The Rating Thread

[PolarizeMe]

Porcupine Tree - The Incident (2009)

07/15 Occam's Razor

12/15 The Blind House

10/15 Great Expectations

13/15 Kneel and Disconnect

09/15 Drawing the Line

14/15 *The Incident*

11/15 Your Unpleasant Family

13/15 The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train

06/15 <Time Flies>

08/15 Degree Zero of Liberty

13/15 Octane Twisted

'--'/15 The Seance

 

Rating: 9

Incomplete...tsk tsk.

[len(songs)]

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.

[Mr. Not]

Porcupine Tree - The Incident (2009)

07/15 Occam's Razor

12/15 The Blind House

10/15 Great Expectations

13/15 Kneel and Disconnect

09/15 Drawing the Line

14/15 *The Incident*

11/15 Your Unpleasant Family

13/15 The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train

06/15 <Time Flies>

08/15 Degree Zero of Liberty

13/15 Octane Twisted

'--'/15 The Seance

 

Rating: 9

Incomplete...tsk tsk.

 

Not confident enough in rating the bonus disk.

[Mr. Not]

King's X - Out of the Silent Planet (1988)

11/15 In the New Age

12/15 Goldilox

10/15 Power of Love

09/15 Wonder

10/15 Sometimes

12/15 King

07/15 <What is This->

11/15 Far, Far Away

13/15 *Shot of Love*

11/15 Visions

 

Rating: 9

 

A lot of great playing from Dug, Ty, and Jerry on this album.. The band had been together for a while, but it was still a very young effort of theirs. The album has the expected debut-album tier production quality, and while there are plenty of awesome riffs, the songs themselves don't entirely hold up... I'll listen to an intro of What Is This- for example and be very excited, only to then be met with disappointment by the time the first verse rolls in

The lyrics of this album are heavily religious too, which is a trend that continued for... Well continues up until today, but during the first three or four albums the religious lyrics kind of overshadowed any other theme of this band's. Good album, not the best, don't necessarily like listening through it but there are a lot of cool songs I come back to visit. Next!

[Mr. Not]

King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989)

13/15 Out of the Silent Planet

12/15 Over My Head

12/15 Summerland

10/15 Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something

12/15 The Difference

11/15 I'll Never Be The Same

13/15 Mission

13/15 Fall on Me

14/15 Plieades

10/15 <Don't Believe It>

15/15 *Send a Message*

14/15 The Burning Down

 

Rating: D

 

It'll sound lame, but my heart's fluttering just thinking about what there is to say about this one

So I'll keep a vast majority of these thoughts in my head, and instead spare the sappiness and worship, and instead offer something more... Condensed.

 

Hearing King's X is a progressive metal band may lead you to believe they're something like Dream Theater, Opeth, or Queensryche... And you couldn't be any more wrong if that's the case! However, the opening track of this album comes closest to being something like that, and it's a one-of-a-kind track of theirs. The next track, Over My Head, presents their talent as hard rock musicians... Then, we have Summerland and The Difference, which, and this is especially the case with The Difference, are very Beatles! This album better showcases King's X three-point vocal melodies better than the previous album did as well, you'll hear a lot of "King's X choir" through these songs.

 

Send a Message is my favorite song from this album... I once gave it a 4/5, to which ghostworks responded with, "That song is 5/5 all the way"... I didn't agree with him until about a year or two later... But I agree now, hey, it's even worthy of being 15/15 ;) The Burning Down is one of the few tracks in existence (which I know of, of course) that inspires sadness within me by simply listening to it.

[Mr. Not]

King's X - Faith Hope Love (1990)

10/15 We Are Finding Who We Are

12/15 It's Love

10/15 I'll Never Get Tired of You

09/15 Fine Art of Friendship

13/15 Mr. Wilson

11/15 Moanjam

14/15 Six Broken Soldiers

13/15 I Can't Help It

10/15 Talk to You

08/15 <Everywhere I Go>

14/15 *We Were Born to be Loved*

12/15 Faith Hope Love

10/15 Legal Kill

 

Rating: A

 

Well... I don't have much new to say about this album, except my story around the final track, and acoustic ballad, is pretty funny I think. I enjoy this song musically and melodically, and I also like the tone of the lyrics - a hint of inspiration to be found in a sea of somber... Speaking of injustice. I loved everything about this song and thought the lyrics were clever "and you hand it out with handshakes every day", I thought the song was about war... It's obvious looking at it now, but turns out the song is actually anti-abortion.. So, without getting into that subject, I simply can't enjoy it like I used to. Seems like they were really just milking the Christian demographic with this and the next album (though for that one it only really applies to this extent with the cover itself).

[Mr. Not]

King's X - Please Come Home... Mr. Bulbous (2000)

11/15 <Fish Bowl Man>

15/15 *Julia*

13/15 She's Gone Away

13/15 Marsh Mellow Field

12/15 When You're Scared

11/15 Charlie Sheen

13/15 Smudge

15/15 Bitter Sweet

12/15 Move Me

'--'/15 Move Me (Part Two)

 

Rating: F

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Mrbulbous.jpg/220px-Mrbulbous.jpg

 

In case anyone's wondering "--" denotes "same", but I only use it in the case where I consider two tracks connected as one. [ ] of course is null ;)

 

Julia has to be one of the greatest songs of all time - if not then it's simply, humbly, one of my personal favorite songs of all time ;)

Bitter Sweet is also amazing, and perfect in every way... Except for it's short length, it needs to be not even a minute longer... Or that's what I thought... Now I appreciate it's brevity as it reflects the title of the song! Listening to this song makes for a bitter sweet expiernce. I enjoy and savor every second of it, as with the short guitar solo fading out in this track, each time I feel like it's saying goodbye to me all too soon... Sometimes while listening through the album, I'd simply play the song again in order to satisfy me, but now I consider that to be cheating ;)

Fortunately, the album doesn't leave you hanging with the short Bitter Sweet ending (...as you could clearly already tell from the tracklist above... whatever), but instead the overly-lengthy "Move Me" sees it the actual farewell is a satisfactory one.

 

I've shared my thoughts on this album a couple times before, but I'll repeat that I find this album to be a concept album in some way... It has the same feel as a concept album might... There's something beautifully abstract about the whole album. The only real case you could make for it being a concept album, objectively, is by noting that the end of several tracks there are clips of Japanese tongue twisters (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10) The cover art is amazing, no doubt about that much. The title seems like the band was making a joke, like they did with Gretchen, but I can't help but take it with a lot of heart... While listening through this album, without even looking to the cover, I often think of Mr. Bulbous...

 

Yes, this album and Dug Pinnick's song "Mr. Hateyourself" formed to inspire one of my main user names: Mr. Not.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Mr. Not

[PolarizeMe]

Porcupine Tree - The Incident (2009)

07/15 Occam's Razor

12/15 The Blind House

10/15 Great Expectations

13/15 Kneel and Disconnect

09/15 Drawing the Line

14/15 *The Incident*

11/15 Your Unpleasant Family

13/15 The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train

06/15 <Time Flies>

08/15 Degree Zero of Liberty

13/15 Octane Twisted

'--'/15 The Seance

 

Rating: 9

Incomplete...tsk tsk.

 

Not confident enough in rating the bonus disk.

I'm calling you out on the incomplete because you left out Circle Of Manias and I Drive The Hearse from the main disk.

[Mr. Not]

Porcupine Tree - The Incident (2009)

07/15 Occam's Razor

12/15 The Blind House

10/15 Great Expectations

13/15 Kneel and Disconnect

09/15 Drawing the Line

14/15 *The Incident*

11/15 Your Unpleasant Family

13/15 The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train

06/15 <Time Flies>

08/15 Degree Zero of Liberty

13/15 Octane Twisted

'--'/15 The Seance

 

Rating: 9

Incomplete...tsk tsk.

 

Not confident enough in rating the bonus disk.

I'm calling you out on the incomplete because you left out Circle Of Manias and I Drive The Hearse from the main disk.

 

Manias - 7 or 8

Hearse - 5?

 

or how about: bad enough for me to delete and forget the existence of.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Mr. Not

[Mr. Not]

King's X - King's X (1992)

13/15 The World Around Me

12/15 Prisoner

11/15 The Big Picture

14/15 Lost in Germany

14/15 *Chariot Song*

10/15 <Ooh Song>

11/15 Not Just For the Dead

12/15 What I Know About Love

13/15 Black Flag

12/15 Dream in my Life

13/15 Silent Wind

 

Rating: B

[len(songs)]

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

[Mr. Not]

Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo I'm a Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (2005)

12/15 Keeping the Blade

06/15 <Always & Never>

13/15 Welcome Home

11/15 Ten Speed of God's Blood & Burial

12/15 Crossing the Frame

12/15 Apollo I: The Writing Writer

10/15 Once Upon Your Dead Body

13/15 The Suffering

12/15 The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court

11/15 Mother May I

The Willing Well I-IV

15/15 *Fuel For the Feeding End*

12/15 From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

[ ]/15 The Telling Truth

10/15 The Final Cut

 

Rating: B

[len(songs)]

Rush - Test For Echo (1996)

 

Test For Echo: 13/15

Driven: 13/15

Half The World: 9/15

The Color Of Right: 11/15

Time And Motion: 10/15

Totem: 13/15

<Dog Years>: 3/15

Virtuality: 6/15

*Resist*: 14/15

Limbo: 12/15

The Color Of Right: 10/15

 

Overall rating: 8 (Good, bordering on mediocre)

100th review, 4 days in :clap:

[Segue Myles]

Evanescence- Origin (demo, 2000)

 

1. Origin (intro) 11/15

2. Whisper 15/15

3. Imaginary 15/15

4. My Immortal 15/15

5. Where Will You Go 15/15

6. Field Of Innocence 12/12

7. Even In Death 13/15

8. <Anywhere> 10/15

9. *Lies* 15/15

10. Away From Me 14/15

11. Eternal 14/15

 

Average Rating: 13.5 (Rating D)

 

 

Amy Lee is blessed with an astonishing set of pipes, and her voice ranges from ghostly whisper to electrifying howl. But on occasion it can be said her voice suffers from being a tad nasal, overtly melodramatic and, lets be blunt, whiny.

 

Despite this, her band Evanescence have shifted approximately 20 million albums worldwide, and one listen to debut album proper Fallen, it is very easy to hear why. But the bands success is also genuinely frustrating, since many better female fronted metal bands have struggled to come out from under their shadow commercially, and even if they do there is still the endless, pointless comparisons being made back and forth, forth and back, to the point where all parties must feel sick with frustration.

 

Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Within Temptation and Evanescence all share one major thing in common: women. And with that out of the way, it is important to stress that aside from this similarity, each band has carved out their own niche in the market with their own distinct trademark sounds. And yes, some bands release better music than others, but of course it isn't in your best interests to state which.

 

Returning to Evanescence, it is with this "demo" that I shall start my ratings. Considered by the bands legion of fans (me included) to be the debut album proper, the band members themselves have constantly brushed this gem under the carpet, and left it to bootleggers to make a fortune selling "genuine" counterfeits, and more discerning fans little choice other than to download poor quality mp3's of the albums tracks. And believe me, any effort made to get this album is worth it, for not only is this collection of songs good enough to warrant a place in the bands official discography, but an argument could be made this is the best work the band has ever done, at least until the 2011 self titled classic album.

 

Excellent (low budget, but nice and crisp) production accentuates the ghostly vocals, the musicianship is surprisingly confident, and once again the keyboards stand out, giving off a cinematic vibe at certain points (Where Will You Go could easily be the theme tune to one of those big budget romantic action movies Hollywood loved to churn out every week back in the good old days of the early Noughts!).

 

Lies is the heaviest song the band has done, where Amy lunges into fits of orgasmic vocal theatrics, whilst a blast of metal growls adds further horror to proceedings. Fantastic night time music!

 

Whisper, Imaginary and My Immortal would all go on to be used again on the major label debut Fallen three years later (thus I exclude them from italics), and in many ways they are the most obvious choices. Melodic, and lyrical masterpieces, Evanescence already had the songs to make it big years before the world ever knew their name. And My Immortal is one of those ballads that just about everybody who has heard it loves, and deservedly so!

 

Many roll their eyes at the thought of Evanescence being a great band, but truth be told, they are one of the millenniums better musical phenomenons, and with the songs they have to offer, I would happily take Evanescence over any of the bands initial peers (Creed, Sevendust, Three Doors Down), and believe me, I have!

 

But for goodness sake, don't believe the record sales, as good as Evanescence are, they are not to be loved at the expense of ignoring many other great bands of their genre.

[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.

Edited December 31, 2014 by len(songs)

[Segue Myles]

Evanescence- Fallen

 

1. Going Under 14/15

2. *Bring Me To Life* 15/15

3. Everybody's Fool 14/15

4. My Immortal 15/15

5. Haunted 11/15

6. <Tourniquet> 10/15

7. Imaginary 15/15

8. Taking Over Me 12/15

9. Hello 11/15

10. My Last Breath 12/15

11. Whisper 15/15

 

Average Rating: 13 (Rating D)

 

Is this album a masterpiece? No. Is it a great example of female fronted metal? Not really. Is it a damn good pop rock album? Yes, one of the very best ever recorded.

 

This album was massive when I was twelve years old. I remember the first time I heard them, on Top Of The Pops FYI, and they just appeared out of nowhere to hit the number one spot on the UK charts with the classic single Bring Me To Life!

 

Now, to be honest with you, I didn't like modern rock or metal at that age. And to be fair, the charts were awash with nu-metal and pop punk dreck. But Evanescence just hit me in the chest with their music, I really loved them. So I bought the album, and it blew my twelve year old mind!

 

But in all honesty, cutting to the modern day, I think it is strange that I feel more warm nostalgia than genuine love for this album. In the intervening years, I discovered Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, The Gathering, H.I.M., Paradise Lost...the list goes on, but all these bands have released Gothic rock/metal albums with a pop tinge that I would rate a hell of a lot higher. Three of this albums best songs are oldies: Imaginary, Whisper and My Immortal were previously released on Origin (which, of course I didn't know at the time), and a few of the songs here are quite generic of the type of depressive, Creed like hogwash that dominated the charts at the time. Tourniquet has a strong hook, but the Christian imagery of the lyrics grossly clashes with the vampiric drama of the music. Hello is quite beautiful, but sounds like a revised version of My Immortal. My Last Breath and Taking Over Me are also good, but let's be honest: good doesn't deserve to sell tens of millions of albums.

 

However, songs such as My Immortal, Bring Me To Life, Going Under, Imaginary, Whisper and Everybody's Fool do deserve to sell, and based off these songs alone it can be said that I find Fallen to be something of a classic. These are terrifically written, composed and performed pop songs, given a weighty (but not heavy) rock sheen that perfectly enhances what could almost have been a mess of Andrew Lloyd Webber meets Meat Loaf proportions.

 

But compared to the previous years Comalies from Lacuna Coil, Once from Nightwish and The Silent Force from Within Temptation, Fallen finds itself a bit lost. Great, but not that great.

 

The most accessible of all the bands albums, this is still the most popular. And although I think this is a great album, for my money this is the bands weakest release to date, barely scraping a D rating.

[Segue Myles]

Evanescence- The Open Door

 

1. *Sweet Sacrifice* 15/15

2. Call Me When You're Sober 15/15

3. Weight Of The World 14/15

4. Lithium 13/15

5. Cloud Nine 13/15

6. Snow White Queen 13/15

7. Lacrymosa 13/15

8. Like You 13/15

9. Lose Control 14/15

10. The Only One 12/15

11. Your Star 15/15

12. <All That I'm Living For> 10/15

13. Good Enough 14/15

 

Average Rating: 13.3 (Rating D)

 

After a really, really good debut in Origin (stupidly regarded by the band as little more than a demo), the blockbuster smash Fallen and a host of very successful singles and a live DVD, followed by messy band splits (including the departure of lead songwriter Ben Moody), Evanescence could have been forgiven for releasing a messy, overly commercial follow up.

 

Instead, we get this wildly experimental rock album, full of off kilter melodies, scuzzy riffs, haunting piano, and surprisingly dense production (in a good way). I will not linger too long on this review, but between the release of Fallen in 2003 and The Open Door in 2006, a host of superior bands, all much older than Evanescence, began to emerge on charts worldwide, and immediately it became apparent that this band were not at all the peak of the genre, or particularly deserving of their success, as many had initially assumed.

 

Lacuna Coil broke through in the USA with Comalies, and they followed up their success with the top thirty release Karmacode several months prior to The Open Door. Not bad for an Italian metal band! Over in Europe, many older bands such as The Gathering and Nightwish were building larger and larger fanbases, with Nightwish proving to be a massive worldwide success. And Within Temptation took their Kate Bush flavoured pop metal and practically stole Europe from the grasp of Evanescence, releasing the femme metal masterpiece The Silent Force a year after Fallen.

 

So, the band had much to prove. And whilst The Open Door doesn't really deviate from Fallen as much as some may have liked, it does pack a stronger punch, and the songs are all round more powerful, with the lyrics showing greater depth and wisdom than those of, say, Hello or Going Under. My only criticisms for this release are the vaguely repetitive nature of the songs, particularly on the middle section of the album, and occasionally the flamboyant, faux-operatic vocal style of Amy Lee grates a little. A little more restraint could have greatly improved many of these songs, with the worst culprit being the bland and grungy All That I'm Living For. And whilst I don't mind that on occasion this release feels more like a solo album than a band effort, it must be said that for many Evanescence fans this album is considered a disappointment because of it.

 

And whilst it failed to be as successful as its predecessor, The Open Door sold very well. But it isn't hard to sense that those fans initially smitten by the bands sound in 2003 were likely far more inclined to search elsewhere for their dramatic, female fronted metal come 2006. And if so, this would explain the albums lukewarm reception (unfair, as this is a better album) and modest (by Fallen standards) album sales.

 

I might sound a bit harsh towards Evanescence. As much as I refuse to believe that they have deserved quite the amount of success that they have had, this is a spectacular album that truly cemented the band in my list of favourites, and Amy Lee as one of my favourite singers.

 

But I wouldn't call this a desert island disc. If I lost this album, I would replace it, but not immediately.

[Mr. Not]

System of a Down - System of a Down (1998)

11/15 Suite-Pee

11/15 Know

13/15 Sugar

10/15 Suggestions

08/15 Spiders

09/15 Ddevil

13/15 *Soil*

11/15 War?

05/15 <Mind>

08/15 Peephole

07/15 CuBBert

10/15 Darts

12/15 P.L.U.C.K.

 

Rating: 5

 

so basically, three songs on this album are worth listening two, 3 might be depending on mood, and half are just immature efforts at songs

Soil contains Daron Malakian's best solo, which is, while simple, very well written! He becomes a much better guitarist lives and otherwise by 2003 and then again in 2005, but even then he can't write solo too well.

Suggestions! has great lyrics, but the songs itself isn't too hot. PLUCK is both lyrically and musically great, and I've also seen the song as the essence of System of a Down, not just because it contains "System of a Down" in the lyrics, but because the song is about the Armenian genocide which is what SOAD wished to make public most (well, at least until 9/11 hit and war then struck)

Mind is the longest song, and it's complete garbage. A poor attempt at something of an epic, I guess? It should have been kept down to 2 minutes like CuBBert

[len(songs)]

Rush - Counterparts (1993)

*Animate*: 14/15

Stick It Out: 7/15

Cut To The Chase: 11/15

Nobody's Hero: 8/15

Between Sun & Moon: 12/15

Alien Shore: 11/15

<The Speed Of Love>: 3/15

Double Agent: 10/15

Leave That Thing Alone: 12/15

Cold Fire: 5/15

Everyday Glory: 6/15

 

Overall rating: 7 (Mediocre/Good)

Well, it's better than RTB... Counterparts shows Rush incorporating, of all things, grunge into their sound, and as a result this album is their heaviest since, erm, Hemispheres... However, heaviness does not in this case correlate with quality, and the result is a record that is better than anything surrounding it but worse than nearly everything else in their catalog. Three gems can be picked out of this release: Animate, one of the greatest Rush songs, with a great verse groove, wonderful chorus and a great hypnotic bridge. The others are a great instrumental with a driving (occasionally polyrhythmic) groove (Leave That Thing Alone) and a wonderful Who imitation (Between Sun and Moon). Cut To The Chase, while not on the level of those three, is still a good, driving hard rock song with a GREAT solo, while Alien Shore has a good groove (in the intro) and an interesting verse somewhat marred by a slightly cringeworthy chorus (There are much better ways to adress race and gender issues than "Sex is not a definition") and a bridge with the lyric "We'd elect each other president"... eww. The last good song is really barely a song at all: Double Agent is a ridiculous hodge-podge of different disparate parts that manage to be entertaining enough to endure it a "good" grade, even if it's not as good as the rest on the EP...

 

Wait, this isn't an EP! No, there may only be an EP's worth of good material on here, but this is 1993 and they need to fill a full CD. So we get tracks like Nobody's Hero with its somewhat clumsy verses and cringe-inducing TV chorus (though a few nice solos keep it from being as awful as it could have been) and Stick It Out, which manages to turn a decent heavy riff into something... quite mediocre. The rest are barely worth mentioning, other than that The Speed Of Love may well be the second worst Rush song (in competition with Neurotica) and Cold Fire is a ridiculously overrated attempt at a Dire Straits imitation... Bleh. If these 5 tracks were cut off of the album, it could probably garner an A or even a B; as it is, it barely gets a 7. There's a great (though quite long for 1 side) EP hiding in here somewhere, but ultimately the filler drags it down enough that it easily gets a place in by bottom 5 Rush albums.

Edited January 1, 2015 by len(songs)

[PolarizeMe]

*Animate*: 14/15

 

:clap: :clap: :clap:

[Union 5-3992]

Start of Something Beautiful & Glass Arm Shattering are perfect songs if you're in the mood for them... The addition of them together at the end of the album seal the deal and guarantee Deadwing as a better album than In Absentia ;)

 

http://i.imgur.com/z4NpVMz.gif

 

I think we're in the minority on this opinion

[PolarizeMe]

Start of Something Beautiful & Glass Arm Shattering are perfect songs if you're in the mood for them... The addition of them together at the end of the album seal the deal and guarantee Deadwing as a better album than In Absentia ;)

 

http://i.imgur.com/z4NpVMz.gif

 

I think we're in the minority on this opinion

Count me in that minority as well. In retrospective I like Deadwing better than In Absentia...or rather I was floored when I listened to Deadwing again than I was with In Absentia, both albums I haven't listened to after a long time (more than a year actually).

[PolarizeMe]

Porcupine Tree - We Lost The Skyline (2008)

 

The Sky Moves Sideways: 12/15

Even Less: 13/15

*Stars Die*: 15/15

Waiting: 14/15

<Normal>: 10/15

Drown With Me: 14/15

Lazarus: 12/15

Trains: 12/15

 

Overall rating: A (good)

 

This is actually a primarily acoustic live album which only Steven Wilson and John Wesley were on guitars/vocals at a record store in Florida during the Fear Of A Blank Planet tour. My rating is primarily based on what I thought of the arrangements in the acoustic setting. This version of Stars Die I think is lightyears better than the one on The Sky Moves Sideways. The WLTS version of Waiting is excellent as well...love the tone of the clean electric throughout the song (and the set for that matter). Normal's the weakest one because they chopped 3/4th of the song up in this arrangement. This was also unedited at all as it includes all of Wilson's banter and the first attempt of Normal which Wilson f*cked up. Overall it's a great performance for what it is, but it's definitely something that only hardcore PT fans would be interested in.

Edited January 2, 2015 by PolarizeMe

[len(songs)]

Yes - Magnification (2001)

*Magnification*: 13/15

Spirit Of Survival: 11/15

Don't Go: 12/15

Give Love Each Day: 13/15

Can You Imagine?: 11/15

We Agree: 12/15

<Soft As A Dove>: 6/15

Dreamtime: 13/15

In The Presence Of: 10/15

Time Is Time: 10/15

 

Overall rating: B (Very Good)

The second album of Yes's "comeback" period is also the second to utilize a full orchestra, after Time And A Word, and to be honest I was not thrilled about this, mostly because, on Time And A Word, the orchestra (for the most part) replaced the guitar and keys rather than augmenting them, which drowned out Banks's and Kaye's parts and muddled up the sound considerably. However, they do not fall into this trap here, and the orchestra is fully integrated into the arrangements, often taking precendence over the band but just as often acting as texture to support the "main" instruments. It also doesn't hurt that the songwriting is at a high, too; one song on here, Soft As A Dove, is "mediocre" or worse (though to be fair it is pretty awful), and only two others fail to reach "very good", one of them a pleasant but somewhat aimless "epic" track (In The Presence Of) and one of which is the good, but slightly pointless-seeming two minute closer "Time Is Time" (though it was GREAT as part of their acoustic set). As for the rest of the tracks:

• Magnification is a GREAT opener and probably the best song on the album, with a short "band" opening before the orchestra comes in for the verse, going into a neat "skipping" bassline and eventually coming to the wonderful "Magnification" chorus. The song eventually progresses to a huge "wall of sound", with a bunch of guitars piled on (and a banjo for some reason) until Day In The Life-style orchestrations come in to take us to the next track...
  
• Spirit Of Survival, segueing out of Magnification, does bear some slight resemblance to the (absolutely awful) Big Generator title track, but it manages to be magnitudes better than that pile of crap due to the intense verses (with lyrics about careless youth driving) and the bombastic, almost James Bond-like orchestrations that come in from time to time.
  
• Don't Go is a song which I dismissed at first as "pop crap", but which I have come to REALLY like, particularly the main guitar line (which isn't doing anything that interesting but which nonetheless manages to get caught in my head regularly) and the megaphone bridge
  
• Give Love Each Day is simply great, with an orchestral opening that may seem tacked-on at first but which does provide some interesting "context" for the rest of the song, which happens to absolutely RULE. The verses work wonderfully, with the orchestra providing the "base" while the band chimes in at just the right times, while the soaring chorus provides interesting contrast (which is not to say that that is the only good thing about it)
  
• We Agree has a great acoustic foundation and lyrics about refugees... unusually dark for Anderson, isn't it . My only real complaint is that they don't revisit or develop some of the different sections enough, but the song still rules regardless.
  
• Dreamline is the better of the two "epic" tracks on here, and incidentally my second favorite song on the album, with energetic orchestrations interacting with the "band" playing. In theory I should be annoyed by the occasional references to On The Silent Wings Of The Freedom, since I don't like that track much at all, but they never really seem forced, so it's OK. My favorite part is probably the percussion (marimba?) below the verse parts ("Take me up..."), but really it all rules, so why bother picking a "favorite part"?
  

There is just enough to annoy me on this album to keep it from a higher grade, but for a band this late into their recording career a B is pretty good (the only other example I can think of is Rush with Vapor Trails Remixed, though I'd probably call it an A now), so what can I say but "If you like Yes, buy this album today"?

Edited January 2, 2015 by len(songs)

[Cyclonus X-1]

Start of Something Beautiful & Glass Arm Shattering are perfect songs if you're in the mood for them... The addition of them together at the end of the album seal the deal and guarantee Deadwing as a better album than In Absentia ;)

 

http://i.imgur.com/z4NpVMz.gif

 

I think we're in the minority on this opinion

Count me in that minority as well. In retrospective I like Deadwing better than In Absentia...or rather I was floored when I listened to Deadwing again than I was with In Absentia, both albums I haven't listened to after a long time (more than a year actually).

 

I prefer Deadwing to In Absentia.

 

Start of Something Beautiful is a fantastic track.