The Flower Kings - Banks of Eden Review

Having followed and listened to pretty much everything from Dream Theater, Transatlantic and Neal Morse, it's quite strange that it's taken me over ten years to buy a Flower Kings album.

So what do I make of their 2012 release, Banks of Eden?

It's risky to judge a progressive rock album on only three full listens, but my thoughts are clear enough already to commit words to a blogpost.

This was a triumph.

This is like Yes with the boring (and most of the nonsensical) bits removed. It's prog with dynamics. The first track, Numbers is an epic that really holds together.

A friend back at university pointed out to me that a Transatlantic track was really a handful of pop songs glued together with proggy instrumentals. Most of Morse's output falls into this pattern, as do some Dream Theater epics, to a lesser extent. I still love and highly rate lots of this material but it's great to hear something fresh that doesn't sound like prog by numbers.

Of course, had I heard the whole TFK back catalogue, this album may have seemed less original. One much-repeated tune bears a similarity to 'motherless children's from Duel with the Devil and there are lyrical ideas re-used from TA and even King Crimson.

Still, this album has been gratefully received by my eardrums and I highly recommend it to yours.

Today is NOT Pi Day

...unless you use the insane American calendar format.

I prefer to celebrate Pi Day on the 31st April (31/4) - fittingly irrational I think.

Pray, pray, pray

At Grace Church on Sunday, Jon preached on Gethsemane.

His last application point was 'pray pray pray'.

I needed to hear that.

It strikes me that prayerfulness isn't just a mark of true Christianity, but is itself the nature of Christian faith.

Christians don't trust in a worldview, they trust in the living God. They trust in Jesus. That is personal trust. What kind of personal trust exists without communication?

I'm not talking about hour-long devotionals or corporate prayer. I mean that constant reliance on God - communicated to Him.

It means prayers that sound like Psalms.

Snowy vignette

Yes! It's snowed again!

I will crunch these flakes where no man has crunched before.

Ouch.

I am become snowman, the destroyer of tailbones.

downROOTED: The Musical

I've already explained the blog's title.

But if I had to explain it in two minutes and thirty-two seconds of folksy American country music, it would go something like this.

There are cars on the road

Wind flings light, unsettled snow like flickering flames across the street.

Blessed is the thick, downtrodden snow on the pavement. It's much tougher to sweep away.

Spot the problem

I was born to be grumpy and irritable. I'm a natural at it.

God made me this way.

That means God wants me to express my irritability. Call me a grumpy Christian if you like.

It would be wrong for me to be cheerful and content. I'm just not inclined that way - I don't feel it. I'd just be lying to myself and denying who God made me.

And lying is a sin, right?

Why 'equality' is bad

'Equality', in its current usage, is so devoid of any precise meaning that it is utterly useless for anyone to appeal to equality when arguing for or against any position.

An iced bun and a jam doughnut are being sold for 50p each. Are they equal? Do they have equality?

Is this true?

Iced bun = Jam Doughnut

No, they're clearly different things. You can only lick icing off the bun. You can only get jam all over your fingers with the doughnut. In a normal day I will desire the bun far more than the doughnut. So they're not equal.

But despite this, they are equal in value. The baker has set their price to be the same, and my bunny preference is equalised by someone else's love for jam doughnuts.

The problem with 'equality' is that next to no one seems to be able to distinguish between these meanings any more.

One man earns £20,000pa and another earns £100,000pa.

What does equality require?

1. A charge of £20,000 per person.

2. A flat tax rate of 33% on all earnings.

3. The richer man to pay £40,000 to the government, the poorer man nothing.

4. The redistribution of the richer man's income - £40,000 to the government, and £20,000 to the poorer man (to even things up).

5. The redistribution of all both men's possessions and earnings so that they have exactly the same stuff- minus £40,000 paid to the government in administration fees.

Assorted thoughts on Eastleigh

As those in the know expected, the yellows won.

The real story though is the blues, purples and others. Diane James (ukip), Maria Hutchings (con) and Danny Stupple (ind) split the right of centre vote. All three were clearly opposed to the redefinition of marriage, demolishing the idea that such beliefs make you unelectable.

Under the AV system, either the blues or purples would have walked this election. This gives Farage real power heading towards 2015. UKIP could never have risen as they have with a properly functioning Conservative party. With this result they have to be taken seriously.

Cameron is making a strong case for himself as the worst Conservative Prime Minister in a very long time.

Life on the lunatic fringe

I was interviewed last week; for the first and probably last time.

I had no more than 5 minutes to prep but I think I'm happy about what I said (and what was included).
But apparently my views qualify me as lunatic fringe. Christendom is apparently now the intellectual equivalent of drunk anarchism and the political philosophy of crumpetism. Islamism is wrong and abhorrent but even it has more philosophical merit than the dominant secularist socialism.

I think that my views, held by most of the western world for most of modern history, scarcely qualify as lunatic fringe. I don't know what the motives were for including my position in this article, but it doesn't take much brain power to figure out that the authors want to ridicule the views represented - both by name-calling and association.

Do you think I deserved my place in this list?

Why downrooted?

So why would a pedant like me (not 'I') choose a made-up word for the title of my blog?

My instinct in life has been to find a good opportunity and seek my fortune in a strange and distant land.

That's not how it's worked out though. Commitments, pressures and kindness has meant that staying rooted has made the most sense for me and Adele.

Psalm 1 describes the righteous man as 'like a tree planted by streams of water'. Jesus is the true Israel, the tree into which the Church is grafted. And we are trees ourselves, planted by streams of living water providing our spiritual sustenance.

Sometimes, staying right where you are is the best thing to do.

Given the right location, a tree need only grow deep, thick roots and it will grow tall, strong and healthy.

A blank page

I decided to start blogging from scratch.
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A blank page is inviting; you can colour it however you like.

A blank page is intimidating; it needs lots of work.

A blank page is a relief; previous attempts left behind.

A blank page is dangerous; you alone are responsible for how it's filled.

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Previous blogging has been theology-centred in topic. This time I hope to blog on topics as wide as my curiosity. So expect theology, politics, NFL, music, commuter dynamics and whatever else has recently piqued my interest.

I better start writing.