Reviews feedback

I would appreciate if you could help me improve my reviewing/musical analysis skills by "reviewing" my reviews .... Thank you in advance!!!

Edited by ProgressiveAttic - January 21 2010 at 18:54

OK but careful what you ask for--  I started with your Tarkus review (like you, it's one of my top prog records).. first paragraph is way over the top: it asks an irrational question ["how can someone rate this album under 5 stars?"]; the word 'best' is used four times; and you don't tell us - objectively speaking - why it's the best (a big claim).  Also the review has no descriptions of the music itself, just the lyrics are highlighted. 

Then I read your Jon&Vangelis-- better with more detail and some decent wording ["The Friends of Mr. Cairo is a fun piece of music and a highlight of the album (besides the cheesy sound effects ala detective movie)"  or  "2 stars for a nice but forgettable album"]

I finished with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra..  much better with a cohesive sense of structure and flow; it felt more finished and thought-out, best part is the first:  "Very dramatic rock opera about the life of Beethoven, it features nice piano melodies, lots of symphonic prog and an overall neoclassical metal feeling with lots of electric guitars + variations on some Beethoven pieces... A definitive highlight of the album are the dramatic vocals.   The story is very well constructed and there is a nice balance between the music and the vocals with a few instrumentals that merge into the story without disrupting it. The piano interludes are very beautiful and help to induce the feeling of Beethoven's work by quoting some of his melodies as a part of the composition + the string section gives a more organic atmosphere to the metalish sound."


Hope this helped

OK, I picked your In the Court of the Crimson King review, since it was my own very first review (almost 5 years ago), and the album is also one of my 'desert island' discs. My main criticism here would involve the stylistic aspect of your review, more than the actual content - which is fine. 

Personally, I am not a big fan of track-by-track analyses or numbered lists, and I like to write slightly longer, more organic paragraphs. Additionally, as David (Atavachron) already pointed out, you tend to use a lot of hyperbole, which can be quite offputting. I have been guilty of using it myself in the past, though I'd like to think I've grown out of it, so to speak. The paragraph about "21st Century Schizoid Man" is the main offender, though you tend to sprinkle words like 'masterpiece' all over your review.

Hopefully I haven't been too harsh to you! I also hope you've found my comments useful.

Vibrationbaby wrote: Don't try and justify yourself. Just write the damn thing as if you're one of these professional reviewers that has just been tossed a copy of the album to review by the editor.

This.  And it applies to every writer, not just the OP.