Two opinions

In my opinion there are always 2 opinions a man must have

A subjective one and an objective one...

When its about music i think you MUST have two opinions...

Its not a matter of taste always....

Any opinions on that??

I guess you're right, but there's nothing harder than an objective opinion!(especially about music)

i know this is a tough one....

huh???????????

i disagree....

I mean...

There are many songs that i like and i say ....This song sucks!!!!How on earth i like it??????????

danbo wrote: EXAMPLE: James Labrie. He's a strong singer with control, tone, power, but I can't stand to hear him sing.

Apparently you have to be that way, for people with modern taste to like you .  I have a few friends heavy into DT and other nu-prog.. they checked out Yes and came back saying, "The music's pretty cool, but I can't stand the singer..."

The point is, everyone has their own opinion on what they like, but at the same time, the respect for the person or bands abilities. Some stuff you "grow" to love and some..........NOT.

To each his own.

Joren wrote: You see? That's what I mean! So: IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN DEFINE GOOD MUSIC?

Unfortunately, No. Just look at some of the drivel posted by some PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS. Not all know there stuff and no two really agree on anything but high water marks. Even then it's an arguement over Moraz, Wakeman, Emerson and whoever........

Make up your OWN mind. Keep the good stuff, discard the rest.  

Inexplicably, even the objective appraisal of a musician's technical ability can be difficult to establish among varying listeners.  For example, I've played Holdsworth for a few acquaintances whom I knew had an interest in guitar, and some of the responses bewildered me.  Setting aside the issue of whether anyone actually enjoyed the music, on a "respect for ability" level, I've witnessed reactions such as "He's not that fast."  Even if you don't care for what fans would ascribe as Holdsworth's finer attributes (emotion, lyricism, harmonic genius, etc.), I always assumed it was an "objective" reality that the guy can play damned fast!  Anyway, food for thought.

And swmyg0d0fmusic, regarding my previous post on this topic -- I was kidding!  I guess it wasn't as obvious as I thought it was.  I need to start using those smiley things...

Corbet

danbo wrote: Joren wrote: You see? That's what I mean! So: IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN DEFINE GOOD MUSIC? Unfortunately, No. Just look at some of the drivel posted by some PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS. Not all know there stuff and no two really agree on anything but high water marks. Even then it's an arguement over Moraz, Wakeman, Emerson and whoever........ Make up your OWN mind. Keep the good stuff, discard the rest.

 Danbo, I feel moved to reply to that. With the possible exception of the "Special Collaborators," none of us (to my knowledge) are "professional" writers or reviewers. The only "payment" we receive for our reviews is in the form of downloads of (very limited numbers of) the CDs listed, so that we might review them. I myself simply stumbled upon this site, and offered my services. I guess that the site's owners liked my writing enough to give me a "job" here, but this is just a hobby for people like Maani, Corbet and I.

Re the "drivel posted by some" of the site's reviewers, I would appreciate more detail. If you mean that sometimes you strongly disagree with a reviewer's opinion, that's to be expected, as one's reaction to art is a personal thing.

If, however, you are referring to the, shall we say, uneven quality of the writing done by the Archives' reviewers, I think that such remarks could be truly valuable if they were more specific in nature (i.e., whose writing, which review, and what section?), and offered in the form of constructive criticism. I for one am open to suggestions re how to improve my writing, and I know from experience that Max and Ron welcome input as to ways to improve the Archives.

Re our seeming inability to "agree on anything but high water marks," why should we, as independent music fans (who have never even met each other) be expected to agree on a piece of music any more than anyone else? I still think that it can be informative and interesting to hear more than one opinion on a disc/band, but agree that in the end you simply have to decide for yourself. We merely try to help you decide, and provoke interest in the albums we review. 

Sincerely and respectfully,

Peter