Free Hand - a 1* album

Padraic wrote: Snow Dog wrote: No idea what review and without the common courtesy of providing a link I  never will. This.

Is Free Hand a 1* album?
Not to me personally, but I respect others who feel it is. I rather like the review in question, even if I don't agree with it.

I don't think Free Hand is a one star album, I'd rather say five. But if this is the reviewer's opinion, then so be it. As a review it is good enough, like it or not, agree with it or not, and I don't feel tempted to report it.

twosteves wrote: This is an April Fools joke

You may be right...

Good review, by someone who knows his prog and with pertinent comments in his track by track analysis.
I like when people don't follow the majority and express objectively their views on an album.


I also never understood the appeal for Gentle Giant.

Every popular album listed on this site deserves (requires!) a contrary opinion, but is it really possible to argue that every opinion is valid, just because it's subjective? Food for thought...

Hercules wrote: The Mystical wrote: If this review gets taken down, I am leaving ProgArchives.   I completely agree with you. He has a perfect right to express his views and I have a perfect right to (vehemently)disagree with him.   Two years ago, I would have rated most VDGG albums (which he seems to love) as 1/2* because i really don't like their music. Now I would rate most of them 3* because they are just not to my taste rather than awful music.

Found the freaking review (it's the latest as of the time of this writing, hehe): http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=937841

Edited by Dayvenkirq - April 01 2013 at 15:34

HolyMoly wrote: I think it's a great review, and I disagree with everything in the review.  The two are different things. No vote.

His review reads like about a 2.5* to me though

1* means it has no redeeming features

While I feel that my review of Free Hand should stand on its own merits, I also feel compelled at the moment to defend its stance. @twosteves and @HolyMoly, my entry was not an April Fool's joke. Actually, I tried to be as serious and objective as my highly opinionated nature would permit, simultaneously expressing my honest views. @Hercules, I do not quite understand the reasons for your offense at the critique in question; I can't say of a certainty, but I have a hunch that neither you nor a member of your household wrote or even played on Free Hand, therefore it is not your 'accomplishment' (if it can be so called) of which to be proud. Remember: a lot of folks don't realize that an offense (real or imagined) 'committed' against their sensibilities is THEIR problem. @Neu!mann The keyboards on the record are indeed dated-sounding, regardless of the time at which it was recorded. Let's take Tony Bank's palette on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; they're infinitely more advanced and expressive than anything I hear on modern mainstream radio. Or listen to the keyboard introduction to Yes' Face to Face from the Ladder. It has a very similar tone to the riff of LMFAO's Sexy and I Know It, yet preceded that abomination by 12 years and, honestly, is far more virtuoso and engaging. Furthermore, are you implying that sharing my views in such manner as I did present them is tantamount to publicly soiling myself? I think your manners are questionable. @Triceratopsoil and @Dayvenkirq, let me pose a question for you: Is listening to 35 minutes of rap really worth hearing 30 seconds of a sampled edit of 21st Century Schizoid Man? I don't believe so. @Snow Dog, that's fine, but you'll not receive my respect in return for the 'favor'. By the way, you might feel more inclined to restrain your enthusiasm for certain albums, if you would take care of what I'll guess is an unfortunate cocaine problem, SNOW Dog. I can be funny when I want. @The Mystical and many others: I'll conclude with thanks for all your support. Reviewers shouldn't be discouraged from writing genuine and (hopefully) helpful entries on this website, or anywhere else for that matter. This should be every critic's intention, and provide the measure of his success. Take some advice from another poor prog-related song: "Be yourself, give your free will a chance - you've got to want to succeed."