The MR.com 100% club & perfect ratings in general

[Captain Howdy]

You should take a look at the comments on the thread here about the album, not many people were impressed by it. I'd also say that of my friends who have heard it, none were impressed either.

Seriously disappointing album, and not just because its not Jani on vocals. Best I can describe it is an album full of b-sides, and I want to know where the a-sides went.

[zacharyamelie]

Personally speaking (I know everyone has their own picks), but the review of H.E.A.T's "Freedom Rock" still really surprises/baffles me. 86% overall, with 84% for the production (?!), when stuff like the latest BLANC FACES got 91%, MASTEDON 3 got 95%, FAIR WARNING "Aura" got 90%, SHINING LINE got 91% (the production on that thing was bloody awful), TERRY BROCK got 99%, NELSON got 91% etc etc etc. All albums considerably weaker than the H.E.A.T album, which is frankly right up there with the TREAT disc IMHO and is nearly as good as AOR gets these days. The comments it was too slick/polished/over-harmonised should never be used in relation to AOR!!

 

I thought the production was a step down from the debut...still think so. And I wasn't as into the songs on #2. Sorry!

 

I agree with Andrew's assertion of the last H.E.A.T., albeit Freedom Rock had a better collection of songs than the debut, the production and the over the 'topness' on everything gave it no balls whatsoever. A beefy Rock ingredient was missing on much of the album, adding some more heaviness would have really complimented Kenny's killer vocals. With that said the album was easily in my top 10 of 2010...but could have been #1.

 

That surprises me given how much you like the last Danger Danger disc. There was no guitar in that mix whatsoever!

 

Revolve was a near flawless release, more AOR than Rock and yes I agree it didn't have more balls than the H.E.A.T., but it never tried so hard to be sound so huge and over the top like Freedom Rock did. Had Revolve been released in 2010, instead of 2009, I'm sure it would have been close between both Freedom Rock and Revolve, but in 2009, no other album was better than Revolve.

[heaven&hell]

You should take a look at the comments on the thread here about the album, not many people were impressed by it. I'd also say that of my friends who have heard it, none were impressed either.

Seriously disappointing album, and not just because its not Jani on vocals. Best I can describe it is an album full of b-sides, and I want to know where the a-sides went.

 

But the reviews I've read out on many music websites have been very positive and I've seen many fans on facebook and amazon says great things about it as well. Really the only real negative comments I've seen have been here on HH.

[Captain Howdy]

To be fair, Facebook fan pages are rarely good pages to judge something as too many people blow smoke up the artists arse on there, and those that dont like something tend to stay quiet rather than feel they are insulting the artist.

As for Amazon, the UK page has no reviews and the US one a sum total of 13, 3 of which are 3 stars or less.

Hell, even one of the four star reviews says its a disappointment.

 

I'd hardly say its a resounding thumbs up for it.

[heaven&hell]

To be fair, Facebook fan pages are rarely good pages to judge something as too many people blow smoke up the artists arse on there, and those that dont like something tend to stay quiet rather than feel they are insulting the artist.

As for Amazon, the UK page has no reviews and the US one a sum total of 13, 3 of which are 3 stars or less.

Hell, even one of the four star reviews says its a disappointment.

 

I'd hardly say its a resounding thumbs up for it.

 

Well the facebook wasnt' a fan page and I never said it was. It was actually a thread on someone elses page with a link to Sex Aint Love video and I was surprised to read how many positive responses there were to not only that song but the entire cd. I also believe that Hardrockhaven and Classicrockrevited gave it very good reviews and I really respect Jeb and classicrockrevisited. Not that any of that matters since I like it and I could give a crap if someone else likes it or not.

[HighNDryRulz]

OK, the recent furor over the 100% rating given to Journey's "Eclipse" got me to digging around to see what other titles have gotten a perfect rating from Andrew over the years, and here they are:

 

Mecca - S/T

Danger Danger-Cockroach

Danger Danger- The Return of the Great Gildersleeves

Harem Scarem- Higher

Harem Scarem- Weight of the World

TNT- My Religion

Toto- Falling in Between

W.E.T. - S/T

Treat - Coup De Grace

Mr. Big - What If...

Journey - Eclipse

 

 

Nothing is ever 100%, as far as I am concerned. The only one of these that is a 90 is Treat - coup de grace. Many of these are in the 60-70 range for me.

[TIM (2)]

 

However for an ALBUM to be perfect, every song would need to score a 10/10 and that just aint gonna happen.

 

& if it did I would be a very happy bunny indeed.

 

Cheers

 

That is the definitive way of looking at it, but realistically most people use relativities to score their reviews. I.e, scoring an album versus others. For example, one of my all-time fave discs is that PLANET 3 album but it has 2 songs that are total shite (added on later with a different vocalist), and 8 other absolute MONSTER tracks. I would rate that album higher than pretty much everything else in my collection, even albums that have no filler tracks whatsoever (like perhaps the first 2x Harem Scarem discs). Using your scoring approach I'd rate the PLANET 3 about 80% with the HS discs in the 90's, but that isn't doing it any justice whatsoever.

 

That said, I don't think I'd rate anything 100% either, but stuff like DARE "Out of the Silence", EUROPE "Out of this World", TREAT "Dreamhunter", STRANGEWAYS "Walk in the Fire", CLIFF MAGNESS "Solo", HAREM SCAREM (first 2) would all be around the 97/98/99% mark probably...

[Glen]

 

However for an ALBUM to be perfect, every song would need to score a 10/10 and that just aint gonna happen.

 

& if it did I would be a very happy bunny indeed.

 

Cheers

 

That is the definitive way of looking at it, but realistically most people use relativities to score their reviews. I.e, scoring an album versus others. For example, one of my all-time fave discs is that PLANET 3 album but it has 2 songs that are total shite (added on later with a different vocalist), and 8 other absolute MONSTER tracks. I would rate that album higher than pretty much everything else in my collection, even albums that have no filler tracks whatsoever (like perhaps the first 2x Harem Scarem discs). Using your scoring approach I'd rate the PLANET 3 about 80% with the HS discs in the 90's, but that isn't doing it any justice whatsoever.

 

That said, I don't think I'd rate anything 100% either, but stuff like DARE "Out of the Silence", EUROPE "Out of this World", TREAT "Dreamhunter", STRANGEWAYS "Walk in the Fire", CLIFF MAGNESS "Solo", HAREM SCAREM (first 2) would all be around the 97/98/99% mark probably...

 

But I hardly EVER rate a song lower than say 5 or 6/10. I mean at the end of the day you are reviewing a rock album and even 'shite' songs are generally still OK and listenable. Lower than 5 or 6/10 would be reserved for dance music/rap/jazz or shit like that. Whilst you set a standard for 10/10 you still have to set a standard for 0/10.

 

I mean those 2 songs on yr Planet 3 album for example are not going to be 0/10 songs are they?? So if you do love those other 8 that much (?)...........you have say 80 + 5 + 5....which would be 90% and then that score probably would do justice to an album with 2 fillers.

 

Capiche...............?

[Captain Howdy]

I dunno about that. I have heard some rock songs by bands I like that would not only get a zero rating, they'd actually end up in minus figures.

Sometimes shite is just shite, it doesnt matter what genre it is.

[Glen]

I dunno about that. I have heard some rock songs by bands I like that would not only get a zero rating, they'd actually end up in minus figures.

Sometimes shite is just shite, it doesnt matter what genre it is.

 

Fair enough - personally I've never heard a rock song I would rate 0/10. The point I was trying to make to Tim is that none of the songs on Planet 3 are worth zero. I'm happy with the way I rate albums - IMO it's a fair way to rate albums and certainly last year it was only way I could separate some albums.

 

Not that rating albums is that important to me but it is interesting at the end of the day.

 

Cheers

[heaven&hell]

I dunno about that. I have heard some rock songs by bands I like that would not only get a zero rating, they'd actually end up in minus figures.

Sometimes shite is just shite, it doesnt matter what genre it is.

 

Fair enough - personally I've never heard a rock song I would rate 0/10. The point I was trying to make to Tim is that none of the songs on Planet 3 are worth zero. I'm happy with the way I rate albums - IMO it's a fair way to rate albums and certainly last year it was only way I could separate some albums.

 

Not that rating albums is that important to me but it is interesting at the end of the day.

 

Cheers

 

Have you ever heard some of those dance type remixes that Warrant and Ratt did on Latest & Greatest and Collage?

I'd rate those 0 for sure or maybe even -1 if I could.

[Blue Charvel]

You should take a look at the comments on the thread here about the album, not many people were impressed by it. I'd also say that of my friends who have heard it, none were impressed either.

Seriously disappointing album, and not just because its not Jani on vocals. Best I can describe it is an album full of b-sides, and I want to know where the a-sides went.

 

But the reviews I've read out on many music websites have been very positive and I've seen many fans on facebook and amazon says great things about it as well. Really the only real negative comments I've seen have been here on HH.

I like it a lot myself. I know when I posted Sex Ain't Love on my FB page there were a lot of positive comments posted. I really like it... is it Cherry Pie, no but Cherry Pie is forever colored by years of repeated listens and the nostalgia of associated memories. I like a lot of the new offerings by the old guard. Seems to me like the releases are more heartfelt in general from many of the bands, with a smaller amount of half-hearted crap or even worse, bandwagon-jumping that was so evident in the early 2000's.

 

I'm also totally unbiased as I receive no attention or money from the labels, including my own...

[Glen]

I dunno about that. I have heard some rock songs by bands I like that would not only get a zero rating, they'd actually end up in minus figures.

Sometimes shite is just shite, it doesnt matter what genre it is.

 

Fair enough - personally I've never heard a rock song I would rate 0/10. The point I was trying to make to Tim is that none of the songs on Planet 3 are worth zero. I'm happy with the way I rate albums - IMO it's a fair way to rate albums and certainly last year it was only way I could separate some albums.

 

Not that rating albums is that important to me but it is interesting at the end of the day.

 

Cheers

 

Have you ever heard some of those dance type remixes that Warrant and Ratt did on Latest & Greatest and Collage?

I'd rate those 0 for sure or maybe even -1 if I could.

 

Well for me The Birdie Song is 0/10, and every rock song Ive heard is better than that so I rest my case ;-)

 

As for Warrant....I can understand people comparing it to Cherry Pie will be disappointed, but then Cherry Pie is an awesome slab of melodic hard rock and to be fair most things pale against the song writing and sheer energy of that album.

 

Rockaholic as an album written and played in 2011 is a pretty good effort in my book. Granted there are a few fillers, but there are also some very good songs and as said previously Mason sounds great - cant wait to see them at Firefest - should be a blast!

 

Cheers

[heaven&hell]

You should take a look at the comments on the thread here about the album, not many people were impressed by it. I'd also say that of my friends who have heard it, none were impressed either.

Seriously disappointing album, and not just because its not Jani on vocals. Best I can describe it is an album full of b-sides, and I want to know where the a-sides went.

 

But the reviews I've read out on many music websites have been very positive and I've seen many fans on facebook and amazon says great things about it as well. Really the only real negative comments I've seen have been here on HH.

I like it a lot myself. I know when I posted Sex Ain't Love on my FB page there were a lot of positive comments posted. I really like it... is it Cherry Pie, no but Cherry Pie is forever colored by years of repeated listens and the nostalgia of associated memories. I like a lot of the new offerings by the old guard. Seems to me like the releases are more heartfelt in general from many of the bands, with a smaller amount of half-hearted crap or even worse, bandwagon-jumping that was so evident in the early 2000's.

 

I'm also totally unbiased as I receive no attention or money from the labels, including my own...

 

It was your facebook page I spoke of.

And great comment on the Cherry Pie album.

[Blue Charvel]

You should take a look at the comments on the thread here about the album, not many people were impressed by it. I'd also say that of my friends who have heard it, none were impressed either.

Seriously disappointing album, and not just because its not Jani on vocals. Best I can describe it is an album full of b-sides, and I want to know where the a-sides went.

 

But the reviews I've read out on many music websites have been very positive and I've seen many fans on facebook and amazon says great things about it as well. Really the only real negative comments I've seen have been here on HH.

I like it a lot myself. I know when I posted Sex Ain't Love on my FB page there were a lot of positive comments posted. I really like it... is it Cherry Pie, no but Cherry Pie is forever colored by years of repeated listens and the nostalgia of associated memories. I like a lot of the new offerings by the old guard. Seems to me like the releases are more heartfelt in general from many of the bands, with a smaller amount of half-hearted crap or even worse, bandwagon-jumping that was so evident in the early 2000's.

 

I'm also totally unbiased as I receive no attention or money from the labels, including my own...

 

It was your facebook page I spoke of.

And great comment on the Cherry Pie album.

Cool beans, I was wondering if it was mine but I didn't want to assume...

 

Thanks about the Cherry Pie comment. I feel that way about a lot of the classic stuff. If I didn't take nostalgia into account, I'd never listen to anything new, and that would just be sad (although my wife would be happy).

[Captain Howdy]

See nostalgia means nothing to me. I dont care if its an album I have listened to for years or an album thats brand new, if its good its good if it isnt, it isnt.

For instance my fave Winger album has been Pull since it came out, and I dont even want to think about how many times it has been played.

Then you have Karma, which for me is equal to Pull, with some songs on it that are better than most of the songs on Pull.

 

No matter how much I factor in nostalgia vs new, Rockaholic just does not excite me, just as Born again did very little for me.

As I said before, I though Jani's solo album and the SOTU albums were great. Certainly not as great as the early Warrant stuff, but they are both albums that had great songwriting and great hooks. The new Warrant lacks these.

I would have been just as harsh with this album if it had been released 20 years ago, so its certainly no nostalgia wins for nostalgias sake, its just that I find Rockaholic to be poor.

 

I bought Cherry Pie back in the day without hearing the band before, and was hooked from the first spin. Thats what I call great hooks and great writing.

[Blue Charvel]

Either way it all comes down to opinion. Some like, some don't... it's all good.

[Geoff]

Wow did this thread develop.

 

Firstly, glad to see Tim recalls the Farcry review on melodicrock.comn too, as noted correctly, in the in-brief section. Not sure where it went, but I too am sure it was there once.

 

Warrant - like I said in the thread I don't think it's a bad release, but 1. compared to Warrant's first 3 it's a pale shadow, and 2. compared to the best CDs of 2011 so far I don't think it's in the mix either. It's not a bad CD, it just ain't that great either, imo. I think it's more Big Cock than anything, and I don't think it's even as good as the Big Cock CDs.

 

HEAT - yeah, I'm with Tim & Glen. Rated very high for me last year ; a lot higher than the rest of the stuff in Tim's list. But hey, to each their own I guess.

 

100% reviews. Plain and simply, as far as I can see there is no single CD in the world you could throw at me where I would not be able to find at least one thing worthy of keeping it from being a full 100%. Whether it be a single song, whether it be the vocalist... well, they're the two things that keep Treat's 'Organized Crime,' Steelhouse Lane's 2 albums, Bonfire's 'Point blank,' Vain's 'No respect,' Victory's 'Culture killed the native' and Cauterize's CDs from getting 100%... and they'd be as close as you get to 100% imo. In fact, when you're talking 100% CDs and Warrant in the same thread, I can't really think of a reason 'Dog eat dog' doesn't deserve 100%. Anyone?

[Nightrain]

i'm still confused with you guys not wanting to give an album a 100 ?

and beside, what difference does it make to give an album a 90 or 95 or 97 or 98 ? is it only to prove that nothing is perfect in this world

 

beside usually a scale number of 90-100 means that it's a must buy disc and you'll keep spinning it for many many times because you like most of the songs, or, maybe all of the songs right ?

 

usually like some said here, a disc with over 80/100 consensus rating and of course after i listened to it and i like it, will end up me buying it, and even sometimes disc with only 70 or 75 will be picked up by me if i can find it cheap or in an affordable interesting price.

 

in my personal catalogue, i usually rate a disc by 0.5 margin, so a 10/10 discs means that i like all the songs inside and if compared to the 9.5 disc, it's just slightly better in songwriting/sound production and usually that 9.5 have 1-2 weaker tracks but still very good, and 9 is when you have 1-2 acceptable good tracks/fillers, and below that if you have at least 1-2 worst songs that you'll keep skipping or can't stand to it.

 

but funny is that the rate can be fluctuating, for instance, this year you rate an album 10 after say 10 listening, but 10 years later, you'll revisit that album, and you might change your opinion, tweaking it down to 8 or 9, maybe because you heard thousand of better albums than that, who knows, and maybe even a 6/10 album can be up to 8/10 with you not realizing it's quite good at the first place.

[Geoff]

i'm still confused with you guys not wanting to give an album a 100 ?

and beside, what difference does it make to give an album a 90 or 95 or 97 or 98 ? is it only to prove that nothing is perfect in this world

A handful of "as-close-as-it-gets" for me:

 

Treat - 'Organized Crime' ; If this deserves 100%, what would it deserve if it was a 10 track CD without 'Mr heartache?' Or what if they had put 'Still in heaven' on the CD instead of 'Mr Heartache?' If either of those two things had happened, I'd give this 100%. As it is, I can't.

 

Steelhouse Lane - 'Slaves of the new world' ; Almost perfect... except that title track. Can't give an album with that song 100%. If they had left that off and put 'If love should go' on instead, again, you're probably looking at a 100% album.

 

Bonfire's 'Point blank' ; take out the two interludes and 'Gimme some' and again, you've pretty much got your 100% album right there. As it is, though, can't do it.

 

Vain's 'No respect' ; 11 track CD without 'Ready' and you're looking at 100% again. I don't dislike 'Ready' but it's not part of a 100% album.

 

Victory's 'Culture killed the native' ; a few songs, despite being very good are not quite worthy of a 100% album, imo. 'More and more' being the main culprit.

 

Cauterize - 'So far from real,' 'Paper Wings,' and 'Disguises' ; perfect songs, imo, and as much as I maintain that I have no issue with the dude's voice, I can acknowledge that it would keep the CD away from that perfect rating. I have to ask myself what would happen if he had a voice like, say, Rory Cathey from Cold Sweat? Then it deserves 100%. So if I give it 100% without that voice then what would it have deserved if his vocals were amazing? (how's that for over-complicating things!) Musically, lyrically and song-wise, though, these two/three albums are as close as it gets for me.

 

Masquerade - s/t ; take out the 2 interludes and 'Justice' and again, you have your 100% CD.

 

Warrant - 'Dog eat dog' ; Now, why on earth does this not deserve 100%? Perfect lyrics, perfect music - that balance of heavy and melodic that makes me erect, amazing solos, and all the songs are great. Hmmm... maybe I've found that elusive 100% album. I think the first two songs may have held me back in the past, but these days I could not fault them. Maybe this is the one... the one 100% album that truly exists.

 

I will say this in conclusion. To me, a perfect CD is a CD without ANY "what if's?" And I can't think of a "what if" for Warrant's 'Dog eat dog.'

[Captain Howdy]

I have no problem calling albums 100%, and there are quite a few in my collection.

I really dont care if the album would have sounded better if song a had been removed or song b added, all I care about is from start to finish I can listen to the album without skipping any songs, and I can sing along to every track.

For me albums like Dr Feelgood, Leather boyz, Cherry Pie, Strength, Dog eat dog and a multitude more are all 100% albums (forgetting any later bonus tracks added to any of them). I dont expect these to be 100% albums for everyone, and personally couldnt care less if I am the only person to vote them as such, which is why I take any reviews with a pinch of salt.

Any reviewer is no different to me or anyone else here in that they are not wrong to give an album 100% as that is their opinion, and they are entitled to that. While I do believe that sometimes there may be a financial benefit to some peoples reviews (you cannot tell me that all reviews are 100% honest knowing how crooked the media can be, especially the bigger companies), or being clouded by band favouritism, you cannot question someones opinion if thats what they truly believe. Tastes are all different, just as it shows with reaction to any band or album on here.

[Glen]

I have no problem calling albums 100%, and there are quite a few in my collection.

I really dont care if the album would have sounded better if song a had been removed or song b added, all I care about is from start to finish I can listen to the album without skipping any songs, and I can sing along to every track.

For me albums like Dr Feelgood, Leather boyz, Cherry Pie, Strength, Dog eat dog and a multitude more are all 100% albums (forgetting any later bonus tracks added to any of them). I dont expect these to be 100% albums for everyone, and personally couldnt care less if I am the only person to vote them as such, which is why I take any reviews with a pinch of salt.

Any reviewer is no different to me or anyone else here in that they are not wrong to give an album 100% as that is their opinion, and they are entitled to that. While I do believe that sometimes there may be a financial benefit to some peoples reviews (you cannot tell me that all reviews are 100% honest knowing how crooked the media can be, especially the bigger companies), or being clouded by band favouritism, you cannot question someones opinion if thats what they truly believe. Tastes are all different, just as it shows with reaction to any band or album on here.

 

As you say it all depends on the reason you are rating an album......if I didnt visit this site every day, where every album is discussed and debated at length I probably wouldn't 'rate' anything...just listen and enjoy (or not as the case may be).

 

However I would guess that there is an expectation for any professional reviewer / journalist to rank albums in any one given year - for example I know that Andrew does his melodic rock awards thingy - and so if loads of albums have a 10/10 rating for liking all the songs and being able to sing along, that wouldnt be much use.........

 

Same on here - everyone likes to do their 'lists', so you need to be able to rank them somehow....on this basis I would already have about 4 or 5 10/10 releases!!

 

But I do respect what you say.

[Captain Howdy]

But isnt liking all the songs and being able to sing to them all the key criteria?

I mean, what is the use of fantastic production or great guitar work if the songs do nothing for you?

Surely grading 100% is down to how much you like all the songs on an album? If there is a couple you dont like, or think are lacking something then thats why its not a 100% album.

If all the songs fit your criteria for what is a great song, then thats where your rating comes from.

Granted, if you like all the songs but it sounds like its recorded in a toilet, thats gonna mark it down, but if I put on an album and it holds my attention from start to finish while putting a smile on my face, thats what I judge it on.

[heaven&hell]

i'm still confused with you guys not wanting to give an album a 100 ?

and beside, what difference does it make to give an album a 90 or 95 or 97 or 98 ? is it only to prove that nothing is perfect in this world

 

Vain's 'No respect' ; 11 track CD without 'Ready' and you're looking at 100% again. I don't dislike 'Ready' but it's not part of a 100% album.

 

But "Ready" is a great closing song for me. I love that tune. Sure it's probably the weakest of the bunch but I still think it's a great tune.

 

On your Bonfire comment what if "Sword and Stone" would of been on there? How great would of that been?

 

Warrant Dog Eat Dog is probably as close to a 100% as Warrant got and so is Cherry Pie I guess.

Really not any tunes on those first three I dislike.

[66 mustang]

maybe the rating thing could be totaly changed. go with something like A+, A, -A, B+.....like school. you couldn't give anything a perfect score but an A+ could incoporate it being awesome!!!!!!!! you wouldn't know if Andrew was giving it a 98, 99 or 100.