The Prog Rock Album Club

Big Ears · 05-03-2013, 08:21 AM

I am glad that everyone liked Headspace. It seems an irony that having put them forward, I am the one that enjoyed the album least. For me, it did not stand repeated plays, but I am not a progressive metal fan (except for DT). At the time, I was in half a mind to suggest the Lifesigns album, which features John Young (Greenslade, Asia) and is more neo,

Unknown Soldier · 05-03-2013, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

A few points before I begin, and I'm not meaning to get at anyone here, but there's a little confusion taking place, so I think I should clarify.

Question 5 refers to music, not instrumentals. What I'm saying here is, take out the vocals, listen to the music in each track, did you like it? I'm not talking about tracks with music only. You could relate it to musical passages in songs, but it's not meant to refer to instrumentals only. So if you liked the vocals but didn't like the music the vocalist was singing over, the answer to this woud be no (and then you could say why).

Question 8 on the other hand refers to ONLY instrumental TRACKS. So if an album has no fully instrumental tracks then this should be ignored. This does not cover long instrumental passages in a song which ends up having vocals; that's addressed in question 5.

Question 15. For some reason Unknown Soldier put n/a. This is one of the first albums we've had recently which is a debut, so the question is definitely /A! The other parts of the question should really be struck out, as this question was compiled originally to refer to debut and debut albums ONLY. If the album is NOT a debut, it's N/A, otherwise it can be answered.

Sorry to be so pedantic, but I'm just trying to clear up the confusion that these questions seem to have caused. And now, my thoughts.

I admit I've stumbled on some of these questions (not paying attention mostly) but maybe you could adapt the questionnaire to make these couple of points clearer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Since we've now reviewed a respectable amount of albums I'm planning to chart them in a league table, so tomorrow I'll start working out placings, based on an average rating for each, and see which albums made it to the top, and who recommended them. My intention is then to make that an ongoing thing, so we can see how well, or badly, our choices are faring as time goes on.

Thanks to everyone for making this club work: initially it seemed doomed, but thanks to late interest it got a second chance and now we really seem to be flying. Great job guys!

I was actually thinking of suggesting a league table some time back, so that would be a great idea.

Big Ears · 05-03-2013, 10:02 AM

Can I suggest the following rewording (or similar):

5. Temporarily disregarding the vocals, did the instrumentation appeal to you?

8. Did you like the instrumental tracks, if applicable?

Perhaps the chronology in question 15 needs pointing out in advance. I was aware Headspace had released an EP a considerable time before their first album and perhaps I should have mentioned this. There are some strange anomalies, as with Rush’s last album.

Trollheart · 05-03-2013, 12:22 PM

All good points guys: I'll address this shortly.
Meanwhile I've completed the league table, but am waiting for I think one more review of Headspace's album to see where it falls.
At this point here's how I've scored the albums we've done so far:
The first one or two we did were more than a little disjointed in terms of reviews -- some did full reviews (ahem!) some did only a line or two --- so I've only started this from the point at which we began using the framework and started rating the albums. In a few isolated cases, where someone has filled out the form but not rated the album I've looked at their review and assigned what I think is a nominal rating based on that.

I've added up the ratings and then divided the total by the number of reviewers, to get an average, and it is this average figure which has determined where the album goes in the table.

This is not set in stone, though I think it's about as much information as we need, but if anyone sees a way to improve or expand the table let me know. For now, this is what we have, and you can see that Hawkwind's "Hall of the mountain grill" is way on top, with an average rating of 8.63, while the album holding the number two spot, Spock's Beard's "The Light", is a considerable amount below that, at a rating of 8.33.

Lowest on our chart so far is my Alphataurus, narrowly liked less than Captain Beyond, despite my low score, dammit!

Also, note that Big Ears is responsible for the choosing of both the top two albums, so well done to him!

Big Ears · 05-03-2013, 12:49 PM

^ Good work TH. I re-read my comments on Alphataurus and I do not disagree with myself (I gave it 8.0). It may be bottom of the league, but it is still a very good album. In any case, all the groups in the list are really cult bands and (I assume) were not chosen for their wide popularity. It would be interesting to see how an album by one of the big guns rated by comparison.

Unknown Soldier · 05-03-2013, 02:07 PM

My aim is to finish as low as I can on that chart, only Trollheart has suggested weaker albums than me.

Trollheart · 05-03-2013, 03:10 PM

Yeah, we could do like they do on MOTD2: an alternate chart. Like, what would every album score if you took out keyboard solos, or something?

Big Ears: well I don't know that I'd call Spock's Beard or Hawkwind cult bands, but I know what you mean. Trouble is, with one of the bigger, established bands people might already have a pre-formed view, which is why I wouldn't suggest Marillion, Genesis, Rush or Yes, or any of those bigger bands. I think it's more fun this way. It's certainly proving interesting.

PS: I'm still not sure where Headspace is going to come on the chart, waiting for I think just ET's review. If that's not in by Monday I'll probably go ahead and score it on the basis of what we have, which will put it at 7.75, pretty low down on the list.

Who's up next?

Unknown Soldier · 05-03-2013, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Who's up next?

Me I think.

Powerstars · 05-05-2013, 02:03 PM

I'll try to pay attention to this and participate.

Trollheart · 05-06-2013, 05:11 AM

You're coming in at a good time, Powerstars: we're just about to start a new album, once US lets us know what it is. The template for responses is back on the previous page and if you have any questions just ask. Welcome!

05-03-2013, 08:21 AM	#351 (permalink)
Big Ears Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 434	I am glad that everyone liked Headspace. It seems an irony that having put them forward, I am the one that enjoyed the album least. For me, it did not stand repeated plays, but I am not a progressive metal fan (except for DT). At the time, I was in half a mind to suggest the Lifesigns album, which features John Young (Greenslade, Asia) and is more neo, __________________ My Journal: Rabbiting On

05-03-2013, 10:02 AM	#353 (permalink)
Big Ears Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 434	Can I suggest the following rewording (or similar): 5. Temporarily disregarding the vocals, did the instrumentation appeal to you? 8. Did you like the instrumental tracks, if applicable? Perhaps the chronology in question 15 needs pointing out in advance. I was aware Headspace had released an EP a considerable time before their first album and perhaps I should have mentioned this. There are some strange anomalies, as with Rush’s last album. __________________ My Journal: Rabbiting On

05-03-2013, 12:22 PM	#354 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	All good points guys: I'll address this shortly. Meanwhile I've completed the league table, but am waiting for I think one more review of Headspace's album to see where it falls. At this point here's how I've scored the albums we've done so far: The first one or two we did were more than a little disjointed in terms of reviews -- some did full reviews (ahem!) some did only a line or two --- so I've only started this from the point at which we began using the framework and started rating the albums. In a few isolated cases, where someone has filled out the form but not rated the album I've looked at their review and assigned what I think is a nominal rating based on that. I've added up the ratings and then divided the total by the number of reviewers, to get an average, and it is this average figure which has determined where the album goes in the table. This is not set in stone, though I think it's about as much information as we need, but if anyone sees a way to improve or expand the table let me know. For now, this is what we have, and you can see that Hawkwind's "Hall of the mountain grill" is way on top, with an average rating of 8.63, while the album holding the number two spot, Spock's Beard's "The Light", is a considerable amount below that, at a rating of 8.33. Lowest on our chart so far is my Alphataurus, narrowly liked less than Captain Beyond, despite my low score, dammit! Also, note that Big Ears is responsible for the choosing of both the top two albums, so well done to him! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

05-03-2013, 12:49 PM	#355 (permalink)
Big Ears Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 434	^ Good work TH. I re-read my comments on Alphataurus and I do not disagree with myself (I gave it 8.0). It may be bottom of the league, but it is still a very good album. In any case, all the groups in the list are really cult bands and (I assume) were not chosen for their wide popularity. It would be interesting to see how an album by one of the big guns rated by comparison. __________________ My Journal: Rabbiting On

05-03-2013, 03:10 PM	#357 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Yeah, we could do like they do on MOTD2: an alternate chart. Like, what would every album score if you took out keyboard solos, or something? Big Ears: well I don't know that I'd call Spock's Beard or Hawkwind cult bands, but I know what you mean. Trouble is, with one of the bigger, established bands people might already have a pre-formed view, which is why I wouldn't suggest Marillion, Genesis, Rush or Yes, or any of those bigger bands. I think it's more fun this way. It's certainly proving interesting. PS: I'm still not sure where Headspace is going to come on the chart, waiting for I think just ET's review. If that's not in by Monday I'll probably go ahead and score it on the basis of what we have, which will put it at 7.75, pretty low down on the list. Who's up next? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

05-05-2013, 02:03 PM	#359 (permalink)
Powerstars Music Addict Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 450	I'll try to pay attention to this and participate. __________________ Last.Fm My New Journal Favorite Album Of The Moment: They Might Be Giants - Glean

05-06-2013, 05:11 AM	#360 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	You're coming in at a good time, Powerstars: we're just about to start a new album, once US lets us know what it is. The template for responses is back on the previous page and if you have any questions just ask. Welcome! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018