The Flower Kings - Retropolis (1996)

The Flower Kings - Retropolis Foxtrot Records

   Back in the day i discovered the wondrous stories of Sweden's The Flowerkings and "Retropolis" was one of the albums that i just couldnt get enough of.   Right for the beginning with the stereo ping pong game and the huge wall of sound these guys create.....its just not human !!!!
  Most of this album was written by longtime progger Roine Stolt who was a key member also in 70's Swedish band KAIPA (who have also made a come back of sorts).

    Retropolis is an excellent album full of great BIG progressive and creative rock ideas with a ton of crazy punctuations, tempo changes and mood shifts.  Tomas Bodin adds his keyboard arsenal to the music with deep mellotron, hammond and various synths.

    I had the pleasure of seeing this lineup of the band live and they were really amazing .....
  
    Roine's voice reminds me very much of Asia's John Wetton while guest vocalist Hans Froberg adds some great harmonies on two of the longer tracks.

     Roine Stolt is an excellent world class guitar player who plays in many different styles and does not believe that everything has to be a lead solo!  His playing on this album is stellar !