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On May 1988, Rockpool called Flower's Concrete "a
tremendous debut LP." It would also be the only LP released domestically. Their
second full length, Hologram Sky, came out in 1990 as a German import. Now six years
later, both Flower LPs are available on one domestic CD entitled Concrete Sky (1987-1990)
co-released by Bear Records and Simple Machines.
Flower was formed in New York City in April of 1986. A few weeks later, they
played their first show at the 1986 WNYU Memorial Day Battle of the Bands -
and won. In that show's program the band wrote: "We play football. We play
water polo. We play Bermuda Triangle. We like music. And sunny days."
After that, they let their music do all the talking. Anyone who had a chance
to see Flower at any of their few dozen shows, including ones with Dinosaur
Jr. and the Meat Puppets, was in for a real (and loud) treat. As Jack Rabid
wrote in 1988, "Flower set a tone of aggressiveness: whole layers of
disciplined noise set to hypnotic-to-catchy riffs...Much of the striking
density of their sound comes from the bass barrage: He plays chords as if
he'd come to bury them instead of praise them, playing all the strings with
his churning hand like a guitarist. Then there's the double layer of
guitars and extra-busy drums..."
In 1987 the band released a three-song EP entitled Crash, followed by a track
on the Sorority Sampler compilation LP. Regrettably, a full album's worth of
material written in 1986-87 was never properly recorded. Flower recorded
their first full length, CONCRETE, just after their first tour in 1988. The
LP, which was recorded by Kramer at Noise New York, captures the band's
rawness and power. Hologram Sky was a much more mature LP, displaying the
band's strong pop sensibility, while still encompassing the large doses of
tension which always surrounded the band.
Since Flower's breakup in 1990, the band's members have played in Saturnine,
Versus, Cell, Ruby Falls and French. Richard Baluyut went on to form Versus
and was soon joined by brother Ed. Versus has 7"s out on Pop Narcotic,
Landspeed, Simple Machines, an EP on Remora, and two full lengths on Teen
Beat. Ian James, co-lead singer and bass player of Flower joined Cell, and
Andrew Bordwin played drums in Ruby Falls, which has a singles out on
SpartaDisc, Villavillakulla and and LP on Personal Favorite. Since 1990,
Flower has reunited only once, for two incredible shows at the end of 1994
and anyone who was able to see them at this time saw how powerful and
creative they were. Now Concrete Sky stands as a shining example of
Flower's magic.