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Last Post 2/23/2006 3:54 PM by  bonzo
The Negative Artic's Review
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bonzo
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2/23/2006 3:54 PM
    Just read the 'negative' review of the Arctics. As we all know, most reviews for this album are rave. I was enjoying the review and found it interesting until the last paragraph: "To be honest I’m not sure how I feel about “Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not”, " Thats when it seemed clear I'd just wasted my time reading the review in the first place. The net point I think was that the lyrics are good but the music is not the best. If you're going to review something surely you should develop a definite opinion about it good or bad - especially if you are writing a 'negative' review? How do people feel that Cluas felt the need to publish a negative and positive review? That seems odd to me but odd enough for me to want to read both. We'll all be screwed if Q etc. decide to start doing negative and positive reviews instead of nailing their colours to the mast.
    Pilchard
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    2/23/2006 4:02 PM
    what bonzo said. 2 reviews are a cop-out. The album is amazing, the negative review was a real case of hedging your bets. Less indecision please from Cluas or you'll turn into Foggy Notions
    Unicron
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    2/23/2006 4:19 PM
    Perhaps I didn't express myself as clearly as I could have, I wrote that in the context of me having some trouble reconciling the poor quality of the music against the positives that Turner brings to the table and deciding whether or not the positives outweighed the negatives, I do go on soon after to say that ultimately they don't so I think that's quite a clear and definate opinion. But your point is taken on board and I thank you for taking the time to make it. I certainly never set out to write a negative review, I had expected to not like it based on the 3 songs that I had previously heard but didn't pop the album into the player with the intention of s**tting on it, if I had been pleaseantly surprised and did like the album it would have been a positive review. But in the interest in transparency I'll admit that I was given a review copy of it based on opinions I'd expressed in the past that the band aren't all they're cracked up to be, but as I said, if the album changed my mind about them then I would have said so. As to whether or not we should be having multiple reviews or not I think it's a good thing, no one's opinion is ever "correct" and I think it's useful to have a counterpoint at times.
    Nomington
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    2/23/2006 4:27 PM
    Agreed on the multiple reviews thing there, I can't seem to find a positive review of The Strokes new album & it's upsetting me cause I loves it I do.
    Una
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    2/23/2006 4:50 PM
    I don't think reviews are about finding one to suit your own opinion. Reviews are as much about the writing as they are about someone expressing their individual opinion. Personally, I'm not really into multiple reviews in one outlet. In the interest of showing a variety of opposing angles, it often ends up expressing nothing but confusion.
    Nomington
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    2/23/2006 4:54 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Una
    I don't think reviews are about finding one to suit your own opinion.
    Well I agree with that, for me it's not about suiting my own opinion but it's reassuring when you know someone else is thinking the same as you, just to confirm that you are not going mad! And also, with anything that one may be into, whether music or otherwise, it's always nice to hear someone else praise it.
    off the post
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    2/23/2006 5:12 PM
    Sometimes though, it does'nt go amiss to have opposing points of view. For example, I often look at the reviews on Amazon.com for books and cd's and the like. The reviews are often one-sided in that this cd is the best album ever.....or this book will blow you over.....blah, blah, blah. Its refreshing to see someone else say that its well actually crap. More so, when you buy the bloody thing on the strength of the review, take it home and realise its s**te. Then you wonder what these peopele are talking about.
    Binokular
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    2/23/2006 11:24 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by bonzo How do people feel that Cluas felt the need to publish a negative and positive review? That seems odd to me but odd enough for me to want to read both. We'll all be screwed if Q etc. decide to start doing negative and positive reviews instead of nailing their colours to the mast.
    It's quite simple really, Cluas editorial policy is quite relaxed. Anyone who writes a decent, coherent, balance, readable review that isn't about your mates band gets published. Writers have near-total freedom, no editorial "agenda" like the traditional magazines pushing all reviews in an certain direction. Good or bad thing? You decide.
    Vent My Spleen
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    2/24/2006 10:04 AM
    The fact that there is no editorial bias is of the most attractive things about Cluas. As was discussed here only a few weeks ago, NME editors re-jigged their own writer's best of the year poll!! Bugger that, I'd sooner read an articulate but honest review any day, even if I don't agree with it. Me, I thought the negative review was very astute as it pretty much sums up how I feel about the Artic Monkeys. I am a huge fan of punk and post punk music and if the mood took me, I could pick out dozens of bands playing photofit Artic Monkeys music 25 years ago. IMHO, compared to many of the bands they pay homage to, the music just ain't that good.
    admin
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    2/24/2006 1:29 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Pilchard
    2 reviews are a cop-out. The album is amazing, the negative review was a real case of hedging your bets. Less indecision please from Cluas or you'll turn into Foggy Notions
    I respectfully disagree that 2 reviews represent ‘indecision’ or that they are a 'cop-out'. Nor is this anything to do with ‘hedging bets’. I just want to be able to publish interesting stuff for people to read. And, once in a while, there’ll be 2 writers who – quite separately - submit what transpire to be dissenting but insightful reviews of the same gig / album, and I for one am more than happy to publish both of them, side by side. Now, I appreciate that the Uncuts, NME, Pitchforks, or whatever of the world may not go in for the publishing of diverging views for new releases but that (IMHO) should not dictate how things are done by other outlets catering for music fans be they big or (like CLUAS) small. Many highly visible music mags may not go down that road but the positioning of opposing opinions is to be found all over the place in this modern world, be it on your Sunday morning chin-stroking radio show that dissects the week’s news, or mates having a straight up debate over a café latte about la question de jour, whatever it might be. And once in a while CLUAS will go down that road, not because of some high-brow editorial strategy, but because 2 writers dish up some diverging reviews that make it easy for the site to go do down that road. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before: the famous "Erin McKeown wars" (Rev Jules facing off against Cormac Looney...) being a prime example to be found in the CLUAS archives. Fair enough that some may not appreciate the publishing of dissenting reviews of the same album but - as I have said before - CLUAS is not (thank God) in the business of pleasing all the people all the time. If we manage to please a minority of people even some of the time, I’ll tell you that I for one am happy. And, heck, if the presence of two polar opposite reviews on the site stirs up a decent thread like this, then I am sure looking forward to the next instalment of dissenting reviews. eoghan
    Earthhorse
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    2/27/2006 10:08 AM
    As long as the reviews are well written, and cover different territories to each other, I'm more interested in having them available than not.
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