Prog Reviewers or Special Collaborators

Vibrationbaby wrote: Wow ! One thing I sort of uncomfortable  is the "experts" title. I certainly don`t consider myself an expert by any stretch in anything. I`ve listened to a lot of music, sure. But so has the next guy. I`ll read any guy`s review. I also find the worst reviewers in general are the guys who write for NME, Rolling Stone, The WIre ( got to be the worst ). So for me I don`t think it really matters whether there`s that title underneath the Avatar. I think it`s important to give the most honest and entertaining evaluation as possible. My two cents.

Thank you VB for the comment on the "assumed" difference in quality in PA reviews based on the title. While many collabs & reviewers here tend to be worth the while re : recommendations; there are an equal amount of "honest & entertaining evaluations" done by other plebes here at PA that have lead me to great music.
Example - Night Sun's Mournin' ... great reviews (including mine) but none from the "experts". And I have seen some threads where a collab or reviewer states that reviews done by the hoi polloi are of no interest to him. Not because of a lack of a track record for comparison's sake, but because they are not or have not been deemed "entitled to a title"....
As an aside, more than once,  a newbie's review of one of the many classic albums in the prog pantheon has gotten me back to listening to an album or giving it a second chance.  To re-quote your comment - honest & entertaining evaluation ... a fan's enthusiasm may just well light the fire.

p.s. Erik's many threads & reviews always exhibit a fan's enthusiasm for exploring & sharing the wealth of great music out there. If anyone can find even a hint of elitism or an air of superiority, I would be very surprised.


Edited by debrewguy - February 27 2008 at 19:22

I like to think of it as discussing it in the terms of the average fan. I am not a musical scholar in the classic sense, but I have devoted quite a bit of my free time to it. Through my work here, I have come to understand quite a bit more about prog, especially the areas I specialize in. That may not make me an expert per-se, but hopefully that makes me someone who can be a useful resource.

Edited by bhikkhu - February 25 2008 at 20:23

I was just getting interested with this. In all seriousness, can someone here tell me what constitutes a bloody  " expert " ? And why can`t we change the word " expert " to enthusiast. I don`t have a problem with collaborator ( did I spell that correctly ? ) But expert nahh.

And I guess that is end of that.

hahahha.. the guile skill is overrated... if he has a level 20 intimidation skill he  can make up for a deficient guile skill.  

Vibrationbaby wrote: micky wrote: Vibrationbaby wrote: Then why are people who come to the site just to check out an album mislead by that section which says  "  experts / collaborators " It sort of implies that we have Phds or some professional qualification. I can`t see how anyone can be an " expert " in the field of reviewing just because they`ve listened to a zillion albums. ahhh.. you don't become an expert by listening... you do by learning....reading... studying... understanding.. not merely listening. So progrock is a  scholarly thing. For me at best it`s entertaining and it stops at that. I don`t think many scholars would try and create a discipline out of it. For fun I got my wife to review Gentle Giant`s Octopus a while back  ( Max put in my collaborator section and gave her credit you can check it out ) At the time she was working on her doctorate and after listening to it carefully she wrote an objective review. She takes art rock with a grain of salt and after I read her review I was kind of depressed because despite being superbly talented my favourite band I thought these guys had a better grip on the technical side. I think that we are all amatuers here, and don`t get me wrong, I mean it in a good way because there`s a difference between what a person trained in a discipline is going to percieve something and the way someone who just loves something from his/her heart.  As I said, I just find the word "expert" being used here somewhat misleading. I got my freakin`old man to read some of my reviews and he got pissed at me for lying about being an expert on music ! So this is where I`m coming from.

I'll check that review out..

prog rock is not necessarily a scholarly thing.. of course not.  However as we like to say in the genre teams.. none of us are experts... we merely strive to be. Not just knowing the albums.. the music. Any dork with musical education can break the music down and put people to sleep with technical explanation about the inherent complexities of the music.  In my line of thinking..  'experts'.. as it relates to here....are those who look, know and understand the background to which the music was made. The history of their particular field if you will. Who just don't listen..  but understand the music. Not sure if I'm making any sense.. but that is par for the course ..of course hahha.   Of those 'experts'  .. in my mind..... we probably have very few.  Only a handful  on this site come immediately to mind.  We do have a lot of people here... that strive not just to collect albums.. but understand the context in which those  albums are made... that is what separates the experts and those who strive to be, from those who meerly listen to albums.  Not that there is anything wrong with just getting your rocks off just  listening to music.


Edited by micky - February 19 2008 at 16:57

darqDean wrote: kibble_alex wrote: How do I become a prog reviewer or above in rank? Please explain, thanks. Of course a good start would be to learn how to spell Collaborators   /edit - thanks for correcting that

moreitsythanyou wrote: Evans wrote: moreitsythanyou wrote: Evans wrote: I'm going to try and become the site's Pop/Indie Rock-specialist. You'll have to fight me over the indie specialist title. Or we could be co-specialists, you know, whatever works. And we will need to have an indie-related section as well. That's where we put the prog bands

So true, my friend, so true...

Evans wrote: moreitsythanyou wrote: Evans wrote: I'm going to try and become the site's Pop/Indie Rock-specialist. You'll have to fight me over the indie specialist title. Or we could be co-specialists, you know, whatever works. And we will need to have an indie-related section as well.

That's where we put the prog bands

*starts to crave the lauded j-pop and cabaret specialist title*