waxing lyrical

I have wasted an hour of good solid work time this afternoon to read through some reviews I have been meaning to get to for sometime.
I have noticed in several reviews, I wont say which because it is irrelevant for the topic, comments about lyrics. Can they make or break and album in the eyes of a reviewer?
If you don not understand a lyric do you dismiss it? Or do you delve and try to find out what it's all about?
Would you dismiss a lyric taken on a superficial understanding or would you scratch away at the surface and try to understand it further?
Alternatively can you be bothered?
Songs about great depth of emotion, are they irrelevant to you if you do not know or understand that emotion?
Songs that have historical or political content, would you search out the meaning or move on?

I have revisited some music recently from way back in my youth and all of a sudden they have made a whole heap more sense, does this apply to you or would you not revisit it?

In short, if the lyricist has poured out his heart and soul for you, do you have empathy and understanding or do you brush it away?


P-C   

I'm actually quite interested in lyrics as a whole, even when I know they're not the most important thing in a band's overall production. IMHO, interesting lyrics enhance a song quite remarkably, especially when they are delivered by a great vocalist. Mind you, by "great" in this case I don't necessarily mean possessed of a powerful, operatic voice, but someone who can interpret what he or she is singing in order to convey the meaning in the most effective way. This is why I find Roger Waters a great vocalist (though his voice is by no means beautiful), while, conversely, James LaBrie bores me to death.

I don't think Jon Anderson takes himself as seriously as you think. He has freely admitted that he often writes lyrics as much for the sound of the words as the meaning. 

I was going to say that meaning was very important but I like Yes and most of the time I have no idea (or at least never thought about) what the lyrics mean. Then there's some lyrics in prog that I think are a bit silly (I won't mention names). I guess it's not what the words are but how the words are sung with the music. It has to blend.

I hardly ever mention lyrics in a review becuase, unless they're horrible--and to me, they never are--it doesn't effect my liking of an album. Very good lyrics add to the album though.

Well I got into prog because of the quality of musicianship here, on first listen the voice tends to be nothing more than another instrument adding to the overall sound, and singers like Fish, Peter Gabriel, Waters etc use their voice in a way that makes it very interesting. In most cases for me lyrics only have a small effect on how I would rate an album. For instance Symphony X have written lots of really cheesy songs, but I dont lower my rating for their albums much because of it, when I come to review their albums you'll find that I mark them down because most of their shorter songs all sound the same, its hard to tell wether some songs came from Divine Wings..., Twiligh..., The Odessey etc.

There are some that I take notice of the lyrics right from the start though, Fish probably being the best example. If people like Fish start wrighting poor lyrics it has an imediat impact on the quality of the song as they are such dominant personalities.

I guess I'm trying to say..... it depends.

Now as for physics..........

Lyrics are often interpretated for my ears like mummbling; since I'm from SouthAmerica, and since I mlike music from a lot of countries, and I won't read those lyrics. In all cases, when I do understand, if it sounds bad, the words are not well placed on the music score, etc., I do tend to take those albums appart. Like those DT lyrics (sorry fans), wich are beyond obvious and boring.