Music Appreciation

DavetheSlave wrote: Stevie Wonder in a poll for keyboard or vocal technical prowess - I doubt he would get a vote.

Dalezilla wrote: Prog singers are generally pretty far technically from a lot of pop singers. Preference and technical ability are two different things.

Very true. However, I might put it in a different way: technical proficiency does not equal good music. In prog, as in everything else, songwriting ability is the key. There are lots of music lovers who, like me, cannot play an instrument, and therefore could not care less about how many notes a second guitarist X can play - what they can appreciate, though, is whether a composition works on the whole. In this respect, many pop songs (the good ones at least - and there is plenty of that) work way better than a good deal of prog ones.

Anyway, even if I have stayed away from this thread so far, I need to have my say on the original premises of it. I find it very bad form to start a thread stating that someone does not deserve to be a Prog Reviewer because he/she didn't rate album X very highly. I am an official reviewer for another site, and have provided over 200 reviews for ProgArchives - and, on the strength of my own experience, I can tell you that, if you believe that any review can be totally objective, you are fooling yourself. I know that, besides my own musical preferences (though I try not to allow them free rein), I have my own criteria on the basis of which I judge an album - for instance, I will generally give a lower rating to any album that I believe to be overlong. This is the way things are.

What I believe, on the other hand, is that reviews should always be respectful. You can give an album the lowest rating available, but there is no need to insult either the artist or his/her prospective listeners, or give unsolicited advice like, 'avoid at all costs'.

Raff - the reviewer stated in that review that he laughed harder at one point than he had during a Frank Zappa listening - that is respectful of an artist? I love Zappa and a lot of his music is meant to be funny so I aint slating Zappa - the reviewer, I'm not slating him, just expressing my disappointment. He's probably a very nice bloke.

You made me smile Rogerthat  Emoting is part of technical proficiency. I love Fish - when he was with Marillion anyway. Mariah can sing high notes and she can make funny noises. That don't make her technically proficiant. I can play bull* really fast on my guitar - that don't make me technically proficient. I made a mistake with the High notes comment relating to Tarja - I should have been more elaborate. Mariah has no hope in hell of singing at the same ranges on a sustained basis while being very clearly understood in her enunciation.

DavetheSlave wrote: Petrovsk - I've never heard Shawn Lane - I will look out for him. He must be something if he's better than Petrucci who even Malmsteen rated as brilliant.

I actually don't like a lot of his music thought to be honest. I would rather sit down with Images and Words or Awake than any of Shawn Lane's solo records, but as a lead guitarist Shawn Lane is head and shoulders above Petrucci for innovation in the lead guitar world, technical ability, interesting melodicism and ability to play outside lines that fit well in the musical context

Petrovsk - as I said I will look out for him . He must be something if he head and shoulders above the Petruccis, the Malmsteens etc. I remember when Randy Rhodes was rated the best but strangely I never thought so personally.

DavetheSlave wrote: Petrovsk - as I said I will look out for him . He must be something if he head and shoulders above the Petruccis, the Malmsteens etc. I remember when Randy Rhodes was rated the best but strangely I never thought so personally.

Well, he's been dead for sometime so you won't be noticing him in future endeavours. Check out Powers of Ten if you want a good idea of what he could do on guitar.

chopper wrote:   I can't believe that - I hope it's a joke. There's way a man can sing that high unless he's had a recent accident involving a bicycle crossbar.

It's funny how he talks out of his hat and also says people who criticize DT members' technical ability don't have much idea about the technical aspects of music.

rushfan4 wrote: I absolutely cannot stand Mariah "break a pain of glass by holding a note for way too long like Celine Dion" Carey. It isn't even a contest that I would rather listen to James LaBrie even on his worst songs.

Neither can I but that's not what I said...or is it so confusing?

rushfan4 wrote: Nah, I just wanted to add something totally irrelevant to the argument and seeing her name in the thread makes me see red.

Sorry but I needed to pull that trick to try to make him understand that musicality and technicality are not the same..doesn't seem to have helped though.