Pity ratings

The subject, I'm sure, got across in many other threads, I'm just not sure it was the main subject of any. A lot of times we see an album that's not really bad - not a masterpiece either - that has a pretty bad rating (2, up to 3 stars). We know that doesn't mean much, while at the same time we realise higher ratings may attract more poeple to giving it a shot. A moral dillema appears: do we stick to our standards and rate it 3 or at most 4 stars and argument it, or do we hit the 5 stars button just to help it a little bit, to correct the injustice that has been made?

P.S.: I know the "ratings in your heart are the only ones that matter" rethoric, so try to come up with a more on-topic approach to the issue.

P.P.S.: Also, what's with the 5 star ratings for prog-related albums? Isn't it progressive archive in the end? No matter how much you love an album, if it's simply not prog, then don't act as if it is.

Edited by Asphalt - November 05 2007 at 12:08

I will answer your second question first. I have already stated numerous times that no one will ever force me to give less than five stars to ANY album I consider a masterpiece. If we have PP and PR, then either we change the definition of 'masterpiece of progressive music' and so on and so forth, or people will have to be left free to rate those albums as they see fit. Personally, I would see any attempt to force me to do otherwise as an unacceptable imposition. Distorting the rating of an album just because it's not prog (or fully prog, as it is the case of many PP/PR albums) is not serious. Moreover, it is the review that should state clearly that the album in question is not prog or only partly so.

As to your first question, when I still wrote reviews, I only gave five stars to the albums I felt deserved them - certainly not to 'help'  correct any injustice. If I gave 5 stars to CTTE, it is because I deem it a masterpiece, not to counteract any 1-star reviews. In any case, I have never been obsessed by the Top 100 and ratings in general, and for me reviewing and rating an album was just something I did for my pleasure and for the site's sake.

Anyway, whenever I read reviews, I try to get as many opinions as possible, and then decide on my own. I have bought, and enjoy quite a lot, albums that have a rather low rating on PA. Of course I find 5-star reviews intriguing, but that doesn't mean I depend on them slavishly.

There's no point in rating an album higher than you think it deserves just to give it a shot. Sure, everyone has their own opinion and naturally there's going to be a lot of differences of opinion but the system would be worthless if albums were getting overrated just to give the band in question a chance.

With regard to five star ratings for Prog related albums, if they're Prog enough to be on the site then they're Prog enough for a five star rating if they deserve it I would say.

Edited by Nightfly - November 05 2007 at 12:52

When I start rating I'll be doing a rating on the genre it is in. Otherwise a prog-metal masterpiece won't be liked by anyone who dislikes metal. Basically I'll just do whatever I feel the album truly deserves.

My favorite albums all fall around the 4 mark. I don't have a huge care for the albums that are so highly rated, I do like them, but I don't set them above some of the other stuff that has crap ratings.

Well. here I go. Prior to writing reviews for progarchives I had never been able to read or  even write if you can believe it .
Whenever I write a review though, I try to remain within the confines of the guidelines set out by the site. For example, as much as I like Jan Akkerman`s Aranjuez collaboration with Claus Ogerman, following the progarchives guidelines I gave it a 3 whereas if I was being emotional I would have given it a solid 5. One album I recently awarded 5 stars to was Kostarev Group`s Live@InProg2003 because I truly thought it was a prog masterpiece and that guys/girls into bands like Crimson ,Gentle Giant or Bill Bruford`d solo material would glean something from it`s brilliance.
Which reminds me, I was just reading some reviews in Jazz Times last night and they don`t even rate their reviews. Rather, it`s left up to the reader to decide whether or not she/he wants to check out the particular album being reviewed. I actually prefer this method but until someone changes the rating procedure here I`ll stick with it.
( notice the political correctness in this post ). .

I'm very liberal with myself when it comes to ratings. I go with what my heart and mind tells me. That's why I have even given 5 stars to prog-related albums: those may not be 100% prog, but they are 100% masterpieces for me, and that's enough. I don't sweat when I have to give an album a 5 even if it's not a favorite, and the same for the opposite (KD the best example). I think it's my way of understanding things. When something is utterly atrocious for me, I have to say it. Yes, even in atrocious albums there's effort behind them, but I'm no qualifying that, I'm not giving my opinion on how much the band members slept or not during the recording. I just can give opinions on what I KNOW FOR SURE, and that is....what I feel about the album.

If I feel a PR album is a masterpiece I will rate it with 5 stars but...

If the album in my opinion deserves 4.5 stars, it will be rounded up to five stars if it's prog, or rounded down to 4, if it's not prog. However that is not entirely exclusive case, because sometimes I will act differently. I am guided with my feelings, too.

Finnforest wrote: Ratings are very personal.  The only thing I believe is that 5-star ratings should be EXTREMELY rare.  5 stars should MEAN something.  Too many dish them out like candy to album after album by their favorite group, that's what drives me nuts.

I'm not giving out 5 stars like candy to a band because that's my favourite group; that group is my favourite because so many their albums deserve five stars!!

again... the ratings themselves are eye candy...  it is the review  that counts...I've given one star to albums I liked... and if I could be bothered to review them..I'd give 5 stars to albums which are simply crap and completely overrated on this site.  What I think is reflected in my reivew.... how the albums stacks up in the pantheon of prog is how I rank them.  So in a nutshell the rankings I give them are useless.. which is why I have given as many as 4 'scores' in a single review.   I don't care where the albums are ranked at all.  I love all my Battiato albums... but I'd be crazy to give most of them more than 2 or 3 stars because simply most prog fans... will HATE them... they simply are not for everyone.. and not essential prog albums.   If I give it 5 stars..and some fool buys it based on that.... and gets an album with no melody... no instrument but a piano playing varations of the same chord for 20 minutes...  they should revoke my reviewing licence.  I love it... but  most others will not.  Is that fair then.. to give the album 5 stars.. no.. it  is not.

Edited by micky - November 05 2007 at 20:56

Asphalt wrote: P.P.S.: Also, what's with the 5 star ratings for prog-related albums? Isn't it progressive archive in the end? No matter how much you love an album, if it's simply not prog, then don't act as if it is.

It is prog archives but prog related artists are part of prog archives.

It doesn't matter if it isn't prog, if it's prog related and it's good then I'm not going to hesitate to give it 4 or 5 stars, in my eyes I'm not rating prog related albums or non-prog albums from prog artists on their progressiveness, I'm rating them on how good the music is and how much recognition it deserves and I think that is as good a position as any in rating these types of albums.

what about bashing proto-prog/prog related albums just because they don't agree with them being included in here?

i am one of those opposed to most recent inclusions but i certainly don't do so...

it's unacceptable for bands like Black Sabbath to have only one album above 4 stars...

to us, metalheads, albums like Master Of Reality, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Vol 4, Heaven And Hell, Headless Cross and Tyr are higher than the sky...