For a lot of fans, this is it. The album where The Flower Kings not only hit their stride, but their peak. Stardust We Are is the band’s first double (triple?) album, stretching over six sides and two hours. The group remains intact, but the process of being together and touring over the past few years has tightened everything up, allowing for broader experimentation in arrangements and orchestrations. It might not be the pinnacle for me – I have minor quibbles – but it’s certainly a highlight of the band’s discography. It’s also a bear in terms of length, so let’s cut the intro chatter and jump into the belly of the hippy, trippy beast.

In the new liner notes to Retropolis, Roine Stolt notes two things that at first glance may seem at odds with each other, but I think really encapsulates something that has always been a tenet of the music of The Flower Kings: with the enthusiasm for the first album the band was excited to dive back in and chase the structures and feelings of Stolt’s prog heroes (and peers at the time of his start) but he also actively tried to get the attention of the major record labels in Sweden. That dichotomy of blending the unique and niche progressive rock sound with more mainstream acceptance is something I hear a lot in the band’s music; and it’s interesting to hear how that does and does not come across on their sophomore release.