Top 5, 10 or something, all-time

^ You’re absolutely right then. I’m disappointed. This whole thread is one big WTF moment with no elucidation or resolution. But maybe that’s just my take. The broader opinion may well be different from mine.

nick_h_nz wrote: But maybe that’s just my take. The broader opinion may well be different from mine.

nick_h_nz wrote: It wasn’t hard critique. It wasn’t even negative. It was merely a recognition of my confusion, which remains ongoing, and the disappointment from realising that it appears that my veil of confusion is unlikely ever to be lifted. If that disappoints you, I’m sorry - that wasn’t my intention.

About my intention with this thread, Nick, I hoped everybody's approach could be very personal, so we shared our personal experiences and top list approach, and I guess, I could point that better in my introduction for the discussion.

Edited by David_D - November 09 2021 at 02:04

Shadowyzard wrote: 1-) 38 Van Der Graaf Generator  (UK) :   Pawn Hearts  (1971)   12,49 (1908 b.) 2-) 48 Yes  (UK) :   Close To The Edge  (1972)   12,87 (5157 b.) 3-) 32 Marillion  (UK) :   Misplaced Childhood  (1985)   12,06 (1849 b.) My criterion: Quality over quantity. And a "top 3" is the most "classy" top of all tops. Mark my words, David from Denmark.

Edited by David_D - November 09 2021 at 01:27

The present state of our rating result is following:

^ I think you’ve probably struck why a lot of us don’t really pay much attention to top lists, and that is because it is too easy to miss some absolute gems, while chasing after what everyone else seems to like.

David_D wrote: ^Thank you very much for this contribution, Nick, it makes a good start for part three. nick_h_nz wrote: any list that is “for all time” inevitably reaches a point where it can’t change dramatically. Look at the PA top 10 or 20, for instance. They are never likely to greatly change.  About this, how much that kind of top lists changes, you can get a pretty good impression when comparing the top 30 list in this thread, made in 2009, with the earlier list I presented in "Top 100 alltime!", made in 2019 (they are made with almost exactly the same method, and yet, at least except from that I didn't include Radiohead in 2019). My own conclusion is that you're quite right in the above, even I won't say "never".  - But one might argue, it has quite a lot to do with the quality of high rated "classics".

nick_h_nz wrote: That’s not to say that these high rated classics are unjustly so, so much as there could easily be newer classics that may be just as appreciated, and potentially more so, but simply can’t get over the hurdle of the sheer number of ratings attributed to the earlier released albums.

What interests me about the top lists is whether I can understand why the things are on top that are on top. This is obviously easier if I like them. But there's clearly a difference between what I like, and what's top list material (even though I like most of your top list here). Unfortunately I cannot bring myself to the state anymore in which I didn't know Close to the Edge, Bitches Brew, or Dark Side of the Moon, but I'd like the idea to have albums played to me, without telling me which is which, of which some are in the Top 50 prog albums listed in a list made by music lovers with some experience and expertise, and the others, while still good, aren't anywhere near to any of these lists, to see whether I could tell them apart. For sure I'd have an opinion, but I'm not quite that sure about my success rate.