Your one and two star album ratings?

There are various albums in PA that I would give low scores to if I could be arsed to rate them that I have listened to over the past 20 or so years such as ELP's In the Hot Seat, Genesis' ...Calling All Stations..., Yes' Open Your Eyes and Torman Maxt's The Problem of Pain: Part 1, and if Tom MacDonald & Adam Calhoun's album The Brave (2022) was ever added to PA (like on April Fool's Day), I would give it minus stars if I could. I get that sometimes one might listen all the way through an album out of morbid curiosity, or to see what the fuss is about, and I do like some albums and films that might be called of the so good they are bad variety (I love the Shagg's Philosophy of the World, and not sure how I would rate it).



^^^^ 70s Zeuhl albums all one, geez, I had not noticed. If that person had really listened, that would be some dedication. Every Post-Rock/Math Rock got one, but only 21 albums. At least he is more favourable to Progressive Electronic with a 1.08 rating for 74 albums and an better 1.37 for 93 Canterbury Scene albums.

I don't rate anything 1 or 2 stars on PA but I do have a bunch of low ratings on Gnosis where I have my full collection uploaded. Not all prog by all means, I own, and I have listened to all the albums multiple times before giving up.

1 star (out of 15, equivalent PA 0.33 stars)
Nickelback - Silver Side Up
Staind - Break The Cycle

2 star (0.66 PA stars)
Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction

3 star (1 PA stars)
Allan Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue
Kings Of Leon - Only By Night
U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

4 star (1.33 PA stars)
David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Korn - Life Is Peachy


Edited by Nogbad_The_Bad - March 28 2025 at 19:17

^ I likely would give Present's C.O.D. performance a two too. Surprised I did not rate more Present back in the day as that was one of my very favourite and most listened to bands especially in my earlier years at PA.

Seems I only have eight ratings over the past 13 years, and all but one of those has reviews, but I did rate a lot at Prog Archives when the quick rating feature was implemented. I focused on many of my favourite albums then. This is my profile page CLICK

I have noticed various raters who will rate whole discoveries the same. I gave Magma' debut a five stars back in, well, many years ago and I would still stand by the rating. If you look at say THIS user's ratings (CLICK) they rate full discographies the same. Listened to 32 Magma albums and thought they were all one star? Did that person's brother force him to listen? I also notice ratings that come out very quickly on release or before release with very high or low ratings, where I doubt one has taken the time to properly listen.

Some ** ratings with review are actually kind of positive, like Eternal Flashback and Only Human by Amon Düül II, or Art Zoyd's Pure Noise, or Stern Meissen's Freiheit Ist. These are albums hardly anyone listens to, and honestly, there are good reasons for it, but I feel if anything I'm doing them a service, listening to them and mentioning at least one positive aspect in a ** review. When it comes to listening often, my appreciation of some albums changes with time, but for many it doesn't. I think I listened to the Stern Meissen and Art Zoyd album twice each, but I don't feel unfair about that, I just don't think there is much potential to improve. I just feel I "get" some albums even if not rating them highly. Some others I don't like much at first listening but I already know that there's something that I may learn to appreciate more. These don't get ** quickly. 

Edited by Lewian - March 28 2025 at 17:17

I very hurriedly wrote this as waiting to go out.

I find it interesting that some people will have a great many one and two star ratings posted at Prog Archives or otherwise, whereas I would very, very rarely listen through an album that I do not find good/ appreciate more than that. Maybe I'm not very discriminating, but the vast majority of albums I chose to listen to during my years at PA (not ones I listened to due to PA "work") were good to great for my tastes. I rarely buy without listening first, and I like to sample before buying. Even by the time I check music out I usually have reason to think that I will like it.

And I would not wish to rate an album without having listened to the album multiple times. With many raters, I expect that it after just the one spin, with many others I suspect it is rated quite impulsively without having been given even one attentive listen all the way through. With some it may be based on a portion of the album, and some abusive types without listening to it all because the are trying to manipulate rankings. One evens sees vindictive ratings or ones where someone rates an album lower because they think others overrated it.

I have not rated much in many years and if I were to rate now it would come with a review, but I chose to rate my favourite albums, and I especially would not wish to review albums that I don't really like.

So what are some of your one and two star ratings, how much did you listen to those albums and why did you choose to listen through those if they do not seem to match your tastes at all? Especially interested in the more "controversial" ratings, like the ones where the general consensus of reviewers seems to be that it's a very good or excellent album and your rating is much lower. Also of interest is those ones you rate high that others rate low, but I think I did that topic before (maybe this one too, I did one for reviews before).

Edited by Logan - March 28 2025 at 16:06