I don't seem to inspire the same sort of dutiful love that you do Trollmeister, but I will continue to poke and prod to keep the club going. :P

The reason we tried to change format again after you left was because most of the participants weren't a fan of a lot of the stuff popping up on the lists you were sourcing, so initially I just whipped up a list of my own and tried sourcing that. After that though, I got the impression that people thought the review format was too tedious, so I suggested changing things to where we do a couple of paragraphs worth of analysis on the weekly-chosen prog album and give it a rating afterwards.

What I'd really like to try doing is get a core group of people in here besides me and you who will consistently participate on time. For that to happen though, the review format has to stay simple and perhaps we need to (again) find some kind of basis for selecting the albums each week...because, as you pointed out, the activity level pretty much plummeted again after I left the album choices up to everyone. xD

Welcome back TrollHeart!

Thanks man! Good to be back! :)

Ant, I would suggest that maybe, just maybe, an idea might be (at least initially) for everyone to take turns just taking a prog album from their collection --- preferably their favourite or one they really like --- and let people have their say on it. I understand what you say about the review matrix, but I put that together because sometimes people have a hard time structuring reviews --- "What do I say?" "What points should I make?" etc --- and I thought it would help to give a basic framework off which people could work.

If it's become too laborious, then by all means ditch it. I would, in all honesty, prefer a sort of roundtable discussion, where we throw ideas, comments, views etc back and forth rather than actually review. Example: let's choose, oh, say "The Wall"....

Me: "I love this album, a real classic."
You: "Yeah, one of Floyd's best."
US: "Meh, overrated."
Me: "Huh?"
You: "Why?"
US: "Bit overblown, too commercial, Waters was up his own arse on it."
Xurtio: "I'd agree with that."
Me: "Watch out, I have a gun and do not know how to use it!"
Moss: "I mever heard this album."
All of us except Moss: "WHAT???"

and so on.

(Obviously, all responses in that are fictional: Moss may love the album, US may also and you may hate it. It's all just to illustrate a point, which is that interactive discussion works better really in a club-type scenario than just writing reviews.)

If we had something similar to the shoutbox, or some way of all being online at once, or maybe ... hmm ... a separate thread for each album? Wherein we could post our thoughts and argue among ourselves? Just an idea. But I think it would work much better if we were talking rather than submitting reviews. After all, think of a real book club: do they all meet and hand each other written theses? Nah, they talk among themselves and argue the merits of the book. I think that is what we should be aiming for, admittedly harder when you're not there in person, but I think it could be done.

But then, you're in charge now, the big cheese, the head honcho, a-number one, numero uno etc mutter mutter .... ;) so I guess it's up to you how we approach it. I think I may be on to something though (or just on something...)

I actually like the idea of making a new "thread" for each album chosen. Whoever's "turn" it is can pick the album from their collection or just one they want to talk about.

It is indeed difficult to recreate a book club when we make it all so clinical/impersonal. That being said, I think the person who picks the album and then makes a thread about it should give it some kind of review. It would create a good basis for whatever discussions we have from that point on. :)

The only problem with that is that we'll end up taking over the prog subforum and edging out all the other ... oh. Wait. ;)

If we do this though, I think threads should be locked after a certain time, to prevent overproliferation of what might be considered closed subjects; the words horse and flogging come to mind...

So, what's the next album I can get in on, and are we going to setup this new "discussion" format?

The problem I have is time and I can just about maintain my own journal, so its quite demanding to fit an additional album review in.

I reckon a number of people feel the same and a roundtable type discussion of an album might be a better idea.

That's what I was thinking too. Therefore, let's decide who wants to go next to propose the next album and post the album here. After that, we'll create an official thread for that album and do all the roundtable discussing of it over there. :wave:

According to my previous ordering, Xurtio should be next in the queue...but we can revise the order now if you guys want.

Xurtio's choice is fine with me. If for any reason he can't do it I can step in, but now that I'm a mere ordinary mortal, I'll wait my turn... mutter mutter revenge take soon everyone suffer ....

I keep getting swamped. It's the start of the semester and things are still settling to equilibri between teaching and research duties. Once it settles down, I can start reviewing albums while grading papers and such!

OK I can step in if you want (no that's not an armful of Marillion albums I'm carrying. You must need glasses...) ;)

Having received no response at all, let me propose this album for our first proper discussion. Is this ok with everyone?
http://www.progarchives.com/progress...32792011_r.JPG
A tower of silence --- Anubis

If nobody has any objections I'll open a thread on this soon and we can discuss it after listening to it.

Welcome back trollheart! I'm ready to get back on the prog train if you will have me. It got confusing there for awhile with people picking multiple albums and things. I could not keep up. So structure and no more than 1 clear pick a week works for me. But I will doy best no matter what.

Sounds good to me. I was hoping he'd respond soon, but might as well get on with the show. I'll go next after this one. :thumb:

...and welcome back Mossman.

No objections here.

Okay cool. If anyone wants a link for the album let me know.
I'll create the thread today (pity there's no way to group these, but I guess we'll just head each one with PRAC then the album name etc so as to keep each separate) and it would really be worth everyone's time to check out Anubis's website and also progarchives.com, where they explain the concept of the story; really enhanced my enjoyment/appreciation of the album. Yeah, it's a concept album. Go Prog! :D

And thanks Moss for the welcome back. Right back atcha!

So just to recap: no reviews are required but you can of course do one if you want. Basically we're looking for a conversation about the album, which will take place in the album's thread. I personally think we can start whenever, but if everyone wants to maybe check in with a quick post --- heard the album, ready to discuss --- we can get it moving when everyone's happy, rather than have to wait the usual week or two weeks. How does that sound?

Hope you all enjoy it, and if you diss it, well, I shall see you on the verbal battlefield! ;)

Like Moss, this sounds like it might be paced right for me too. Pick one album and have a week to discuss or review it, right? I'll chime in when I can.

You can group them throimugh the tagging system. Just comeup with a unique tag like "proggerreviews" and attach it to all relevant threads.

Pretty much. Almost like when you're discussing some album in the "Albums you're digging" thread or whatever. Kind of loose, informal, more a discussion than a review. Leaves everyone time to make points as they come up or as they occur to them, and puts nobody under pressure. Also means there's no set time for the notes on the album to close; as you think of stuff later on you can post in that thread, even if it's months later. Helps with "growers" or even the reverse effect ("Shrinker"?) I guess.

I think this could really work, by which I mean, watch it crash and burn... :beer:
Not sure how that works. I was hoping for something like a directory structure, eg PRAC/Album Discussions/September/Anubis etc. But if what you said helps I'll see if I can figure it out. Thanks.

At the bottom right of every page, you'll see "Edit Tags" where you can add a meta tag that will be searchable. I added a tag "progreviews2014" and this thread will come up when you do a "Tag Search" with that criteria.

[QUOTE=Trollheart;1487984]
http://www.progarchives.com/progress...32792011_r.JPG
A tower of silence --- Anubis

QUOTE]

Never heard of that one! :DI have not looked for this one yet but I could certainly use a link to it!

[QUOTE=Moss;1488192]Here you go. All nice 'n' legal too!
Grooveshark - Free Music Streaming, Online Music

[QUOTE=Trollheart;1488226]Many thanks!

Listening now.. and done don't forget to add a "progreviews2014" to the tags on the thread you create.

It's been a week guys: we ready to start jabbering about the album yet?

I've already forgotten it! I remember the guitar solos were very gilmour'esque and the vocal were okay. I'll have to listen again once people start commenting.

Listening now!

Okay guys it's been two weeks now...
http://www.featurepics.com/FI/Thumb3...ot-2174307.jpg
Can we get this moving again? If I can listen to a prog album for the club, in addition to running Metal Month II and updating my other journals, plus the odd spot of breathing, youse other guys have no excuse.

Let's, as Marvin said, get it on.
Who's with me?
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8oyt6pLvh1qa4s95.jpg

Mercy me!

Well, guess I'll go ahead and throw in the next one. Who is up for an unconventional modern blend of progressive rock, epic conceptual storytelling and dubstep? :wave:

http://www.shineback.org/__imgs/RUFR...er_600x600.png
Shineback - Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed (2013)


The album can be bought or streamed right here: Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed | Bad Elephant Music

Can always rely on the Ant! :thumb:
I'll give it a listen and get back to ya mate.

Listening to it now. Will let you know when I'm ready to start discussing it. There's a whole lot to process...

Such is the joy of concept records. :D

Ooh, I love a concept record. Trying to get the link to work now.

Since I'm still new and confused:
In which phase is this thread now? Are we proposing, voting, listening?
Or is it some vague state in between?

I was under the impression that after Trollheart got his thoughts together on my album suggestion, he was going to go post a thread about it and then everyone else could chime in.

So on that note, I'd say everyone besides me is in the "listening" phase for Shineback.

Yeah. It's a long album and it only being available on that bandcamp thing makes it difficult (though not impossible) to listen to it offline, so getting through it is proving difficult. It's definitely not an album I want to judge after only one listen though!

With all this Metal to listen to, plus Pet's Psych album club, I'm doin the best I can but if you want to start a thread and discuss --- if yiz're ready --- I'll jump in when I have a mo.

TH

Want me to PM you a copy bud? :)

That would be cool yes thanks Ant. :thumb:

All right! Now that Metal Month II has come to a glorious end --- well, an end anyway --- I can finally give this album the attention it deserves. Expect a review/comments soon...

Is this it then? Looks like we've been dancing around this for close on a month now! Anyone any thoughts, or should we just move on? Don't want to get bogged down and the old boot may need to be applied here to get us moving again...

I really liked the Shineback but I'm a bit peeved that nobody is bothering to discuss it, so for whatever reason that may be, I vote we stick a pin in it and come back to it later. Meanwhile, who's up next? No, not the pronoun, but a player with the unlikely name of Who... ? ;)