonas and Tomas killing time in the studio when Jonas holds up a book pointing at the title which reads "Vad Är Ljud" meaning "What is sound?" (just phoned Pär Lindh to know this actually!), indeed a nice question to be asked whilst being in the studio! Just like Phil Collins and Chester Thompson used to battle it out, Csörsz and Bruniusson deliver a musical fight, backed by the roaring sounds of Reingold’s bass.

We change the studio world for a trip to Buenos Aires to witness The Flower Kings live in Argentina. We see the band boarding their plane and driving through the city. We see Jaime Salazar and Jonas Reingold recording jingles for Radio Futuro and Hasse Fröberg playing the drums during the sound check. And then it’s showtime with The Flower Kings diving right into "Gates Of Delirium" by Yes followed by a steaming version of the Beatles classic "Hey Jude" leaving behind them a tremendously enthusiastic crowd. Certainly a nice balance between the studio madness and the live recognition and reward. If the bonus material remains exclusive to this release then, of course, this limited edition is a must have if you have not yet purchased the "normal" copy of the album. However, you never know, some of the bonus songs here might eventually end up on forthcoming compilations, Japanese releases or fan club discs. To be on the safe side however, you’d better reserve your copy today. You have been warned!