Ratings based on progressiveness?

Conor Fynes wrote: Unless something is insanely prog,

that statement made me roll my eyes

tarkus1980 wrote: I've always treated this site not as "reviews of progressive albums," but "reviews of albums, progressive or not, by artists whom the powers that be have deemed sufficiently close to progressive to merit inclusion on this site."  Because of this, I don't give any consideration to how progressive an album is when I rate it.

Which is why I enjoy your reviews more than most. We folks don't give a sap's nutsack how progressive an album is! Huzzah!

But because we have a complete discography policy, a band/artist deemed suitable may have many non-Prog albums.  Ideally that should be mentioned in the bio, but teams often don't have time, the financial resources, or the opportunity when it comes to obscure one to check out every album, or update the bio if a new non-Prog one comes along.  What is Prog is in the ear of the behearer, anyway, and not even team members always agree.

I'm fine with people rating albums that would never have got them in highly (for example, Miles Davis' Some Kind of Blue), but at the same time we are asked to rate progressive rockshness by the descriptors.  I have a big problem with that since there are acts here that fit their categories that are not progressive rock, or rock at all.  And I'm not about to rate an album, say in Progressive Electronic, lower because it isn't rock.  I'd rather rate based on my enjoyment.

Anyway, I think reviewers should mention if they think something is not Prog in many cases, but that doesn't have to specifically factor into the rating.

To be honest, I do not have a standard set of criteria. Other than quality and/or progressiveness of an album, there is also expectation and comparison with other/previous works of the same or other bands. I am happy to be left free to choose which criteria to apply to each review, them including progressiveness or not.

Yes this is a progressive site and progressiveness should count, but unless there is a dual ranking system (i.e. one for general quality and one for progressiveness) I am more than happy to read the comments in the review.

Something that is prog for someone, might not be prog for another, so subjectivity will dominate in the end...

The ratings are for "how good it is". For "how progressive it is" there's the review field for anyone to leave their impressions on the matter. 

Fieldofsorrow wrote: I'm amazed that so many people do not even consider the progressiveness as a factor when reviewing albums on this site! Of course, it's not the be all and end all of music, but this site is supposed to guide a listener towards progressive rock. I'm all for pop, jazz, metal, whatever - but I don't understand the urge to disregard the progressive ethos of the site just because you think a particular album is great. Evolver said it perfectly - there are plenty of sites for reviewing music without such a criterion. But for the love of music, it's PROG Archives, not Great Music Archives.

Conor Fynes wrote: As you may have noticed, there have been alot of reviews posted on this site slamming various, otherwise 'good' albums for not being progressive enough; some even admitting to giving an album one less star just because it's not necessarily prog.   Now, I understand that this is a Prog site, but it seems sort of unfair to write off otherwise good albums simply because it isn't 'prog.' While the label of prog generally means there is intelligence and complexity involved, alot of simpler music is just as (sometimes more) heartfelt and quality than the progressive material.   Thoughts and opinions?

1. Prog is not a label of quality, it's simply a genre.
2. Now, the guidelines are clear, 5 stars = Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music and 4 stas = Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection
3. A non Prog album may be a masterpiece but never: :
1. A masterpiece of Prog Music or
2. An excellent addition to a Prog Rock Collection
4. Not because it is bad, but because it's not Prog, a Symphonic Prog album can't be a masterpiece of Jazz Music, and nobiody would even believe this...simply because it's not Jazz

Now, in one case I was particularly harsh, but explained my reasons:

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - August 01 2010 at 13:57

Yes, just rememberd the thread you made Raff in the CZ which has a lot to do with this, I'll quote stuff by Admin, Easy Livin' which I think it's important:

Edited by The Quiet One - August 01 2010 at 14:25

harmonium.ro wrote: The ratings are for "how good it is". For "how progressive it is" there's the review field for anyone to leave their impressions on the matter.

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