Real 5 star albums

It is time for a revolutionary act. We take out all the stars and every reviewer should rate the album again.

Secondly new album can be reviewed after tehir release but can be rated at least a half year after their release.
I have noted the first reviews of albums always are 5 stars. People are so relieved that their favorite band finally released another album, that they give a 5 star just to express their gratitude. This high peak lowers slowly through time with all less positive reviews later and the album would end up at about 4.20.

REVOLUTION!

 

I think many ratings here get too subjective.  Obviously subjectivity drives one's opinions, but perhaps one may go over the top in this fashion.  It's gotten to the point that I pass over reviews (usually) that have five stars.  A few examples of my own subjective faults:

 

When Misplaced Childhood came out, I was hugely emotionally attached to it since it somewhat mirrored what was going on with myself at the time.  It's the only cassette I played for a few months.  I was extolling its virtues to everyone within earshot, only to have odd glances returned to me.  Hearing it many years later with my head in a different place, it seems to be nothing special to me at all anymore.  Back then, all the rough spots in the recording were obscured by my emotional response to the lyrics.  The entire theme seems somewhat silly to me now.

 

The first prog album I owned was Nursery Cryme.  It opened the door to this genre.  Because of this, I've always loved this album, even though it has its rough moments and the production leaves a lot to be desired.  To give it a five star rating would be misleading to others since I have an affinity to it mainly because of timing, but my urge would still be to overrate it.

Gentle Giant's Octopus.  The only album at present I would give five stars to.  I was introduced to this way back when I was looking for some challenging music.  This fit the bill and then some.  This to me is perfection.  That being said, I can understand why some would not find it appealing at all, and a five star review might not be true to its worth (but I still think it's perfect

).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that an equal amount of subjectivity and objectivity should be employed.  Unfortunately, many reviews don't seem to have much objectivity at all.

To me, an example of a fantastic review was done by BiGi about a month ago for A Trick of the Tail.  Opinion strongly supported by fact.  Just reading that review caused me to recognize great elements that I hadn't considered before.  And this is an album I've heard hundreds of times.  Every subjective comment is supported by why the song works, why certain moments are so beautiful, etc.

 

Anyway my two cents worth....

This is a bit silly topic, because it is always a question of opinions and tastes only and they vary from time to time. For me, a five star album is something that I wouldn't want to live without... and that may change, too...

Of the albums that I have listened frequently enough, I would give five stars to:

Gentle Giant: Free Hand
Yes: Close To The Edge
Gentle Giant: Acquiring The Taste
Stravinsky: Rite Of Spring (Best versions are by Ozawa, Knussen and Salonen)
Szymanowski: 1st Violin Concerto (BBC SO/Mordkovich/Sinaiski come to mind)

I can't  think of many other records that would give me as much pleasure as those do.

I love Bernstein - West Side Story is amazing, musically.

For me a five star album is one that if I somehow lost it, I would immediately replace it again. Essential to my collection. No way that I could limit that to five.

 

OK, so no revolution. Hmm, it was a try.

Subjectivity is the weak spot in every review, but on the other hand it is what makes a review personal and interesting to read.
But essentiality is something like air in life or as Dragon P. says an album, which you immediately buy again when losing it and this again is subjective to the person and the moment in life.

But the only album that keep coming around is Close to the Edge of Yes.
So in objective terms Close to the Edge is the only real 5 star album, essential in your prog collection.

 

My opinion on this is that the albums should be rated on quality, not essentiality (?).  This way, people don't look upon these ratings as "you need to have this/that"... however true it may be.  It seems like nearly every band has a 5 star album... instead of cheapening the state of a 5 star (relatively speaking of course), I feel we could try to add an Honors rating system to any fiver, so that you have 5 normal stars for any exceptional album, and five gold stars for a masterpiece. 

However, ratings for these albums (fives only) could only be submitted by impartial, fair reviewers (i.e. Gatot, Maani, ProgLucky, M@X, various others who have proved their credibility and fairness.) Also, a 2/3 majority of this board must vote this album in by nomination from 25 members of the forum.

This way, we can eliminate fanboyism, ratings sabotage, and all the albums we consider masterpieces would be equally represented.  And if your favorite obscure, yet amazing album doesn't get in, chill out! Your favorite still has a stellar five star rating.  Spread it around some and maybe it'll get done next year. Yes, this will happen yearly, like elections.  I would like to see that the admins and board don't have to spend every day negotiating with lobbyists from the CTTE foundation (like it won't be first in line).

In the Court of the Crimson King (the beginning...)
Close to the Edge (the spreading)
Dark Side of the Moon (the mass marketing)
Scenes from a Memory (that which remains)


those 4 albums are pretty essential.

To define what I mean by essential, I mean that if someone asked "what is prog?" and wanted a non-verbal answer, I would play these 4 albums for them. There are quite a few others that I would use to define the genre (aka, are essential to the genre) but those are the 4 that come to mind for me.


Edited by DracoMordag

rush - moving pictures
yes - close to the edge
opeth - still life
comus - first uterrance
camel - mirage

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Devin Townsend - Terria Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane

ah yes forgot those fantastic