IMHO........ (Reviews)

 

It got me thinking though, the majority of 1 star (or indeed 5 star) reviews are guest reviews rather than collabs or admins etc.

Also I find some of these reviews incredible! I started to wonder what do we expect from our musicians? and because we have a pc at our disposal and the ability to "publish" a review of a body of work, does that tempt some folk over the edge with power? Some reviews I have read have been border line libel/defamation of the artists, or the artists work. I guess they remain on the site because they are given the "In my honest opinion" tag........ does IMHO really alow one to get away with really awful/untrue comments about a body of work or about a musician?

Do you think that some folk like to slate something that is successful, just because of the greeneyed devil or spite?  Most of the reported reviews are nonsensical ramblings, but there are a lot of reviews that scrape through because of the over use of "IMHO" as a tool to validate plain old bile.

 

The other thing that I often think about........ is IF an album is truly SO bad, WHY waste your precious (& superior) time writing about it?

 

I am really not "having a go" at any one person here..... and most of the bile laden reviews tend to be by folk who don't spend time here on the forum, I am seriously CURIOUS as to what motivates these reviews.

 

IF you REALLY don't like a band.......... is it necessary to sl*g off EVERY album they make?

Do you think it is fair to make personal (or untrue) comments about a musician?

Do you think that by releasing some music that they should accept this kind of thing... and if so why?

 

P-C

 

I was thinking more what motivates us in review writing.........

 

I am not really thinking about negative feed back, I think that everyone has a right to dislike something, and to say that they dislike it.  But some reviews go beyond that and rather than state that something is disliked, a review might say that someone is unable which I think is a very different kettle of fish.

This is the point where I start to question the validity of a review. Or look into the credentials of the reviewer........

I believe that all artists are used to criticism and like you say it comes with the territory, however should insults/libel/defamation/out and out lies be accepted under the guise of "opinon"? Should a review be a personal slant against the musician rather than an opinion on the body of work they produce?

 

I don't want it to look like I am getting "bolshy" about this, I am genuinely curious.

I think (because I have been witness to this) that some fans will cultivate more "competition" or "rivalry" between two or more bands where there is none amongst the musicians, and to enhance the profile of their favourite artist will give poor reviews to those they see as a rival. Which I think is poor sport.

 

There is this thing I say to my kids "make yourslf look good by doing good things, not by making others look bad" 

 

P-C

 

By "guest" you mean guests guests (?) or just review-guests? I mean, I'm a guest, many others are guest... Would that mean all our reviews are no more? I can't write reviews no more? I'm a forum member but in the review site I'm listed only as guest. I may fall for sentimentalism form time to time, but hey, IT'S MUSIC, it's not an exact science, so I think we can put some feeling into our reviews. Some people put so much "effort" into their reviews but as they limit themselves to say "x is good" then nobody has a problem with those. I really can't see guest reviewers going out. ON the other hand, if you say "guest" meaning a forum guest, then I agree completely, we would get rid of a lot of poorly written reviews.

 

So we only have to review album we like??

 

Man I would guess in that case is even more correct to write a review, a respectful, well-written review of course. I mean, you could help some people save some money if they choose to follow your comments.

 

I think the important is to make yourslef clear, put arguments for your position, no matter what it is. If people here want only praise-filled reviews, well, what's the point? What's the point about writing anything, about art criticism? Man, I say all of these because some people think "journalism" is something bad or anything.... I guess then everybody should write for newspapers and in good books... well, the internet will take care of that in a few decades, anyway. I feel attacked because I study journalism and I would like, please, if you (not you Prog-chick but everybody) can refer to any profession with more respect.

 

Peace on earth. And let T's rain from heaven.