RARB/CASA Forums

by **Jabbermusic** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:41 am

Thank you so much Rebecca, Kimmie, and Catherine for taking the time to listen to and review our album! We also want to thank Liquid5th, who saw this project from paper to plastic, and somehow managed to put up with us throughout.
If you're interested in hearing the album, feel free to check out some samples here: http://www.jabberwocks.com/album.php?aid=28. If you'd like to buy the album, check back at our website in a week for more information.
We'd love to hear what you guys think!

The Jabberwocks of Brown University
www.jabberwocks.com
jabberwocks@brown.edu

by **MPJackV** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 10:12 am

First off, I wanna say that the Jabberwocks' album is great. Jeremy Winston, a friend/member of my a cappella group, was able to meet one of the jabberwocks at Bill Hare's recording/producing summer class and he showed me the album. I was very impressed with the energy, the solo talent, and especially with how the album was produced.

When I heard it, I thought to myself, "Going by what seems to be the trend of how RARB has been scoring things these days, this album will most likely get a high 4 or 5." It really shocked me when it didn't, especially considering that I feel that there are albums out there that received the same score or higher that aren't as good as Breaking and Entering. If another group of reviewers had been assigned to this album, would it have gotten a higher score?

I also don't really understand how Catherine Lewis can give straight 5s and have the overall score be a 4. Granted, she does clarify her reasons for giving the group a 4, which seem to be valid, but something seems inconsistent. How can a reviewer criticize a group for the creativity in their arrangements, yet still give them a 5 for Innovation/Creativity? How can a reviewer say that there are average moments in an album when her initial scores signify that everything was pristine? It just seems misleading and unjustified to me. If a reviewer thought that an album was a 4, I feel like it should be reflected in the initial scores. Otherwise, did she just dock off points out of pure subjectivity? Is that a legitimate way to score an album?

Perhaps I'm just misinterpreting the way reviewers score things, either way I think that more explanation is needed. As a fan and supporter of RARB, I don't want to start thinking that perhaps the reviews I'm reading aren't credible anymore.

by **colton** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:25 am

MPJackV wrote:If another group of reviewers had been assigned to this album, would it have gotten a higher score?

Possibly. Or possibly a lower score. Almost without doubt it would have gotten a *different* score, for what it's worth.

MPJackV wrote:I also don't really understand how Catherine Lewis can give straight 5s and have the overall score be a 4.

Check out her scores on the individual tracks. She didn't give it anywhere near straight fives. Just fives in the six non-track categories.

MPJackV wrote:How can a reviewer criticize a group for the creativity in their arrangements, yet still give them a 5 for Innovation/Creativity?

5 doesn't mean "perfect". There's always room for improvement.

by **autumnshades** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:55 pm

MPJackV wrote:I also don't really understand how Catherine Lewis can give straight 5s and have the overall score be a 4. Granted, she does clarify her reasons for giving the group a 4, which seem to be valid, but something seems inconsistent.

For what it's worth, I really struggled with an overall score to give this album. If you think of our rating system as a letter grade (ie: a 5 is an "A", a 4 is a "B", a 3 is a "C", and so on), this was definitely a high B+ or A- album for me. So, since I'm limited to whole numbers, should that have been a 4 or a 5? I went with a 4, and since it was such a tough decision, I mentioned it explicitly in the review. As John mentioned above, I didn't give it straight 5s-- I gave more than half the tracks a "4", actually. The highs on this album were REALLY great, and so the album merited high scores on the overall categories.... but since a majority of the songs were not "5"s (in my opinion), I ultimately decided that i couldn't give the whole album a 5. Remember, as John and others have mentioned, that a "5" does NOT mean "pristine". It means excellent. There's a difference.
(just to cross-link from the Clef Hangers thread-- here's the link to what RARB scores mean: http://www.rarb.org/scores.html )

As a fan and supporter of RARB, I don't want to start thinking that perhaps the reviews I'm reading aren't credible anymore.

Actually, what it sounds like you're saying is that you think the RATINGS aren't credible. It's one of the hardest parts of the job, actually: it's can be easy to write about song X or Y, or what does/doesn't work in an album, but assigning one number to reflect an entire album (or one aspect of the album) is damn hard. Especially since many albums have some really terriffic moments and some just so-so moments, so we writers have to assign one number that captures some sort of average. For the overall rating, I erred on the side of being a little conservative; perhaps on the other album-wide ratings, I was a bit generous. The difference between any rating is completely subjective-- and especially the difference between 4 and 5-- but I will stand behind the ratings I assigned this album and the review I wrote of it. Overall, it's a really, really good album with some freaking GREAT moments. I chose the score that i thought best reflected that, and I wrote words to justify my choice.

As always, thanks for reading. I really do appreciate the feedback!

by **Liquid5th** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:14 am

Jabbermusic wrote:Thank you so much Rebecca, Kimmie, and Catherine for taking the time to listen to and review our album! We also want to thank Liquid5th, who saw this project from paper to plastic, and somehow managed to put up with us throughout.
If you're interested in hearing the album, feel free to check out some samples here: http://www.jabberwocks.com/album.php?aid=28. If you'd like to buy the album, check back at our website in a week for more information.
We'd love to hear what you guys think!

Thanks guys! We had such a great time working with you on this record. We hope everyone enjoys it!