len(songs)

Yes - 90125 (1983) Owner Of A Lonely Heart: 11/15 Hold On: 10/15 It Can Happen: 12/15 *Changes*: 12/15 Cinema: 10/15 Leave It: 11/15 Our Song: 10/15 <City Of Love>: 7/15 Hearts: 11/15 Overall rating: A (Very Good/Good) Track by track: •Owner Of A Lonely Heart is easily the most well-known track from the album, being Yes's highest charting single. While I rarely purposefully listen to it outside of 90125 it leaves a good impression overall. •Hold On has a bit of arena-rock genericism that prevents it from getting a higher grade. •It Can Happen is just well-done fun nonsense, and an easy pick for "second best". •Changes works marvelously, with a great chorus (I especially like "One word will bring you 'round" *BAM* "CHANGES"), and only the somewhat dippy verse lyrics prevent it from getting a 13. •Cinema is a nice little instrumental, but honestly it seems more like a bridge between sides to me. •Leave It is possibly the cheesiest thing Yes have ever done, but it still works due to the WONDERFUL vocal layering. •Our Song doesn't quite live up to the energetic opening, but it does start to get going a little more in the chorus. •City Of Love is the sole "true" clunker on here, based off of a not particularly imaginative two-chord riff which is repeated... and repeated... •Hearts is a wonderful throwback to the 70's that would probably be an easy 13 if not for the ultra-generic solo from Rabin. Eeeeww.

Holy shit my heavy metal brother! You responded!! Sorry! I didn't mean to keep this thread going. I thought it would stop at the Tom Hanks Neil Peart joke, but it kept going and going and going and going and going. Signed, The Energizer Bunny less is more my friend (unless you're in TOST)

When I was 17 or so, my best friend and I found his old Big Wheel in his basement. We did what any highly intelligent, responsible beings would be expected to do: we drenched it in lighter fluid, set it alight and rolled it down the hill at the end of his driveway. It veered off into the neighbor's lawn where it melted into a puddle of smoking plastic and toxic fumes, while Jim & I convulsed in helpless laughter. Someone should have given this same treatment to the song: set the lyrics on fire before studio time was ever booked. Still, it's light years better than "Neurotica". and agreed... :cheers:

Well that's exactly how they act. GOD f***ing FORBID my opinion differs from theirs. How old are you anyway? 20. I just wondered. I guess maybe as you get older others opinions don't really matter as much to you. Possibly... I wouldn't know from experience but judging from the general "gradient" on this forum that makes some sense.

Great songs on MP: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight, The Camera Eye Great songs on CA: title track, The Anarchist, Headlong Flight Awful songs on MP: huh? Awful songs on CA: BU2B (not BU2B2), Seven Cities Of Gold, Wish Them Well ...

It's around the middle of the pack for me... used to love it, but it's grown off of me considerably.

100th review, 4 days in :clap:

91. Isis - Panopticon: 10 (Olympian) by PolarizeMe (v.2, original at 06) [link] 92. Porcupine Tree - Deadwing: A (Very Good/Good) by Mr. Not [link] 93. Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet: B (Very Good) by Mr. Not [link] 94. Dir En Grey - Arche: D (Great/Very Good) by PolarizeMe [link] 95. Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet: 10 (Olympian) by PolarizeMe [link] 96. The Devin Townshend Project - Addicted: E (Great) by PolarizeMe [link] 97. Porcupine Tree - The Incident: 9 (Good) by Mr. Not [link] 98. Rush - Roll The Bones: 6 (Mediocre) by PolarizeMe [libk] 99. Rush - Rush: 5 (Mediocre/Bad) by Mr. Not [link] 100. Rush - Test For Echo: 8 (Good/Mediocre) by PolarizeMe [link]

New archive is up at http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?/topic/90924-rating-digest-archive/unread/.

81. ABBA - The Visitors: 10 (Olympian) by Segue Myles [link] 82. Buckingham Nicks - Buckingham Nicks: E (Great) by Segue Myles [link] 83. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound: E (Great) by len(songs) [link] 84. Iron Maiden - No Prayer For The Dying: 9/15 (Good/Mediocre) by movinghemispheres [link] 85. Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun: B (Very Good) by Mr. Not [link] 86. Porcupine Tree - In Asbentia: 8 (Good/Mediocre) by Mr. Not [link] 87. Porcupine Tree - Up The Downstair: C (Very Good/Great) by PolarizeMe [link] 88. Dir En Grey - Uroboros: F (All-time Great) by PolarizeMe [link] 89. Isis - Oceanic: F (All-time Great) by PolarizeMe (v.2, original:05) [link] 90. Yes - Close To The Edge: 10 (Olympian) by PolarizeMe [link] (The only album to get an Olympian rating from two different reviewers... :D) From now on, if a rating is redone its entry will be highlighted in red with the "version number" and previous review link in parentheses.

Coke, please. :) Don't be picky. Sorry :(

Coke, please. :)

Thanks all :)... I was going to see a Led Zeppelin tribute band tonight but apparently we'll need to postpone it for 4 months (). On the good side my laptop is fixed, so I'll be going to get that :) which is good. :7up: :) (Side note: no cake emoticon? )

The Big Wheel - why did they ever consider putting this to tape?

Hmmm... haven't done T4E yet, have I? Rush - Test For Echo (1996) Test For Echo: 11/15 Driven: 11/15 <Half The World>: 2/15 The Color Of Right: 4/15 *Time and Motion*: 12/15 Totem: 10/15 Dog Years: 7/15 Virtuality: 10/15 Resist: 12/15 Limbo: 6/15 Carve Away the Stone: 6/15 Overall rating: 6 (Mediocre) Erm... Counterparts may have been a slight step up from RTB, but this record takes a step back down, nearly to the level of that embarrassment. Still, there's more than one great song on here (even if it has the worst song in the Rush catalog), and so it doesn't score quite as low as RTB, but... ehn.

Same here... occasionally I find that how I think I think about an album is very different from how I actually think about it

There are some albums where the album is easier to write about than the songs themselves without going into too much detail, and there will also inevitably be some songs where it's too tricky to expand or compress your thoughts about them into a paragraph. Also, ratings are quite effective at setting the "mood" for a review, as well as giving a quick outlook on songs that the reviewer may not have gone into too much detail on. Assigning numbers is a bit simplistic and arbitrary because it's just the opinion of the reviewer themselves which is based on no particular fixed scale. If someone writes out their thoughts about a particular track at least the reader has a bit more of an idea of "why" the reviewer likes or dislikes a piece of music. Then they can decide for themselves whether they agree/disagree Lord even want to check out that piece of music. But then that takes more thought and time to do it that way. I did post my song scale (which each of us has adopted) at the beginning of the thread, so if someone sees, say, my review of SEBTP, they'll see that I consider Dancing With The Moonlit Knight "flawless", while I rated The Cinema Show as "great" and More Fool Me as "good". It's not really that ambiguous, and most of us are writing reviews anyway, so even if there's an album that we didn't write a review for there will probably be a point of reference in a previous review anyway.

"Metal"? Closer to pop if you ask me... the guitar tone is harder than on most of Presto but much of the song is dominated by piano or synth and even the harder guitar work is more "background-y" than anything else...

Agreed... I was hoping for a bit more discussion of the reviews themselves but I think the thread is going well as is. Are you tackling Buckingham Nicks/Fleetwood Mac next?

There are some albums where the album is easier to write about than the songs themselves without going into too much detail, and there will also inevitably be some songs where it's too tricky to expand or compress your thoughts about them into a paragraph. Also, ratings are quite effective at setting the "mood" for a review, as well as giving a quick outlook on songs that the reviewer may not have gone into too much detail on.

Genesis - Selling England By The Pound (1973) *Dancing With The Moonlit Knight*: 15/15 I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe): 12/15 Firth Of Fifth: 14/15 <More Fool Me>: 10/15 The Battle Of Epping Forest: 13/15 After The Ordeal: 12/15 The Cinema Show: 13/15 Aisle Of Plenty: [ ]/15 Overall rating: E (Great) My second favorite Genesis record, and often the crux of their legend for "prog-era" fans. While I wouldn't go that far (I prefer Foxtrot by a slim margin), it's not hard to see why: this record claims a near perfect balance between accessibility and complexity (as opposed to Foxtrot, where complexity was generally favored, though this isn't really a problem for me), with song after song of both great melodies and busy arrangements (with a few exceptions). Dancing With The Moonlit Knight demonstrates this right away, taking its place as one of the greatest Genesis songs of all time, starting out with Gabriel a capella vocals and gradually building to a bombastic chorus, as Gabriel calls us to "follow on, 'till the gold is cold", before launching into one of my favorite Genesis instrumental breaks, with Hackett demonstrating many of his favored guitar techniques, before ominous keyboards kick in and lead us to a huge climax, before Hackett reprises his previous parts in reverse order. As Hackett ends his demonstration, ominous mellotron choirs kick in and Gabriel takes us back to the cold reality of modern-day England with lines such as "laying out the credit cards she plays fortune", leading to another bombastic chorus (this time with a "boppy" section inserted for no clear reason, but which still works just as well), before Banks takes the spotlight with his break. Hackett gets another, more "normal" solo in, before everything comes to a halt and a high-pitched acoustic part is repeated as the song fades out. Coming out of this, we hear the sound of a lawnmower fade in, launching into I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), a funny little pop song that I used to hate for whatever reason, but which I find just fine now, with ridiculous lyrics about a cross-dressing lawn mower and interesting percussion parts during the "spoken" sections. I still find the oboe solo near the end a bit irritating, but otherwise the song is great, with an entertaining (not to mention catchy-as-hell) chorus interpolating with a half-spoken, half-sung verse as our dear mower's back story is explained. Not the most musically substantial thing on the album, but extremely enjoyable nonetheless. Next is the longer-form Firth Of Fifth, with somewhat stupid (Banks-written, not surprisingly) lyrics that only slightly mar an otherwise flawless track, with an amazing piano-intro by Banks and perhaps Hackett's best-known solo. Now, the next track is weaker, but I still like it. More Fool Me is a somewhat go-nowhere acoustic ballad (wih Phil singing lead), but this is redeemed by the very good chorus, even if it's still easily the worst track on here. Up next is the insane The Battle Of Epping Forest, which bounds through several different sections in the first few minutes before we come to the tale of the Reverend and his fall into sin. The story is a hoot anyway, even if it has nothing to do with the main story of a gang battle (inspired by a real story Gabriel read in the news), which, by the way, is one of the most hilarious you'll hear in a musical context. Next is the pleasant Hackett-led instrumental After The Ordeal, which may strike one as somewhat unnecessary on first listen, but which works marvelously following the bombastic conclusion of Battle. Up next is The Cinema Show, with a gorgeous (albeit more than a little reminiscent of Lover's Leap from Supper's Ready) first part followed by a five minute keyboard solo that may well be Banks's defining moment. Closing the album we get the reprise Aisle Of Plenty, recycling parts of DWTMN (though feeling a bit disjointed at times), before the album fades out with Gabriel ranting over the "fat old lady" part. There may not be any new material introduced here but it remains essential as the capstone to the album, and a while I may prefer Foxtrot in the long run it's not hard to see why this album gets as much attention as it does, and after all I nearly do prefer it to Foxtrot. This should be one of your first two Genesis purchases (for the prog era), along with Foxtrot, to get acquainted with their general sound in that era.

Shit, I need to do that Apostrophe review Though I would rather do Overnite Sensation first...

I respect their influence, and Copeland is a great drummer, but their music itself always kind of bored me.

Hmmm... I would post some Beatles ratings (later stuff mostly) but there's not much that I could say about them that hasn't already been said a few thousand times...

(59 above should have been A (Very Good/Good)... oops ) 71. Bruce Springsteen - The Rising: D (Great/Very Good) by Segue Myles [link] 72. Bruce Springsteen - Magic: 10 (Olympian) by Segue Myles [link] 73. ABBA - Ring Ring: 7.5 (Mediocre/Good) by Segue Myles [link] 74. ABBA - Waterloo: B (Very Good) by Segue Myles [link] 75. ABBA - ABBA: B (Very Good) by Segue Myles [link] 76. Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death: 11/15 (Very Good) by movinghemispheres [link] 77. ABBA - Arrival: E (Great) by Segue Myles [link] 78. ABBA - The Album: E (Great) by Segue Myles [link] 79. ABBA - Voulez Vous: F (All-time Great) by Segue Myles [link] 80. ABBA - Super Trouper: F (All-time Great) by Segue Myles [link