I was born one year too late to be called an actual baby boomer, but damn those hippies were prevalent in my life. My schooling was mostly taught by hippies and ex-flowerchildren trying to improve the lives of the children of Northern Canada, constantly telling my friends their culture had a spiritual connection. My aunts and uncles teaching me guitar and exposing me to my first real rock and/or roll with artists like Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn and Gordon Lightfoot. So when I hit play a flood of memories came back, and CHILDREN OF THE SUN's "Flowers" truly is a creation of the counter culture mentality.

So with bowl packed (love living in Canada) I embarked on a journey and right from the "Flowers Intro" I was impressed. No distortion or any studio tricks as such, just beautifully mellow vibes played and sung with true love of craft and joy of just creating magic. "But Mike, this isn't Metal!" So true, "Hard Working Man" is probably as close to hard rock as this album gets (and a favorite of mine), but their composition could teach so many Metalheads about transitions in timing, harmonies and countless other things Prog Metal tries but misses most of the time. "Her Game", besides being beautifully performed is a great example of well thought out arrangement.

Unfortunately, I am unable to find out who did what, but the talent is an ever present and on full display in "Like a Sound" and "Sunchild", and please take note of how effortlessly they fall into harmony. "Beyond the Sun" stirred memories of fellow Saskatoonian Joni Mitchell, with fantastic guitar work backing up the magical voices. If I ever get a chance, I'd like to introduce Joni to this hippie collective, I'm sure she'd groove on them.

Overall I was impressed by how quickly CHILDREN OF THE SUN won me over, but "Flowers" was perfect in so many ways, despite it's obvious lack of true metal content. Sometimes though we all need a change to inspire, and this group of Swedish flower children have risen to the occasion. I highly recommend if you're looking for something completely different.