Tim wrote:
Quote:
How in the hell is it possible that people rate songs in such a strange way. How is it possible that the latest album got all 10/10??? Is this because it has just been released???
Tought that this rating thing was a way of objectivity, realistic listening to the songs, comparing the songs/albums, etc.
This ain't not fair at all. I mean... what is this going to. Don't think this forum part was just for fooling around, joking etc.
As a teacher i can say, a 10 is hard to get. I am a teacher in the arts... so then you will know, music is also an art. In that way i am able to say this. Offcourse you can give a song a 10, but all the songs??? Have you listened to the albums only once???
Please just be honest... don't do it for the ranklist.
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The thing is Tim we aren't a group of professional international judges working to some agreed set of complex benchmarks carefully defined to try and make sure we are all operating to an identical set of constructs .. we're, mostly, a bunch of Meat Loaf fans giving our reaction to the tracks on an album. Some will make judgements about the lyrics, some the music, some Meat's vocals, some by comparing it to other tracks on other albums, some by a mix of any/all of these .. and some by how they feel when they hear a track and/or whether it "calls" to them in some special way.
If we were sitting on a panel charged with the task of awarding prizes objectively, "realistic listening" and comparison would arguably be more important .. and one only has to see the results of some of some awards listings to know how rarely that is achieved even then .. try the Oscars for eg .. or Greatest Composers of the Millenium .. where one would have been forgiven for thinking that musical composition didn't start until the seventies :)
Meat, for eg, I suspect rated the songs on CHSIB on some internal scale he has of what he tries to achieve in the recording. Some will judge each against what they consider to be his "best" so far (and even that is a personal judgement). I don't compare .. I tend to say "Does it work for me? How far?" .. and if it does work 100% then I'd give it 10. If you were to ask me which song I like best that would be different .. but even then I'd probably say I can't choose one. It depends on how I'm feeling .. and also on which one I'm listening to at the time :) I'd agree with Meat and many others that FCOL is probably one of the best love songs ever written. But I don't, and don't want to compare every song Meat records against this. Now that's a personal choice .. if others do that's theirs.
This new album works perfectly for me. I have said elsewhere that it reflects the fact that we are 26 years on from BOOH. True many Steinman songs are timeless, but many are written from a hilltop which best describes youthful angst. This album is one recorded by a man in the rich autumn of his life, the songs reflect that imo, and being myself in that same rich autumn as Meat they resonate with me in a very special way. I can't fault DIST or CHSIB. I love the poignancy of MOS. Love You Out Loud calls to me in a very special way, for I have been that soldier! BOY captures perfectly for me that wonderful feeling of being in love .. it does it simply but nonetheless powerfully for me. Forever Young may not be the greatest song ever written .. although I'd argue it's a beautiful song, but to hear Meat sing it brings the tears to my eyes and makes the hairs stand up on my arms .. so how could I not rate it high? And that's what this is about imo .. we rate the tracks and the album in a very personal way, but that doesn't mean we are fooling around or that our view is without integrity.
On every album Meat has released there are tracks that I love. I value every one of them. I've listened to CHSIB many, many times. For me .. and that's the only perspective I can speak from, it IS a 10/10 album, and as good as anything Meat has ever recorded. BOOH was a 10/10 debut album .. CHSIB is a 10/10 autumn album; sweet, rich and mature, in 2003 it works for me 100% :) That's personal, that's fair and that's honest.