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MisterGrouik View Drop Down
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Points: 18 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: How to review an album ?
    Posted: May 09 2011 at 03:31
Hi guys (and girls) !

First of all, I'm new here and I'm very happy to be among prog fans. It's been a while now that I go on PA, searching for new prog bands (I'm quite a noob in this domain). Thanks to PA, I found old bands and new bands that I would have never found without it. It's really an essential, I can't do without now Tongue

Let's go back to the topic.
I would really like to make review of prog albums, but thinking of it, I realize I have nothing to say about it except "yeah I like it very much, it's very good...blabla".

So I'll leave it to you to learn me how to make a constructive review, with something useful to read. How to do that ? What do I have to analyze ?

Many thanks for your help Wink

PS: sorry for my english, far from being perfect.
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Prog Geo View Drop Down
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Points: 2555 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 03:47
Well, I have the same problem with you. I stopped writing reviews but maybe I'll start writing again.So, take a look to my reviews and tell me if are good.

Edited by Prog Geo - May 09 2011 at 03:47
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seventhsojourn View Drop Down
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Points: 4006 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 04:42
Hi, welcome to ProgArchives! Smile
 
This is one of the age-old questions on PA and I think your thread will probably get moved to the ''I Have A Question'' section. Everyone has their own style, I think you should just get stuck in. You could maybe have a look at the site guidelines here first though:
 
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MisterGrouik View Drop Down
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Points: 18 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 05:54
Ho great, thank you !

I think this part should help me to write my first reviews Smile

"6 - Try to write reviews that will be of real use and interest to other progressive music fans, who can benefit by finding new avenues for their musical exploration. Consider aspects which will be of interest to the reader such as the style of music, notable influences, similar bands, best tracks (don’t just say "this album is brilliant", explain what you like about it), production quality, musicians involved, album history,  We suggest you listen to an album several times before writing a review. It can take a number of listens to Prog albums in particular to begin to appreciate the music."

Prog Geo  ==> Ok, I'm gonna read them today, thanks ;)

Edited by MisterGrouik - May 09 2011 at 05:55
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Points: 4006 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:03
You might also want to visit the ''Welcome newbies'' section where you can introduce yourself, tell us about your favourite bands etc. Handshake 
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Points: 14258 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:15
Best way is to just read a bunch of reviews and get a feel for what they include and omit. Everyone has their own style and none are the same. Just be yourself and tell it how you hear it, if you like it say why, mention the music, not just the song title, why is the music great or poor? Is it an overall recommended album? Is it music you would return to on many listens? Did the music move you emotionally? What is innovative or unique about the album? Describe instrumental sections, and are any lyrics of interest to you? Make it personal and never attack others reviews. You can give an overall opinion or do a track by track breakdown of how you interpreted the music, for better or worse. Just stick to your opinion and try to justify why you felt that way fairly. Try to remain impartial and not biased towards one artist. Cheers!
 
 
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harmonium.ro View Drop Down
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Points: 22989 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:19
Wow, I read this as "How to revive an album" LOL
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AtomicCrimsonRush View Drop Down
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Points: 14258 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:49
LOL - I wonder if someone can tell me how to revive some of the albums listed here... Would CPR work on St Anger?
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Vibrationbaby View Drop Down
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Points: 6898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 10:38
I think you should start with an album that you really despise and go for the jugular. Take the piss out of it. Or take an album like In The Court Of The Crimson KIng play devil's advocate and shoot it down in flames and give it a one star rating.

 Seriously just write what you feel and don't worry about it. Nobody's life is at stake. It's not like you're going into air traffic controlling at Heathrow blind.
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Alitare View Drop Down
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Points: 3595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 11:22
Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

I think you should start with an album that you really despise and go for the jugular. Take the piss out of it. Or take an album like In The Court Of The Crimson KIng play devil's advocate and shoot it down in flames and give it a one star rating.

 Seriously just write what you feel and don't worry about it. Nobody's life is at stake. It's not like you're going into air traffic controlling at Heathrow blind.

Who wouldn't give Court a 1-star rating? I don't care how good the title track is, any album with Moonchild is forever a 1-star to me Same goes for Red with providence. Same also goes with the White Album for Revolution #9. All are forever 1-starred b*****d children.
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Points: 29630 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 11:36
First become a doctor and then discover a marvelous cure for something...
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Points: 6898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 12:09
Originally posted by Slartibartfast Slartibartfast wrote:

First become a doctor and then discover a marvelous cure for something...

And then learn to play the flute and make box girder bridges.
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Vibrationbaby View Drop Down
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Points: 6898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 12:14
Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

I think you should start with an album that you really despise and go for the jugular. Take the piss out of it. Or take an album like In The Court Of The Crimson KIng play devil's advocate and shoot it down in flames and give it a one star rating.

 Seriously just write what you feel and don't worry about it. Nobody's life is at stake. It's not like you're going into air traffic controlling at Heathrow blind.

Who wouldn't give Court a 1-star rating? I don't care how good the title track is, any album with Moonchild is forever a 1-star to me Same goes for Red with providence. Same also goes with the White Album for Revolution #9. All are forever 1-starred b*****d children.

Providence is a filler track. It's actually a live improv recorded in Providence Rhode Island  taken off the mixing board. The live version with audience can be heard on The Great Deciever box set. It had othing to do with the Red recording sessions. Plus I think it's pretty dumb to give an album a one star rating just because there's one track that you hate.
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DisgruntledPorcupine View Drop Down
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Points: 4395 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 12:37
Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

I think you should start with an album that you really despise and go for the jugular. Take the piss out of it. Or take an album like In The Court Of The Crimson KIng play devil's advocate and shoot it down in flames and give it a one star rating.

 Seriously just write what you feel and don't worry about it. Nobody's life is at stake. It's not like you're going into air traffic controlling at Heathrow blind.

Who wouldn't give Court a 1-star rating? I don't care how good the title track is, any album with Moonchild is forever a 1-star to me Same goes for Red with providence. Same also goes with the White Album for Revolution #9. All are forever 1-starred b*****d children.
The f**k? I hope you're trolling.
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Vibrationbaby View Drop Down
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Points: 6898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 14:14
Seriously what I try to do ( most of the time ) is work a bit of trivia into the review just to let whoever reads it know that I have listened to the album more than once and am very familiar with it . I dunno read my Black Sabbath Paranoid review. Wow! I think it's more a history of the album than a review. Same with my Omega 10,000 Steps review and others. Some I even get off topic such as Vangelis' Albedo 0.39 which is alsmost an astronomy lesson. I dunno. Some are short. Some are long Depends what kind of mood I'm in or maybe I'm drunk. Hey there's something, review an album when you're drunk and then read it the next day when you have a wicked hangover.

Here's my Albedo 0.39 review one of the few that I'm really proud of

www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=79221


Edited by Vibrationbaby - May 09 2011 at 14:25
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Alitare View Drop Down
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Points: 3595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 16:41
Originally posted by DisgruntledPorcupine DisgruntledPorcupine wrote:

Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

I think you should start with an album that you really despise and go for the jugular. Take the piss out of it. Or take an album like In The Court Of The Crimson KIng play devil's advocate and shoot it down in flames and give it a one star rating.

 Seriously just write what you feel and don't worry about it. Nobody's life is at stake. It's not like you're going into air traffic controlling at Heathrow blind.

Who wouldn't give Court a 1-star rating? I don't care how good the title track is, any album with Moonchild is forever a 1-star to me Same goes for Red with providence. Same also goes with the White Album for Revolution #9. All are forever 1-starred b*****d children.
The f**k? I hope you're trolling.


I'm confused. Some folks present sarcasm and when I present sarcasm back, they take me seriously.

Even with Providence, Red is my third favorite prog album of all time. Even with Moonchild, Court is in the top 10. Even with Revolution #9, I still deeply enjoy White Album. Maybe I pretend too sincerely when I do divulge in sarcasm.
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Epignosis View Drop Down
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Points: 32552 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 17:13
Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

Originally posted by DisgruntledPorcupine DisgruntledPorcupine wrote:

Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

Originally posted by Vibrationbaby Vibrationbaby wrote:

I think you should start with an album that you really despise and go for the jugular. Take the piss out of it. Or take an album like In The Court Of The Crimson KIng play devil's advocate and shoot it down in flames and give it a one star rating.

 Seriously just write what you feel and don't worry about it. Nobody's life is at stake. It's not like you're going into air traffic controlling at Heathrow blind.

Who wouldn't give Court a 1-star rating? I don't care how good the title track is, any album with Moonchild is forever a 1-star to me Same goes for Red with providence. Same also goes with the White Album for Revolution #9. All are forever 1-starred b*****d children.
The f**k? I hope you're trolling.


I'm confused. Some folks present sarcasm and when I present sarcasm back, they take me seriously.

Even with Providence, Red is my third favorite prog album of all time. Even with Moonchild, Court is in the top 10. Even with Revolution #9, I still deeply enjoy White Album. Maybe I pretend too sincerely when I do divulge in sarcasm.


Sorry not me- neither Red nor In the Court of the Crimson King are in my top 100.
https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays
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Textbook View Drop Down
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Points: 3281 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 09 2011 at 23:53
All kidding aside we really do need more people reviewing albums they don't like or at least going out of their comfort zone. The number of albums rated under a 3 can almost be counted on no hands and the vast majority of albums are rated 3.8 or higher. I think there are several years where the very worst album of the year is 3.6 or so. The ratings are skewed too high.
 
The problem is that great a website as PA is, its reviews section is polluted by drooling fanboys who incessantly give kneejerk five star reviews. Even though it says it when you write a review, people really refuse to learn that "I like it" doesn't mean five stars.
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Vibrationbaby View Drop Down
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Points: 6898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 10 2011 at 10:09
Originally posted by Textbook Textbook wrote:

All kidding aside we really do need more people reviewing albums they don't like or at least going out of their comfort zone. The number of albums rated under a 3 can almost be counted on no hands and the vast majority of albums are rated 3.8 or higher. I think there are several years where the very worst album of the year is 3.6 or so. The ratings are skewed too high.
 
The problem is that great a website as PA is, its reviews section is polluted by drooling fanboys who incessantly give kneejerk five star reviews. Even though it says it when you write a review, people really refuse to learn that "I like it" doesn't mean five stars.


Hey don't give me ideas. I own a lot of stinkers. Hmmm Genesis comes to mind. I'll pick one and listen to it and let's see what I come up with.
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Vibrationbaby View Drop Down
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Points: 6898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 10 2011 at 12:48
THERE! A one star review. Jan Akkerman & Kaz Lux Transparental. Just finished it. Didn't have to look far in my record collection for that stinker.
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