Making room for the Human Equation

Jbird wrote: Is it really that much better than Ayreon's other albums? I have the Universal Migrator I & II, and that 01001010 album, and while they are ok, I just can't get excited about them enough to listen to over and over. I take it Human Equation is better?

I'd say it is. I'm not an Arjen Lucassen fanboy either, though I do love some of his music.

Since the number of albums in the PA database has grown considerably since the idea of the Top 100 was first thought of, all we need to do (and it's perfectly logical to do so) is make it bigger - a simple increase of 10% would see THE in the chart. Problem solved.

...see how catchy that is ... you know it makes sense.

AtomicCrimsonRush wrote: I cant believe Human Equation is out of the top 100! Its an Injustice!!!!

OMG! Contact Amnesty International ASAP.

Amnesty International | Working to Protect Human Equation Rights

I thought the top 100 was constantly updated, but since Sounds that can't be made has a mark that puts it in the top 100 but is not there yet, I understand it is more than mathematical calculations ? Were all of the top 100 albums handpicked by the PA staff ? 

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Chozal wrote: I thought the top 100 was constantly updated, but since Sounds that can't be made has a mark that puts it in the top 100 but is not there yet, I understand it is more than mathematical calculations ? Were all of the top 100 albums handpicked by the PA staff ?

• Rank of an album: We use a calculation that compare an album average rating and number of ratings over all others albums in the query using this theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weighted_average)
   to create a variable every query "QWR" (AKA: Query Weighted Rating) use for ordering.
  This QWR value is different to the average rating value (and is shown below the average in the chart).

Marillion's "Sounds That Can't Be Made" has an average of 3.83 but a QWR value of 3.8129 and therefore puts it at #38 in the Top 100 of 2012 for example, two places higher than Thinking Plague even though "Decline and Fall" has a higher average rating (its QWR is lower):

3.83 | 133 ratings
QWR = 3.8129

http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?syears=2012

With an average as low as 3.83 or a QWR as low as 3.8129 Sounds That Can't Be Made will never enter the all-time Top 100.

Edited by Dean - September 26 2012 at 07:58

I think it's a great rating system. Best you can really do anyway.

Meanwhile....my thoughts turn to that human equation album. I gotta say it's lyrically brilliant. The entire story makes total lucid sense and track by track you uncover the mystery of what's going to happen from the moment he crashes his car to the time he fights to wake up. TRAUMA is easily my favourite track on this album. ERIC CLAYTON as REASON is so fitting and brilliant. My favourite character. 👊

CCVP wrote: It's a grower, people. I know some can digest 2 hours of new music in the blink of a eye, but amazingly most can't and they still review it saying "ZOMG, DIS ALBOM EEZ 2 LOWNG". Meh, I still think highly about it

I listened to the whole album a bunch of times over a month or two ... It probably deserves another chance, but there is so much music that I get excited about that I often forget to re-spin things like The Human Equation (when I do, it's mostly for classic albums that I did really overlook, like A Passion Play).

I still have a problem with the pot-pourri aesthetics of Lucassen. He has done some absolutely brilliant tracks (Life on Mars, Amazing Flight, The Awareness, Isolation ...) but never done a absolutely brilliant album imo.

I'm listening to some stuff from The Human Equation atm and I think the main problem I have with it is the lyrics : it's much too narrative for my taste =\

EDIT : Ok listening to it again, I should get back to it once more.

Keep in mind that the lyrics need to sound overly narrative. That's the whole point and structure to this album. I really don't find it daunting to listen to because the story is just so great, so really I can sit with it for 2 hrs easy. It's a brilliant album and ARYEON's best album, in my opinion. 👌

It is at 111 now. BUT Sieges Even's The Art of Navigating by the Stars is 181 and in my humble opinion that should be higher than any Ayreon album...sorry guys.