COX

The fact that users are giving a 5 to this jumble of thoughts is a symptom of an inexorable collapse of the debaserian offer. I haven't visited the site in ages and I think I’m already saturated thanks to this indigestible stew of self-referentiality and narcissism. That rant about the urologist, which would have been trivial, ugly, and even pitiful if it had lasted two lines, drags on to become the leitmotif of the "review." There’s a complete lack of even minimally acceptable or sufficient analysis of the product, which you then rate two stars while describing it as if it were garbage deserving a 0. Rarely have I encountered anything worse than this. What’s most disheartening is the amnesia of taste and decorum from users who judge and rate this junk.

I'm going against the tide, but the review leaves me feeling a bit like this... I really liked the story, and I assure you, I'm much more of a pain in the neck when it comes to reviews. You know the Baroque very well, and it shows; you know it because you love it and you’ve explored it much more (probably) than anyone else here, and you’ve provided some interesting insights, not to be underestimated. But where's the music? You only talk about the desire to stir feelings and spirits, which is a prerogative of the entire Baroque, whether it's a madrigal of the seconda pratica, an oratorio, or a sonata. Given Stradella's importance for musicians of the 1600s and early 1700s, I expected a description of the musical material that I consider essential. You wrote well, but for me, you missed the mark regarding the primary objective: to inform about the music. You emphasized the biographical component, which is rather secondary, with a nice narrative that also serves as a reflection of your emotions, distancing you from the substance.

In a debaser filled with five senseless reviews of mediocre or worse writings, your review for me is a solid 4.5 which I happily round up to 5. Among the champions of the American scene, you forgot to mention Tuxedomoon from San Francisco, produced by Ralph Records, among others. I don't know this album because I've only listened to their debut, Meet the Residents. Since this band's music is extremely conceptual and experimental, it is certainly not everyday stuff. It requires the right mood, attitude, and a willingness to immerse oneself in undoubtedly interesting and fascinating but tiring, concentration-draining music. Nevertheless, and this is the reason for the deserved rating of the review, you've succeeded in enticing me to listen, which I will definitely do, if not today, then surely in the near future.

I'm slightly disappointed, at least after the first listen. I love the first album for its easy-listening attitude despite being rock done right. But in this second record, the pop attitude feels a bit too pronounced, and I'm not sure it takes on the nobler connotations of the term. I'll reserve a rating for the album after more listens.

From a technical standpoint, regarding frames and so on, I can't pretend to understand anything just to keep up with your non-review. I don't get a thing, so everything you say about it is fine by me. I would have appreciated it if you had at least partially talked about the comic from which the work is derived, the true driving force behind the plot. But apparently, you wanted to focus on the anime, and that's alright with me. Looking at the work as a whole, considering both the anime and the manga, none of the creators can be considered minor poets. We're talking about a product that allowed Ikeda to receive the Legion of Honor for his contribution to the spread of French culture. I would also add to the beauty of the images the beauty of the soundtracks. For instance, tell me if the scene where Oscar and Marie Antoinette say goodbye isn’t heart-wrenching, also thanks to the perfectly fitting music (not to mention that close-up on a silently weeping Oscar) in context. One thing I don't agree with is regarding productions over 20 episodes as long-term ventures (but this has nothing to do with Lady Oscar). To me, they should exceed 100 episodes to be considered as such.

Better than expected!

Not bad this album, so far one of the best releases of 2017. The rating would be between three and four stars but let's go with four.

What an album! It has no weak points. I had always stubbornly insisted on listening to The Black Keys in chronological order, always pausing on Rubber Factory—a record that has its ups and downs. I listened to Lonely Boy and Gold on the Ceiling, thinking they were two awesome singles, with the proverbial, "Sooner or later I'll listen to the whole album." If you can create a record that revives things we've already heard and make it fresh as a rose in a desert, you're on another level, no doubt about it.

One of the best reviews I've read recently here on Debaser. That said, I fully understand your thoughts, which are partly mine as well. That "I would like to, but I can't" you refer to is not just the prerogative of the once (musically speaking) Latimer, but of many prog dinosaurs who have dragged themselves into the new millennium, exhausted and musically spent. Some time ago, for example, we were commenting on K.A. by Magma, which for me starts from a similar underlying idea to this remake of The Snow Goose: "We no longer have a shred of an idea, our music is old and has never renewed itself; the only way to stay afloat is to scrape by from the past." I must emphasize that I have always liked Camel, especially when I was a teenager in a clearly prog phase. The Snow Goose is an album I have always considered quite good (with a grand Rhayader). However, this remake disgusts me, even though I haven't listened to it. It disgusts me on a conceptual level. I feel revulsion toward those who refuse to hang up their instruments when they have nothing left to say, no physical or technical ability to perform at a high level, and have lost their craft along the way. With music, it's easy to lose the inspiration, which is not only a product of creativity but also of continuous and zealous development of one's skills. Years of inactivity, lack of curiosity for the new, lack of desire to get back in the game, and the damage is done. Progressive rock is both one of the most interesting phenomena in the history of music but often, in its epilogue, one of the most pathetic. The Camel world seemed dead since 1978; Breathless indeed showed that they would always be sadly the same as themselves, in a world that during that period was in full new wave explosion and teeming with novelty. Latimer built his greatness on his guitar skills, on the fairy-tale-like music of Camel, on being, in his own way, despite the sales, a prog musician with a "pop" approach, if nothing else, in the construction of melodic motifs and easy listening vocal lines compared to, say, Gentle Giant. Camel has no longer any reason to exist in the recording industry.

The Magma are one of the most impressive and grandiose experiments in the entire progressive scene and, as you said, they are the great counterbalance to the wave of English dinosaurs (alongside Area, of course). The main problem with this album is that it feels like a nostalgic memory of the past rather than a modern reinterpretation of the material from that era. It reeks of oldness, you see. The product is of high quality, but I've always seen it as a remnant of the past epic (something like Pink Floyd's Endless River but done by looking back at a musically happier era for the band) as well as being inadequate for the times in which it was released. I don’t mind the review even though it is lacking in many respects.