How to review an album ?
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Topic: How to review an album ?
Posted By: MisterGrouik
Subject: How to review an album ?
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 03:31
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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  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  PS: sorry for my english, far from being perfect. |
Replies:
Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 03:47
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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.
------------- Sonorous Meal show every Sunday at 20:00 (greek time) on http://www.justincaseradio.com |
Posted By: seventhsojourn
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 04:42
Hi, welcome to ProgArchives! 
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:
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13152" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13152
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Posted By: MisterGrouik
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 05:54
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Ho great, thank you ! I think this part should help me to write my first reviews  "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 ;) ------------- "Je suis le Ténébreux, - le Veuf, - l'Inconsolé, Le Prince d'Aquitaine à la Tour abolie : Ma seule Etoile est morte, - et mon luth constellé Porte le Soleil noir de la Mélancolie." |
Posted By: seventhsojourn
Date 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. 
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Posted By: AtomicCrimsonRush
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:15
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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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Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:19
Wow, I read this as "How to revive an album" 
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Posted By: AtomicCrimsonRush
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 06:49
 - 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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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 10:38
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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. ------------- |
Posted By: Alitare
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 11:22
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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Vibrationbaby wrote:Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 11:36
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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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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 12:09
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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 12:14
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. ------------- |
Posted By: DisgruntledPorcupine
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 12:37
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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 14:14
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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 http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=79221" rel="nofollow - www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=79221 ------------- |
Posted By: Alitare
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 16:41
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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Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 17:13
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" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: Textbook
Date Posted: May 09 2011 at 23:53
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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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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 10 2011 at 10:09
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. ------------- |
Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 10 2011 at 12:48
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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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Posted By: Alitare
Date Posted: May 10 2011 at 14:36
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As of now, I try to never give out one-star ratings (my old reviews were angry and skewed). Now, at worst, I give albums two stars. The best Kiss album (Ace Frehley) gets a middlign 3/5 from me. The worst (Any else of them, but Alive II in particular), gets the lowest 2/5 possible from me. So far, my most hated album of all time (Overkill's cover album, where they do a wonderful rendition of a Jethro Tull song, 'Coverkill') gets a really high 1/5 (4/15). Oh yeah, I forgot. My second most hated album is Peter Criss, the solo Kiss drummer's album. So with my current personality, I could only comfortably give a 1-star rating to a handful of albums.
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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 10 2011 at 15:18
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I didn't know Kiss were on the archives.
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Posted By: Alitare
Date Posted: May 10 2011 at 15:48
Neither is Overkill. I review albums in general. I'm not limited to PA. Steely Dan, Kiss, Yes, Rush, Radiohead, Alice in Chains, AC/DC, Genesis, Comus, blah blah. I review anything in album format, including comedy albums.
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Posted By: Textbook
Date Posted: May 11 2011 at 17:27
| I mean look at what's happening with Testimony 2 right now. People have no self control. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 11 2011 at 17:55
Kiss is in PA times two. http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5983" rel="nofollow - KISS KISS
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 11 2011 at 18:07
I haven't heard the album, and do think it better to give an album a while to see how well it stands (and I'm getting an internal server error when trying to access reviews), but one can expect fanboy types to quickly support such efforts in such cases (not uncommon with fanclub type groups for people to be encouraged to review the album at sites like this to boost the ratings and give it exposure). http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=32952" rel="nofollow">  2011 comes out
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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: May 11 2011 at 18:25
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Serious advice for reviewing music. Don't talk about your rating or round down a .5. If you want to round down say I give this one .4, didn't quite make it over the hump. Other than that, let yourself go. ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 12 2011 at 09:52
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I'm going to try and find another pile of sh*t in my collection to award one star to this afternoon. the other day it was Transparental by Jan Akkerman & Kaz Lux.
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Posted By: thehallway
Date Posted: May 12 2011 at 13:14
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Read the reviews of Exit the Lemming........ very entertaining!
------------- http://www.thefreshfilmblog.com/" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: zravkapt
Date Posted: May 12 2011 at 23:40
| Writing a 1 star review can be as enjoyable as writing a 5 star one. |
Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 16 2011 at 09:56
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Not all prog reviews but I like reading this guy,s reviews from time-to-time http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/" rel="nofollow - www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/ ------------- |
Posted By: Tapfret
Date Posted: May 23 2011 at 19:31
Its difficult though. We don't listen to our 1 and 2 star albums repeatedly to absorb all the nuances to write about. A positive person has trained themselves at limiting negative statements. By the same token, we listen to what we consider masterpieces over and over. It is much easier to critique and breakdown the ingredients of a scrumptious desert we are really getting into than a sh*t souffle we can barely tolerate 1 sniff of, much less a bite. That being said, I am aware that my reviews are decidedly top-heavy and I am trying to put together some less glowing reviews. Its hard to do and keep things above the board. ------------- https://www.last.fm/user/Tapfret" rel="nofollow">  https://bandcamp.com/tapfret" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp |
Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 24 2011 at 13:35
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I,ve got it all figfured out. Don't listen to the album review it and then see if you got it right.
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Posted By: irrelevant
Date Posted: May 25 2011 at 11:13
------------- https://gabebuller.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow - New album! http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385 |
Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: May 26 2011 at 15:46
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I'm going to review a Céline album as if it were A Yesalbum that I haven't reviewed yet. This record..........
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