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Guess Dan's top 5 of 2017


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Thought this might be fun, since we're about a week or two from publishing the HH top 5 lists... knowing what you know about my preferences and predilections for the off-track, what do you think my top 5 are, in order from 5 to 1?

I will say that 2017 was one of the best years in memory for quality releases, in my opinion, and looking through the lists posted here as well as the formal lists that have come in to me thus far, very little consensus in top 5. I think that if it were a top 10 or 15, you'd start to see things coalesce.

Winner gets a tongue bath from Geoff (airfare to Australia not included).

Second place gets two tongue baths.

:lol:

5. ?

4. ?

3. ?

2. ?

1. ????

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This is all very sexy and all, and I am properly aroused in participation of welcoming the winner and runner-up to my cell, uh, I mean basement... whoops, I mean house.

But what happens if I win? 

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2 hours ago, Crazysam said:

With prizes such as that who can resist, here is my go at it...

5. Cats In Space - Scarecrow

4. Unleash The Archers - Apex

3. Harem Scarem - United

2. Threshold - Legends of the Shires

1. One Desire - S/T

OK, let's play... you have 2 out of 5 correct, with 1 of the 2 in the correct order.

As other people get more guesses in, it should be possible to home in on the real list. :)

41 minutes ago, Geoff said:

But what happens if I win? 

Then you give yourself a tongue bath... in other words a regular Friday night. :lol:

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  • 2023 Gold Donors

Even though I live in Australia. I believe Geoff and I live in separate States, so the cost would still make it prohibitive for me to participate. However, if Geoff was able to get to Victoria????..........

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4 hours ago, Darkstone said:

Even though I live in Australia. I believe Geoff and I live in separate States, so the cost would still make it prohibitive for me to participate. However, if Geoff was able to get to Victoria????..........

Yep, no worries. I'll see you tomorrow night. 

Oh, what? You haven't even put in an entry yet for this comp? That's cool. Practice makes perfect. 

I was going to have a go at this, but I only know 2 of Sam's list and feel like I'll suffer from not being familiar with those prog / semi-prog albums. 

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to help you guys out this is my shortlist for Dan's top 5....in No order

Art Nation

Eclipse

Wildness

Nocturnal Rites

Amaranthe

Cats in Space

Code Red

One Desire

Don Barnes

Night Flight Orchestra

Pinnacle Point

HEAT

Threshold

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So a question.

I was just looking through 2016 lists and I see that Dan has over 200 CD's that were on the list, mostly also rans.

So this is an age old question for me.

How are you able to properly assess a CD every 2 days?
How many times do you listen to each?
Given that they are also rans, it indicates that they were given a fair go and assessed.

And then, what do you do with the music from 200 CD's in one year?
Do you select the songs you really like for future enjoyment? Or do you just listen, say "that was reasonably good" and then file the CD and never pull it again?

This year I bought maybe 20 albums, based on samples I heard.
Now I have a shitload of stuff I do every day and don't have a lot of time.
I know 20 would be way on the light side here, but over 200? That's a lot of music in one year...

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1 hour ago, Glen said:

shit so Threshold not in your top 5. ok.

this is my guess

5. Pinnacle Point

4. Code Red

3. Night Flight Orchestra

2. Cats in Space

1. One Desire 

I obviously know very little on this subject, but I'd be stunned if Code Red was in his top 5. One Desire and Cats In Space I'd guess are in there. Not sure why I removed them from my list, lol. 

 

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4 hours ago, Geoff said:

I obviously know very little on this subject, but I'd be stunned if Code Red was in his top 5. One Desire and Cats In Space I'd guess are in there. Not sure why I removed them from my list, lol. 

 

only on the fact Dan said he loved it. if I recall correctly. 

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10 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

So a question.

I was just looking through 2016 lists and I see that Dan has over 200 CD's that were on the list, mostly also rans.

So this is an age old question for me.

How are you able to properly assess a CD every 2 days?
How many times do you listen to each?
Given that they are also rans, it indicates that they were given a fair go and assessed.

And then, what do you do with the music from 200 CD's in one year?
Do you select the songs you really like for future enjoyment? Or do you just listen, say "that was reasonably good" and then file the CD and never pull it again?

This year I bought maybe 20 albums, based on samples I heard.
Now I have a shitload of stuff I do every day and don't have a lot of time.
I know 20 would be way on the light side here, but over 200? That's a lot of music in one year...

1. Once upon a time everything would have been physical CDs, either sent by the label, or the majority ones I purchased. I used to do circuits of Illinois monthly hitting pawn shops and new and used CD stores. That stopped about 12 years ago when (1) the price of gas shot through the roof, and (2) CD stores disappeared and the only thing you could really find in pawn shops are rap, hip-hop, country, and gospel. Rock and metal have evaporated, at least around here. I ended up spending $20-30 just in gas and sometimes I wouldn't come home with anything.

Nowadays, the labels distribute everything digitally as downloads. The only time I get physical CDs is if they come directly from the band. Sadly, some of the labels REALLY compress the mp3s so you cannot truly gauge the quality of the product, which does the performers and producers a disservice. Sadly, we won't be going back to "the good old days"... that ship has sailed.

2. Luckily my day job frequently allows me to listen to music while I work. That's when the majority of listening and evaluation occurs over the course of a year. I also have a 128GB flash drive in my car that I keep updated with all the new releases each year as I get them. Any CDs I buy or receive in physical form I rip to high-quality mp3s and put on the drive.

3. As far as assessment, I use MusicBee as my music player at the office, which allows me to give an "album rating" from 0 to 5 stars in half-star increments, which allows me to at least roughly categorize the albums throughout the year. Top 5 contenders come from the 5-star ratings, with Honorable Mentions being the remaining 5-stars and the 4.5-star listings. In MusicBee, I can sort by rating within the year filter, so I can see all the 2017 5-star albums together, all the 4-stars, etc., which makes refining the selections a bit easier.

-Dan

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7 hours ago, Glen said:

shit so Threshold not in your top 5. ok.

this is my guess

5. Pinnacle Point

4. Code Red

3. Night Flight Orchestra

2. Cats in Space

1. One Desire 

 

Threshold is in my honorable mention list. I love me some Threshold, but their material that was most melodic and most appealing was done during the Mac era. The current material is great, but doesn't resonate with me quite as much. Also, it's a very LONG album, and as with anything prog, there's only so much self-indulgence I can listen to before I tune out... and that hurts it just a bit.

As far as your guess... 3 out of 5 correct, with 1 in the correct position. Of the 2 others, 1 is in my honorable mentions list.

Getting close... NEXT! :lol:

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Hmmmm... I presume 2 correct are One Desire and Cats In Space because Crazysam has also named those and had 2 OK, while Harem Scarem and Threshold have been discarded by Geoff's list. The 3rd hit from Glen I guess is Pinnacle Point. Well, here is another list to continue the game, let's see how it goes:

5. Tokyo Motor Fist

4. Cats In Space

3. Crazy Lixx

2. Pinnacle Point

1. One Desire

 

 

 

 

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29 minutes ago, mrbandwidth said:

5. Tokyo Motor Fist

4. Cats In Space

3. Crazy Lixx

2. Pinnacle Point

1. One Desire

2 out of 5 and those 2 are in their correct slots. The other 3 are all in my Honorable Mentions list.

Gettin' closer...

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7 hours ago, heavyharmonies said:

1. Once upon a time everything would have been physical CDs, either sent by the label, or the majority ones I purchased. I used to do circuits of Illinois monthly hitting pawn shops and new and used CD stores. That stopped about 12 years ago when (1) the price of gas shot through the roof, and (2) CD stores disappeared and the only thing you could really find in pawn shops are rap, hip-hop, country, and gospel. Rock and metal have evaporated, at least around here. I ended up spending $20-30 just in gas and sometimes I wouldn't come home with anything.

Nowadays, the labels distribute everything digitally as downloads. The only time I get physical CDs is if they come directly from the band. Sadly, some of the labels REALLY compress the mp3s so you cannot truly gauge the quality of the product, which does the performers and producers a disservice. Sadly, we won't be going back to "the good old days"... that ship has sailed.

2. Luckily my day job frequently allows me to listen to music while I work. That's when the majority of listening and evaluation occurs over the course of a year. I also have a 128GB flash drive in my car that I keep updated with all the new releases each year as I get them. Any CDs I buy or receive in physical form I rip to high-quality mp3s and put on the drive.

3. As far as assessment, I use MusicBee as my music player at the office, which allows me to give an "album rating" from 0 to 5 stars in half-star increments, which allows me to at least roughly categorize the albums throughout the year. Top 5 contenders come from the 5-star ratings, with Honorable Mentions being the remaining 5-stars and the 4.5-star listings. In MusicBee, I can sort by rating within the year filter, so I can see all the 2017 5-star albums together, all the 4-stars, etc., which makes refining the selections a bit easier.

-Dan

Fair enough.

That's some commitment.

The problem I have when listening to new music when I'm working of driving is that I don't really listen to it like I should be.
Probably more inclined to listen more when I'm driving on long highways etc

My backlog of albums to get to is currently 186.
I'm making a concerted effort to get through them, but it's hard work.
Enjoyable, but I've needed to be tunnel visioned about it.

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