Giving my review

March 12, 2008 | In Journalism, Music, Rants | No Comments

I was digging through a box in a closet tonight looking for my “Encyclopedia Beatles” my reference for all things Beatles, including details of the “Let It Be” film, a subject I am increasingly interested in delving into.

During my digging, I discovered two CDs I’ve been looking for and feared lost. The two were Whiskeytown’s “Strangers Almanac” one of my favorite albums that I was close to re-purchasing and Remy Zero’s “The Golden Hum” an album that marks the early Otts for me pretty clearly.

While doing this I’ve had music on in the background, specifically Nine Inch Nails “Ghost I,” the first part of a recent download album Trent Reznor released much like Radiohead did late last year.

With such a breadth of music to dig through, it makes me realize how varied my tastes in music really are.

I was curious to see what a certain pretentious online indie review site had to say about the latest NIN release. While there wasn’t a review of the album up yet, there was a review of the recently re-released delux edition of “Strangers Almanac.”

The reviewer was somewhat indifferent about the album, laying claim that it isn’t the bands strongest work in comparison to its freshman album released a few years prior. WIth this indifference the reviewer slapped a “6.3″ out of a possible 10 to the album.

I don’t understand quantifying an albums quality down to that much detail. It seems fruitless. You either enjoy an album or artist or you don’t. I’ve tried myself to give reviews that put a number to the pavement – this is an 8 or whatever. It’s a fake way of giving a summed up review.

I’m taking a stand now. I’m going to try to avoid putting a star, number or thumb to my reviews of music, movies, video games and the like. If I enjoy it, I think you should be able to get that feeling based on what I’m saying about the subject. If you want a quick summery to determine in seconds if it’s worth your time, I’ll try to include a paragraph for that.

When writing a blog post about a movie or album, I tend to look at it as a way of recommending something to friends. Generally I try to avoid things that I feel are sub-quality or things that don’t interest me. While I have in the past written about things that aren’t high quality, I do so because there is relevance – maybe it was part of something that in the past proved to be good, but fell short on subsequent attempts.

I encourage bloggers out there to write reviews from the heart, don’t feel the need to slap digits or celestial ornaments to a review just to get your point across. This is new media – lets use it for what it’s worth!