Top 100 all-time as rated on RYM and PA

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   David, as you suggested to continue our conversation on the '20 of your greatest UK prog rock classics' thread under this topic. I just wanted to share a few thoughts about your list of 100 top prog albums based on RYM and PA ratings. 
Firstly, with respect to the list itself, I do think it provides a credible ranking of the best prog albums, with the caveat that, as I mentioned, it's limited by the fact that you only include one album per band. I just had a quick look at RYM's top 100 prog-rock albums, and there are quite a few bands with several albums in the top 100 (same on PA). For instance, King Crimson has 6, Pink Floyd, Genesis and Rush have 5 each, Yes, VDGG and Gentle Giant have 4 each, etc. So I would say that by limiting your list to one album per band, one gets a better appreciation of the number of bands with highly-rated albums, but many highly appreciated albums are missing. Aside from that, I think the list is quite close to what I perceive are considered the best prog-albums (though I admit that I am not familiar with a number of them) and is roughly consistent with other lists that I find credible, such as Prog Magazine's "The 100 greatest prog albums of all time".          

You raised these questions on the '20 of your greatest UK prog rock classics' thread:

"What I mean is that those albums are the highest rated but what does that exactly tell 
	about the raters' view of them? 
Those albums are most liked?
They are most appreciated?
They are considered to be the best ones?
They have got the highest status?
They are maybe just those albums which were highest rated in the beginning, 
	and the following raters just followed this high rating?
Or what can be told about them in general?"

I think these are all good questions and I have often wondered myself what is in peoples' heads when they rate albums and movies. I would think that, by and large, most people rate albums primarily based on whether they like them, or on how good they think the albums are, or a combination of both, though these other factors you mention probably come into play as well for some people. I can only speak for myself. If I'm asked which albums are my favorite (for example, on your 20 UK classics topic), then my choice is really based on my personal preferences. However, when I rate an album, I try to be "relatively" objective and rate it according to what I perceive to be the quality of the music, taking into account the time and context in which it was made. This is can be quite difficult sometimes because there are certain styles that I don't particularly enjoy or appreciate, but I may recognize the creativity or technical ability of the musicians. Sometimes, I read several reviews of an album to understand what others may like or not like in it, to help me come to a judgment. That said, I admit that I do let my personal preferences creep in to some extent, particularly if I feel that an album I like is under-rated, I will give the album maybe a higher rating than I objectively think it deserves (I use therm "objectively" here in a relative sense, because can one be truly objective about the arts?). Conversely, if after several listens of a highly-rated album, I really can't see what the hell is good about it, I will give that album a lower rating than its average rating, but maybe not too low as I still give the benefit of the doubt to other raters.                 

What about yourself, how do you rate albums?   