I have noticed this not just on this website (particularly with reviews) but in general. Someone will buy an album that is the latest by an artist without exploring their back catalog first. So what sometimes happens is they won't like that new album and will never listen to an older album by that band (or anything else by them in the future). I kind of get it to some degree because the latest is what is hyped and promoted at the moment so that is the one that is often visible to people. However, say I'm a younger prog fan and I just started to figure out who Yes are and I see they have a new album coming out (which they do but I'm not discussing them to  promote it but just to make a point and Yes are a good example since they are among the first prog bands  people typically discover). I could say to myself "oh boy, I've been hearing about this band Yes. I think I'll buy their new album." Imo, that's a lazy way of approaching things. I think it would make more sense to say "hmmm, maybe I'll see what their highest rated albums are before hearing the new one." Also, it seems that reviews on here that show up on the front page are mostly of either albums that are either brand new or a year old or the classic albums with not a whole lot in between. Of course this isn't just the case with prog but with music in general and I'm sure many non prog fans are guilty of this as well. I remember my brother definitely doing this back in the day. So has anyone else noticed this tendency of people to buy albums just because they are new at the expense of older albums (even ones that are classics)? How much can this be justified and is it a good practice?

It would be good if people were more interested in what came before, though I'd never begrudge someone getting started on, say, The Power to Believe or Snakes and Arrows if that sparks interest.  That said, with Prog stuff like Thick as a Brick and Welcome my Friends is indispensable if you're going to perceive the style as a whole.

Actually, I wouldn't say pre-internet days but more like pre-youtube days (at least for me personally). Youtube started in 2005 but it really wasn't until at least 2010 where people probably started using it for music and or most people really knew about it in a major way. 
 

I have done it, but I'd also read a bit (I already did that back in the day when I needed paper for it), and if I get the impression that the most recent album may be in some distance to their better work quality-wise, I would give a band another chance with older work.

Thing is, there's always too much music too little time. OK, somebody may miss out on good material in this way, but if they are interested in music more generally they have enough other great stuff to explore, so ultimately Relayer & Close To The Edge may be missing in their life but their life may still be fine. 

PS:

yesterday I saw someone give an album two stars then researched his ratings and saw it was the only album by the band he rated

This for sure doesn't imply that they have only listened to this one album. There are many other explanations.

Hi,

Tough one, but times have changed!

In the late 60's and 70's we picked up a lot of music by the cover ... without having any idea what it was about.

HOWEVER, we forgot one major thing that helped a lot ... the covers by HIPGNOSIS were in many ways a sort of editorial about the band and its music, so you got no funny ideas with the raw cover for Edgar Broughton Band, and neither did you get any funny ideas about Quatermass, and neither did you get any stupid ideas about a guy half asleep smoking ... it looked like. Cover that (later) with a cover that had a hubcap covering for what could be an UFO by a badly named band ... and you knew that while it was "fun", there was nothing really special in it.

This led to purchasing a lot of different things by the cover ... for example, I bought H TO HE without ever knowing anything ... and guess what ... one of the best ever!

In general, the Internet has made it easier to choose, however, the problem is that the choices are so huge and insane that making a choice ends up being with something that is familiar to your ear ... sadly, this is the worst scenario for "progressive" music since the majority of older bands rarely have anything new to give us, and in some cases it sounds very re-hashed and re-worded and re-done with a microphone in the bathroom instead.

It depends, all around, on one's curiosity factor ... if that curiosity factor is about new music and not bother with re-hashes then the story changes ... you won' go after "favorites" because you already have them! Something like that.

But this does not, exactly answer all the questions ... look at rap and how it seems like in 20 years, it's still the same ... and it supposedly sells a lot, or at least many youngsters are playing it loud on their car stereo to show how cool they are!

I am not sure that "research" is best ... sometimes, your ability to DISCOVER something is more important and you end up listening to it with much more attention than something that you did not find, or discover.

I can't tell you how many bands I got by the cover ...

Easy memory listed here to give you an idea that editorials or favoritism was not the idea at all!

Babe Ruth - First Base (great album and singer!)

Camel - Mirage (on the original import cigarette cover)

Amon Duul 2 - Carnival in Babylon immediately followed by Dance of the Lemmings with the best cover ever.

Can - Ege Bamyasi ... now that was a nice Andy Warhol finger!

Ange - Caricatures ... that cover was enough to take home!

Tangerine Dream - Atem ... what a cover!

Big Brother & The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills ... that album was insanely progressive for the time and then some! And the guitar taught many folks like Mr. Fripp and Mr. Howe later.

Paul Horn - Inside ... you just knew this was going to be insanely good.

And these were acquired DURING their time, not later, or with the Internet. In all cases, other than Big Brother's (big song hit on radio) album, no one knew anything about the bands or the music!

it was at that time I heard Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull the same night at a party ... I didn't get stuck on JT, probably because of what I often think is too many words, but the flute playing and the music was outstanding, and Fairport Convention was out of this world!

Heck, I never bought anything by the Kinks, Beatles or Rolling Stones because of the cover, although it was an easy buy since the music was everywhere!

I'll rather speak for myself, but the quoted is definitely my way to do it, and what I find most reasonnable.

The fact that I see so many reviews and ratings on the front page as soon as an album comes out (often by people who haven't rated anything else by the band) tells me it is. 

These days I'll often wait until the end of the year lists before deciding what to get. I don't listen to the radio much so that's not really a factor for me. 

On another forum I go on someone mentioned the GTR album. I was a teen when that came out and although I was big into Yes and Genesis at the time I never bought the album for some reason. Maybe the one song I heard on the radio which was "when the heart rules your mind" didn't sound proggy enough for me or epic enough. So, in that case that particular album would not pass the two song test because they only played the one song on the radio. Lol.