Artists you question or object to in PA

Sorry, I know this is not a well-composed post, but related to some earlier discussion.

It's been ten or so years since I was on a Prog team (Eclectic Prog), and often we would be sent full albums for evaluation. These days people are expected to put more effort into the suggestion threads, but I often would research, listen, and try to listen to the most relevant material if there were many albums (looking for the longest track could help). It's part of that relevant material thinking that informed the way I framed this topic. I also would try to listen to a cross-section of music. We were not only trying to determine if it's Prog enough, but also which category would best fit. If I felt there were prog-leanings, then I would vote Prog Related. Sometimes I'd vote move, occasionally I'd give a full no vote (meaning I find no merit in the suggestion). I wouldn't just vote, I would explain my reasons and impressions in the team thread and in Suggest New Bands. It was very time-consuming, and like others, I burnt out. And I wasn't even one of those who was adding lots of artists to the DB. With Eclectic (since it crosses different Prog genres), listening to a cross-section as well as the most PA relevant albums and tracks could be helpful for placement. It was more important to me that an an act is included than best fit (ping-ponging is time consuming and can lead to ones in limbo). I did like to work and discuss with various teams while on the Eclectic team, and we would discuss things together as teams often. Sometimes we'd duke it out in the suggestion threads when more than one team wanted a suggestion, and I would try to take the suggestors opinions on best placement into account. Many could fit multiple categories, and of course some have more relevant to PA material material than others. Sometimes things have been rejected because the wrong (least relevant) material was listened to, and it was that that was being judged. It's been a bit confusing because we add bands with full discographies rather than particular albums, and sometimes its been said that if you have one album deemed Prog, then the others don't matter, but sometimes ones have been left out with a Prog album or two who have quite a few non-Prog albums. People use their discretion. As long as people are sharing their thoughts and research in discussion rather than just voting yes, no, move, prog related..., it all tend to work out quite well, I find. With the new guidelines for submissions, hopefully that can make it a lot easier on the research front, the additions front obviously, and the listening front.

The volunteers who evaluate and add bands work so hard, some harder than others which is fine, and I hope that is appreciated by people. Well-prepared suggestion threads really help them out.

By the way, I don't want to see any acts removed from PA, and am fine with the site owner's policy to keep ones in PA once added (although a few have been removed, my favourite of these from a comical standpoint being William Hung -- was sad to see that go, including my review for the faux album I added called Hung Like a Horse).

Edited by Logan - June 22 2021 at 11:45

No offence was taken. 😄

Grumpyprogfan wrote: Couple of questions for the genre team members that approve, or not, artists for inclusion on PA. 1. Do the team members listen to the same album from the nominated artist and discuss why or why not to approve, or is it just a vote from each team member?  2. Does it need to be a unanimous vote to include a artist or does majority rule? 3. Currently, unless the website has not been updated, (crossover, post/math rock, eclectic, experimental, RPI, tech/extreme, and prog metal), have an even number of members. If the vote ends in a tie, who breaks the tie? 4. Do you listen to the artists entire catalogue or just random songs? 5. Has an artist that was initially approved ever been removed from PA due to further consideration? 6. Has an artist that has been initially rejected get approved after further discussions? 7. On average, how many artists do you review in a week? Thanks.

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BrufordFreak wrote: nick_h_nz wrote: I can only speak for myself, but I would never listen to random song. But unless I absolutely had to, I would not listen to an entire catalogue either. I listen to an album in full, and if that is not sufficient for me to vote yes, then I will listen to another. Rinse and repeat. But often I don’t need to listen to more than one album, because within that first album I can see why they have been put forward, and am happy to give a yes vote. I was on the J-R Fusion/Canterbury team for a short while. I didn't really received a ton of directions on how to review a musician/artist's discography, so the answer to this question seems to be more variable than Nick or Ian are making it sound. I tried to listen to 1) the particular albums that the submitter felt were most indicative of prog inclusion, and 2) as much material as I could find without having to buy anything. New bands, of course, usually only had an album or EP or two with perhaps some singles, which made it easier. Some "names" from prog world up for submission as solo artists were hard to judge cuz their solo material wasn't always as proggy as we'd like to think, yet they had "the name" that everybody recognized.  I also seem to remember a majority rule policy for admission approval, not one of unanimity.   Weighing in on Greg's OP, I just want to say that from the beginning I've been more supportive of inclusivity (I love having ALL my favorite music on one archive site), but have always been in favor of 1) more categories (i.e. "sub-genres") and 2) admission on an album basis. (Too many bands here with humungous discographies of which only a small percentage were/are really "progressive rock music." Some bands [ULVER] even deserving of having albums fitted into a multiplicity of sub-genres.)