I have noticed that an awful lot of reviewers (both "official" and others) are giving five stars to an awful lot of albums.  According to the current rating system, five stars denotes "Exceptional/Masterpiece."

Is everyone really considering whether all of the albums to which they are giving five stars are actually "masterpieces?"  For example, Marillion's "Fugazi" just received a five-star review.  As good as that album may be, does it actually deserve the same rating as, say, "In The Court of the Crimson King," or "Dark Side of the Moon," or other absolutely quintessential prog-rock albums?  Or is the problem that the current rating system is inadequate for the task of proper reviewing?

The administrators of the site are looking for comments on the rating system (see Max's thread under Main Discussions).  In this regard, in addition to responding to this post, I urge everyone to respond to Max's post re the rating system and let's see if we can get something that more adequately allows for rating albums, so that albums we simply love alot - but are not necessarily "masterpieces," much less quintessential albums - are not put in the same category as the true (i.e., generally accepted) masterpieces of the prog-rock genre.

Peace.

VB: Driving others up a wall is not an acceptable criterion for determining the value of an album!    Most of the music I listen to (especially prog) drives both my roommates insane.  That won't cloud my judgment, though...LOL

Joren: You raise a good point.  I was actually thinking about that in two regards.  First, it's true that our own tastes may change, or there is something different we want to say.  Sure, we can do a second review, but it might be nice to "recall" our original review, edit it, and re-post it.  Second, if the rating system changes (and I hope it will), we may need to go back and "re-rate" albums.  Personally, I will be very happy to do this.

Thanks for all comments.  Please make sure to comment on Max's thread as well.

Peace.

I really the idea of REVIEWER being able to EDIT their TEXT and ratings...

We will work on this ...

I don't Know about you but I write a review because I like something  and want to share my experience. The only time I bother to write under 4 stars is if I feel something has been rated higher than it deserves and it needs a balanced opinion.

That being said, there is an inordinate amount of five star reviews coming through and it does look bad  . I say give the raters more options. Many sites go by a richter scale. I think that is too many option but it still may be better than five.

I've outlined a suggestion for seven on Max's thread, that might work.

Ciao

MAX@ wrote: I really the idea of REVIEWER being able to EDIT their TEXT and ratings... We will work on this ...

Thanks!  I'm glad to hear that people agree with me on this point!