Release Polls: Rank & Tier your Favorite Artists!

King Crimson:

1. (S) Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973, listened often) [SPO]
2. (S) The Great Deceiver: Live 1973 - 1974 (Live, 1992, listened extensively)
3. (S) Red (1974, listened extensively) [SPO]
4. (A) In the Court of the Crimson King (1969, listened extensively) [SPO]
5. (A) Starless and Bible Black (1974, listened extensively) [SPO]
6. (A) Discipline (1981, listened extensively) [SPO]
7. (A) Islands (1971, listened extensively) [SPO]
8. (A) Lizard (1970, listened extensively) [SPO]
9. (B) In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970, listened extensively) [SPO]
10. (B) Radical Action (to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind) (Live, 2016, listened extensively)
11. (B) The Power To Believe (2003, listened extensively) [SPO]
12. (B) THRAK (1995, listened extensively) [SPO]
13. (B) Live in Toronto (Live, 2016, listened extensively) [SPO]
14. (?) King Crimson / ProjeKct X - Heaven And Earth (2000, listened extensively)
15. (C) Beat (1982, listened extensively) [SPO]
16. (C) Three of a Perfect Pair (1984, listened extensively)
17. (C) The Night Watch (Live, 1997, listened extensively)
18. (C) The ConstruKction Of Light (2000, listened extensively) [SPO]
19. (C) A Scarcity of Miracles (Jakszyk/Fripp/Collins) (2011, listened extensively) [SPO]
20. (C) Live At The Orpheum (Live, 2015, listened extensively) [SPO]

^^^ Without doing it at AP at this time, my order for my top might be.

1. Hérésie
2. Ceux du dehors
3. Univers Zero
4. Uzed
5. Heatwave
6. Clivages

Those first three are pretty interchangeable. On some days I would put the debut in top spot.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Logan wrote: ^ Thanks for the thoughtful response, Mike. I, like others, certainly have favourites, and with some acts with many releases my favourites are much clearer than with others. With other acts I have many favourites, some not so liked, and what is my favourite often will depend on what I am listening to at the moment. And I have acts where I have listened to various albums a huge many times, sometimes even putting an album on repeat. With some it is way easier choosing clear favourites than others, for a great many bands ranking would be an easy task for me. With some it really is like, this is the best album ever when listening to it, and then I listen to another, and at that times I feel that is the best, and so on, and I realise they might have many albums that can rank supreme in their own ways and so none of those are ultimately better to me. And my favourites often depend on the mood I am in at the time, what other stuff I am particularly into at any given time... Yes, it really varies. For users like me (who listen to hundreds of releases each year) it can get really difficult to remember everything I listened to. Even absolute favorites pale in my memory after having heard dozens of new albums. In order to rate them properly I would have to listen to them again, which I try to do on a regular basis. Sometimes I'll devote entire days to listening to one really favorite artist's discography. Soon I'll tackle Zappa, which will take me 1-2 weeks. Like you said, it is difficult to rate a release purely from memory, except for the most iconic ones. This is one of the reasons why I like using a website like AP (or RYM, or PA to some extent) to keep track of my impressions while I'm listening to the music, so that I can review it later.

My rating could vary depending on the day and mood even for albums I know really well. I don't listen to as much as you when it comes to new-to-me releases and often my favourite du jour gets played again and again and again. I commonly will have a pretty good memory of what I have listened to, but it might not always connect with me. There are albums I loved twenty years ago and listened to lots but then came back to a decade later and they did little for me... Maybe they weren't representative of my current interests. A rating for me would be something of a snapshot of how I feel at a given time, but a huge many I do know so well that I could happily rate without revisiting and still feel that it is an accurate representation of my tastes. It's like I have fully absorbed the music, become part of my DNA.

At PA I would rather not rate without reviewing (I had a flurry of rating activity many years ago when the quick rating feature was implemented) and generally to me what most matters is sharing the music with others, highlighting it, and discussing the music. I'm looking to connect with people over music, and find those shared passions. I'm not adept socially, an introvert, but it is that social aspect that is so important to me. If that fails, then there is no point posting in the forums for me, for instance. With lists too, I also wish they could be somehow more interactive. This is a discussion forum, but list-making and presenting them can be such a solitary process. I love to make lists but I also yearn for less people just doing their own thing, and that we are striving to share in that experience more, and communicating with each other more. But my mind and post is all over the place.


Edited by Logan - Yesterday at 09:24

And here's stab at Magma with pretty slapdash ratings. The debut remains the album of Magma that reigns supreme by the band. A fabulously ambitious and successful double-album from 1970 to kick off with imho. Kind of surprised it does not get more respect and recognition at PA.

Magma:

1. (S) Kobaïa (1970, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
2. (S) Retrospektïw I-II (disc 1) (Live, 1981, listened extensively)
3. (S) 1001° Centigrades (1971, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
4. (S) Live/Hhai (Live, 1975, listened extensively) [AP Prog]
5. (S) Attahk (1978, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
6. (S) Ẁurdah Ïtah (Christian Vander) (1974, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
7. (S) BBC 1974 - Londres (Live, 1999, listened extensively) [AP]
8. (S) Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (1973, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
9. (S) Theusz Hamtaahk - Trilogie (Live, 2001, listened often) [AP Prog]
10. (S) Bourges 1979 Akt XV (Live, 2008, listened extensively) [AP]
11. (S) Ëmëhntëhtt-Rê (2009, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
12. (S) Félicité Thösz (2012, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
13. (S) Köhntarkösz (1974, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
14. (S) Üdü Ẁüdü (1976, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
15. (S) Concert 1976, Opéra De Reims (Live, 1996, listened extensively) [AP]
16. (S) K.A (Köhntarkösz Anteria) (2004, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
17. (A) Mekanïk Kommandöh (1989, listened often) [BC, SPO]
18. (A) Concert 1971, Bruxelles - Théâtre 140 (Live, 1996, several listens) [AP]
19. (B) Sl*g Tanz (2015, several listens) [BC, SPO]
20. (B) Retrospektïw III (Live, 1981, listened often) [BC, SPO]
21. (B) Merci (1984, listened extensively)
22. (?) Concert 1992, Douarnenez: "Les Voix" (Live, 1992) [AP]
23. (?) Kãrtëhl (2022, several listens) [BC]
24. (?) Inédits (1977, several listens) [AP]
25. (?) Concert 1975, Toulouse - Théâtre Du Taur (Live, 1996, several listens) [AP]

^ I think you like Magma...

Edited by ThyroidGlands - 22 hours 25 minutes ago at 13:31

^^ I have been into Magma for about twenty years (discovered it through Prog Archives). Magma is the act in Prog Archives which I have heard the most albums from. Art Zoyd comes next, then Swans in term of albums I know well in PA. Oh and maybe David Bowie after that in PA... I don't listen to Magma nearly as much as I once did, but I still do like to return to Magma music quite regularly (especially the debut and Attahk -- I love the breeziness of Attahk). The only act I have more than Magma by is Ennio Morricone, who is not included in PA, which I also do not listen to as much as I once did.

Magma:

1. (S) Theusz Hamtaahk - Trilogie (Live, 2001, listened extensively) [AP Prog]
2. (S) Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (1973, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
3. (S) BBC 1974 - Londres (Live, 1999, listened extensively) [AP]
4. (S) Köhntarkösz (1974, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
5. (S) K.A (Köhntarkösz Anteria) (2004, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
6. (S) Ëmëhntëhtt-Rê (2009, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
7. (S) Live/Hhaï (Köhntark) (Live, 1975, listened extensively)
8. (A) Retrospektïw I-II (disc 1) (Live, 1981, listened extensively)
9. (A) Kobaïa (1970, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
10. (A) Üdü Ẁüdü (1976, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
11. (A) Félicité Thösz (2012, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
12. (B) Attahk (1978, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
13. (B) Sl*g Tanz (2015, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
14. (B) Zëss - Le Jour Du Néant (2019, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
15. (A) Kãrtëhl (2022, listened extensively) [BC]

Eloy:

1. (S) Time To Turn (1982, listened extensively) [SPO]
2. (S) Floating (1974, listened extensively) [SPO]
3. (S) Colours (1980, listened extensively) [SPO]
4. (S) Planets (1981, listened extensively) [SPO]
5. (S) Inside (1973, listened extensively) [SPO]
6. (S) Ocean (1977, listened extensively) [SPO]
7. (S) Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes (1979, listened extensively) [SPO]
8. (S) Dawn (1976, listened extensively)
9. (A) The Vision, The Sword, and the Pyre, Pt. 2 (2019, listened extensively) [SPO]
10. (A) Metromania (1984, listened extensively) [SPO]
11. (A) Ocean 2 - The Answer (1998, listened often) [SPO]
12. (A) Echoes From The Past (2023, listened often) [SPO]
13. (A) Power And The Passion (1975, listened extensively)
14. (B) The Tides Return Forever (1994, listened often) [SPO]
15. (B) The Vision, The Sword, And The Pyre, Pt. 1 (2017, listened often) [SPO]
16. (B) Visionary (2009, listened often) [SPO]
17. (C) Eloy (1970, first listen)
18. (C) Performance (1983, listened extensively) [SPO]
19. (C) Destination (1992, several listens) [SPO]
20. (E) Ra (1988, listened often) [SPO]

Steven Wilson:

1. (S) The Raven That Refused To Sing (2013, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
2. (S) Grace For Drowning (2011, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
3. (S) Insurgentes (2008, listened often) [BC, SPO]
4. (A) Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015, listened often) [BC, SPO]
5. (A) The Overview (2025, several listens) [BC, SPO]
6. (B) To the Bone (2017, listened extensively) [SPO]
7. (B) The Harmony Codex (2023, listened often) [SPO]
8. (B) 4 1/2 (2016, listened often) [BC, SPO]
9. (C) The Future Bites (2021, several listens) [SPO]

Here's a poll combining SW and PT:
https://awesomeprog.com/release-polls/pa/aota-6079-6221/vote

1. (S) Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (2013, listened often) [BC, SPO]
2. (S) Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
3. (S) Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015, listened often) [BC, SPO]
4. (S) Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (2005, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
5. (S) Porcupine Tree - The Incident (2009, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
6. (S) Porcupine Tree - CLOSURE / CONTINUATION (2022, listened extensively) [SPO]
7. (S) Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (2007, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
8. (S) Steven Wilson - Insurgentes (2008, several listens) [BC, SPO]
9. (S) Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning (2011, several listens) [BC, SPO]
10. (A) Steven Wilson - The Future Bites (2021, listened often) [SPO]
11. (A) Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring (EP, 2007, first listen) [BC, SPO]
12. (A) Porcupine Tree - Recordings (Compilation, 2001, listened often) [BC, SPO]
13. (A) Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun (2000, listened extensively) [BC, SPO]
14. (A) Porcupine Tree - Signify (1996, listened often) [BC, SPO]
15. (A) Steven Wilson - To the Bone (2017, listened often) [SPO]
16. (A) Steven Wilson - The Harmony Codex (2023, listened often) [SPO]
17. (A) Steven Wilson - The Overview (2025, listened often) [BC, SPO]
18. (A) Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream (1999, listened often) [BC, SPO]
19. (A) Porcupine Tree - Metanoia (Compilation, 1998, listened often) [BC, SPO]
20. (B) Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways (1995, several listens) [BC, SPO]
21. (B) Porcupine Tree - Voyage 34 (EP, 1992, several listens) [BC, SPO]
22. (B) Porcupine Tree - Up The Downstair (1993, listened often) [BC, SPO]
23. (B) Porcupine Tree - Staircase Infinities (EP, 1994, first listen) [BC, SPO]
24. (B) Porcupine Tree - Insignificance (EP, 1997, several listens)
25. (C) Porcupine Tree - On the Sunday of Life (1991, listened often) [BC, SPO]

You can also start such combined polls, currently there's no UI for it but it works by simply adding artist ids to the url.

Edited by MikeEnRegalia - 10 hours 43 minutes ago at 01:13