You self-hating... eh... whatever you are...

I'm just fully aware of how good certain reviewers, that even on their lowest level can still produce a better review than my best work so I don't think I'll do as once thought I would.

That's why it's called a challenge, coward.

Go ahead and try. Maybe caspian will break his legs, hells_unicorn gets arrested by the highway patrol for excessive Kantian attitude, and droneriot simply falls into an abyss of apathy. If you don't participate, you can't win, right?

Besides, it's not about winning, it's about avoiding defeat.

I'm content with standing by and observing, at least for this first one to see how it pans out and what I am in store for if I decide to participate in the next one.

You should participate!

Me? Can't. I AM THE LAW!

I meant drone. Although if you weren't on the panel you should as well.

I'm online now for the rest of the day, both on the forums and in IRC, if anyone still needs to acquire the single.

Oh man, you guys not only chose a song that I've listened to on and off for more than 14 years, but also one that I didn't quite get around to for the last review challenge (it was one I was listening to heavily right beforehand though).

Keeping this review under 8 paragraphs is going to be an absolute bitch, but I'll do my best. Good luck everyone.

For those of you less familiar with the song, here are a couple of useful hints:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qZktrrqT1A0
The original music video will help you to identify who is singing and playing what, which can be tough to discern at times from just listening to the audio.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LWCZhOjS3QE
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=giL2MZu5zUs
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=CM8nOqwWH7o
A bunch of documentary clips of the background and recording process of the project. Also highly amusing.

Did it say anywhere that we have to keep this under 8 paragraphs?

No, I was making a joke about how my reviews can get a bit overlong at times, especially if there's a lot of background to what I'm reviewing.

Hook, line and sinker.

Wow, I had no idea that band was actually on the archives.

God, I can't believe this one was chosen, I fucking love it! The only thing that could make it funnier would be if Eddie Van Halen had the first solo and then about 4 rubbish hair metal guitarists did a poor copy of it. I listened to this one so much a few years back, it's still hilarious. I'll look forward to the reviews.

After some requests, I thought I'd clarify a bit about the single. There's two versions of the single: The 7" contains the single (4 minutes) version of "Stars" and the interviews in "The 4 1/2 Minute News." The 12" contains both the extended (7 minutes) and single (4 minutes) versions of "Stars," as well as "The 4 1/2 Minute News." There is also a compilation, which (if I recall correctly) contains the extended version of "Stars," but does not include "The 4 1/2 Minute News."

There's no stipulation about reviewing the combination of any version of "Stars", as long as it's still valid.

The moderators should rank a worst review as well as the best.


I'm actually having quite a lot of trouble finding this one in the form of the one listed on MA, usually only finding the compilation, any help?

Not sure if I'll review it anyway, not a style I have much experience in. Still that is both one of the most awesome and ridiculous things I've seen.

yeah, all I can find is the full length.

edit: oh man, the video clip

Song isn't so bad though, except that the solo sounds like everyone tried playing the climax and left it at that.

Yes, that would be interesting and funny, altough someone's "reviewing dignity" would most likely be crushed from an action such as that.

Ask Dergin if you have trouble finding the release. No need to bang your head to the wall, it's available already.

caspian, don't give the others your ideas.

I am done my review. I would like to submit it now, but I'm afraid of it being accepted before the contest is over and other users taking advantage of my reviewing tactics. Should I hold off on reviewing it or is it a known rule to not accept the reviews until the doors are closed? If these reviews get accepted prematurely, it's in a way putting up answers to a test while others are still writing. It gives other users an advantage.

The reviews will remain in the queue until the contest is over. So it's safe for you to submit it right now.

Done deal and the deal is done!

Beats me. Maybe if you extended the challenge to three days (as in, including friday/posting the release a day earlier) I could make it, I just don't think I could deliver anything I'd be happy with if I was forced to do it the hells_unicorn-subpar-assembly-line-review style.

I think I'll still finish my review for the single though because what I have so far seems pretty cool, will be submitted loooong after the deadline though.

Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea to submit it a day before the deadline...

Ah, what the hell.

here's an idea for the next one, fellas: we do a review over a week or so (in a certain genre) and we post which one we're doing here. We can pick whatever we want, a certain genre still gets judged. Make it so they have to be virgins or something.

What you're saying is the jury picks the genre, we pick the albums and we have a week?

I dunno, not too sure about that. You don't need a week to write a review, and I'm sure a lot of people will want to know their results by the third day.

I wasn't sure about how this would go, but only one submission? For shame.

Don't tell me I'm the only person who participated.

This probably feels a bit like that moment where everyone is supposed to jump into the pool, but you realize as you surface for air that you were the only one who actually did... although this does make you the winner by default, unless we extend the deadline. Not that I've seen any indication that we should bother.

Well, I had a pretty good idea I was going to win, but winner by default? That's kind of lame.

What could be done to improve this contest? Increasing the deadline period is something which is necessary, but what else?

The genre idea may be a good one. Allow people to pick something they'd already been interested in discussing, that perhaps resonates more with them. We'd of course limit it to albums with under, say, five reviews.

Letting people know of the album quite a while ahead of time, possibly.

OK, let's push the time limit to next Sunday. Who the hell is in a hurry here?

You just want to see all those reviews for the "underappreciated" track coming in, don't you Napero?

Well, I went ahead and extended it to the end of Sunday the 21st.

If Nap agrees, anyone who has already submitted their review is still free to work on it until the new deadline; it would be in the queue regardless, and you should be able to edit it anyway.

If there's anyone else who is interested in participating, feel free to contact me via PM or through MA's IRC. I will gladly provide you with a link, so that you can acquire the release.

No, I do not agree with this. In the OP, it stated clearly what this competition was and everyone knew what they were getting into. A weekend review contest. Extending the deadline to next Sunday is ridiculous as it takes any sort of challenge that was once prominent and casts it out the window. It doesn't take long to review an album and increasing the deadline by a week will also take away any sort of "wow" factor that would amount from this challenge. Also, considering this is a single, 9 days is an extremely generous amount of time and again, is not much of a "challenge". I suggest we cut this challenge off, and get back to the drawing board to come up with a new idea because this obviously didn't work out.

Seriously?

Based on R_O_P's reviews, the only way he has a chance is if no one else enters. Maybe that's why he's passionate.

I personally think my genre themed & obscure formula is the best way to go. I'll participate on this one if I can think up something funny, but the only way I'm going to do a decent review is if I can think up some hilarious gimmick, and thus far inspiration has not struck.