Madison Project - The Khaki Album

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however, i also do remember that these are three listening ears. which, leads me to my next point to say, maybe well catch three good ones on our next attempt to please rarb.

I don't know why anyone would think that they should be creating albums to please the RARB. . .

and are "good" ears the ones that give you the responses and scores you would like? Or did you mean good reviews?

what an angry thread. . .

[Tiger33]

It doesn't seem like that angry a thread to me. College students are not professional artists, and are probably not used to projects being slammed by strangers. I'm not suggesting we "go easy" on them or anything, just that we need to bear it in mind. Madison Project put out out a good cd, two experienced reviewers had constructive feedback and judged the cd on its own merit, while a third reviewer trashed it because it's not the sound he likes (let alone that it maybe the sound the group likes). If you look back on their last album, "Rockstar", they were criticized for sounding too natural. Then they get slammed for sounding too un-natural. It must be frustrating.

If anything had an angry tone, it was the third review. I mean come on, the songs/album got called: uniform, bland, lackluster, overproduced, static, unenergetc, flawed, drenched in backwash, devoid of personality, unintelligible, and autotuned...and that's only in the first two paragraphs! It almost sounds like the third reviewer was personally offended by the music.

Just keep in mind that Madison Project must have worked hard on this cd, and to hear it trashed, not criticized (yes there is a difference) must be a let down.

[Johnsapella]

It's always an incredible challenge to write an unfavorable review - anything you say toes the line between criticism and insult. Sometimes people fall over that line; I don't really feel like that happened here.

That said, I think we've seen that people are more comfortable when things are cast in a positive light rather than a negative, for instance: "The mix was too shallow" could be restated as "I was left wanting a much greater depth in the mix;" or, "The performances were dull and staid" could be written, "The group is cruising along in 3rd gear, and they should really try to kick it up into 4th or 5th."

Ya know, good old-fasioned All-American 50's speak. Or whatever.

$.02

[cjmike]

I don't think anyone should ever submit any kind of artistic expression to be reviewed without fully understanding and embracing the fact that the review may be negative. Does a negative review mean its a bad album? Not necessarily. It just meant that the person reviewing it didn't like it. Maybe others will listen to the reviewer, or maybe they won't. But, there's the old saying "there's no such thing as bad press" and I think that applies here. I had no clue whatsoever that the Madison Project had out a new album. I saw the review, and I read the responses on the forum, so I went to check out the sound clips. Those are sound clips I never would have heard were it not for the RARB review, positive or negative.

[IanG]

I mean come on, the songs/album got called: uniform, bland, lackluster, overproduced, static, unenergetc, flawed, drenched in backwash, devoid of personality, unintelligible, and autotuned...and that's only in the first two paragraphs!

I really don't think Adam Ballard's criticism was all that extreme. If you browse through reviews from the past 3 years from all reviewers you will find much much much harsher language.

I haven't heard anything about this album so I won't comment. I do find it interesting when someone joins RARB to comment on the album "objectively" and trash on the reviewers when he/she is quite likely just a member of the group or a fan hiding their identity on the forum.

Again I haven't heard the album, but after all this discussion I think I might have to go buy it...

[phollens]

Again I haven't heard the album, but after all this discussion I think I might have to go buy it...

I guess this works in the groups favor.... negative reviews and fuss = more cd sales ;)


Ian, you would enjoy the cd it's a good one to have in your collection IMO.

[Tiger33]

Wow, paranoid a little bit IanG, PI? Nice conspiracy theories. Did some detective work and everything. My co-worker was in a group in Maryland and she introduced me to Madison Project. I think they're good and put out a good cd, and I wanted to defend it, so yes I did join just to stick up for these guys. Is there a minimum number of posts you have to do or something before you can write in with your opinion? And if you think I was "trashing" a reviewer, my "trashing" was nothing compared to the way he dismantled this solid cd.

I have no interest in joining a community. In fact this will probably be my last post, I've said what I wanted to. I just wanted to write in about this one topic. Very interesting, indeed. And I understand how you wouldn't want fans to come on this site...I mean the only people who should talk about a cappella are people who sing it, right? It would be a shame if more fans started writing in to discuss cd's, wouldn't it? You wouldn't want to get more people involved in a cappella music, that would be bad. Trying to scare them off is probably a pretty good tactic, IanG, PI. Don't sweat, I'll go away now.

I did some of my own detective work, IanG, PI, and found some of that much much much much much much harsher language. It looks like most of it was for very very very very very very amature groups, not for groups as good as Madison Project.

Drink some warm milk, get some sleep, and relax. You've got a big day of searching for evidence tomorrow. Without it, we may never solve the case!

Also, Johnsapellea, I think you are right. I'm sure it must be tough. Very enlightening, so thanks for your two cents. It was worth at least a dime!

[tekay]

disregard that message.... =o)

Anyway... to speak to the reviewers. First, TeKay... you wrote:

Case in point, either Ace of Base has to be performed faithfully or given a grand send-up.

Does this really merit a 1? The sheer fact that it is in-tune, has some energy/personality, and it's a solid arrangement should make it at least a 2? I mean... a 1 should be reserved for the worst of the worst - how can you justify giving this track a 1? I mean, you nitpicked Graham on Counting Blue Cars for pronouncing the "T" and only took 1 point off for the entire track... did not committing one way or the other in Ace really deserve a minus 4?***

The answers to your three questions would be: "Yes, in this case it does merit a 1." And "Because I can."

In just doing a comparison to other songs on "Khaki," "Rockstar," "MP3" and "Talkin'" (I don't own your second album, alas) the medley doesn't rate anywhere close to most of the other songs. Taking into consideration the growth of the group and the advancement in a cappella recording blah, blah blah. Let alone other versions of ACE OF BASE or just songs in general that I've heard in my harmmpf years of listening to a cappella music. ***I really hated it that much. For brevity's sake, sometimes a score has to be the score. ***I could have been overly harsh, but I stand by it nonetheless.

I haven't listened to the "Counting Blue Cars" again in a while, but I remember that for a song that I don't particularly care for, Graham's version made me take notice. and then i noticed the "t" and I was undone.

[TheProjectPiper]

General question to reviewers:

How many times do you listen to a CD before writing a review? And how many hours on average does it take you to write down your thoughts?

[sdargie]

I haven't heard anything about this album so I won't comment. I do find it interesting when someone joins RARB to comment on the album "objectively" and trash on the reviewers when he/she is quite likely just a member of the group or a fan hiding their identity on the forum.

I don't think he's trying to scare you away, Tiger33, but in the past people have signed up and used the anonymity of the internet to bash albums, reviewers, whatever and more often then not it's because they weren't happy with a review. Had your name been in the signature there would be the added credibility of being a real person with real (and maturely handled) complaints/questions. Please stick around if you're so inclined. Some times the community does get a bit cliqueish even though I doubt any of us are actively trying to make it that way and the more new fans/singers we get in here, the less likely that will happen.

General question to reviewers:

How many times do you listen to a CD before writing a review? And how many hours on average does it take you to write down your thoughts?

I usually write down all of my first impressions of a CD starting from when I first see it. I end up with about a page that I use as a reference to see if something grows on me or gets worse.

As far as how many times I listen to it, it depends on how thouroughly I need to tear it apart to come to a cohesive opinion on an arrangement, soloist, track order, etc. Hope that's not too vague for you.

[tekay]

General question to reviewers:

How many times do you listen to a CD before writing a review? And how many hours on average does it take you to write down your thoughts?

Once first impression (jot down some good bad points). Then two to three times a day for about a week.

Shelf it for a few days.

listen to it ad nausem as I'm writing the review.

Go back and listen again as I'm re-reading what I've written to make sure that what I'm thinking is reflected in the comments.