4 Stars (or: The reviewing of art vs. the art of reviewing)

IdleRich

IdleRich
"I'll be the radical one, then, and say, that it's not just the phrase 'if you like x...' which is problematic, but the whole point of basing a review on comparisons. A review should point out what is unique and original about a piece of art, not what is familiar and old."
Of course, that relies on there being something brilliant and original about the art-work in question. Some might say that the increasing number of reviews that draw primarily on comparisons is inversely proportional to the number of original ideas you find in the average work these days.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies by James Abbott McNeill Whistler is a great book and very pertinent to this discussion.

As is Oscar Wilde's The Critic as Artist. And, come to think of it, Walter Pater's The Renaissance. I certainly used to keep these texts in mind when reviewing All Saints and Ultimate Handbag House CDs for Leeds Student paper.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Criticism only really raises its game when it believes it is at least as important as the work in question.
 

muser

Well-known member
I hate to say it (on here especially) but most of the time I see a music review I'll go and listen to it first and then read after if I like it. If I cant find a way to hear it easily its generally not the number of stars or descriptions that help me guage whether i'll like it but the knowledge of the reviewers tastes compared to mine.. and the comparisons to other music.

I do enjoy reading a well written review though, I think it'd be really interesting to do some data mining on the words used to try and describe a song. It seems that as more technology is involved descriptives almost get less abstract and more physical. From things like rich, fluid, lively, melanchony etc to sludge, metallic, cold, liquid.
 
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muser

Well-known member
although I guess thats more to do with people trying to describe the pure sonics as opposed to the song. still its interesting how things can sound like unrelated physical objects or sensations. Its like a kind of universal synesthesia
 
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