Musical random chat - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 67

Location: London Town

Repo wrote:

Hayden wrote:

I feel like whenever I come to this thread, it has to do with Pitchfork—
So, sorry, but—

What's this absolutely bs call to hold scores/reviews hostage for $5 a month? 🙄 🙄 🙄 —
I don't think it'll last, but what a terrible call—

I respect journalists wanting to get paid more for their work, but surely ad revenue would rake in more than this?
(& even so, $60USD/year is far too steep— they might get some people at $12USD/year, but currently I'd be shocked if more than 1000 people do it)—

Ha! I had pretty much the same reaction. Paying to have your content read! Or really just tabulated in the form of a score. R we really this desperate for attention? (please, please please someone/anyone post on my New Release thread!!! 🙏 😉 )

I hadn't heard this until this post. Couldn't agreed more. Who in their right mind is going to do this

Repo

BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

Johnnyo wrote:

Repo wrote:

Hayden wrote:

I feel like whenever I come to this thread, it has to do with Pitchfork—
So, sorry, but—

What's this absolutely bs call to hold scores/reviews hostage for $5 a month? 🙄 🙄 🙄 —
I don't think it'll last, but what a terrible call—

I respect journalists wanting to get paid more for their work, but surely ad revenue would rake in more than this?
(& even so, $60USD/year is far too steep— they might get some people at $12USD/year, but currently I'd be shocked if more than 1000 people do it)—

Ha! I had pretty much the same reaction. Paying to have your content read! Or really just tabulated in the form of a score. R we really this desperate for attention? (please, please please someone/anyone post on my New Release thread!!! 🙏 😉 )

I hadn't heard this until this post. Couldn't agreed more. Who in their right mind is going to do this

Ok. Now I get it. It's just their way of trying to make their new paywall for reading their reviews and gawking at that all-important Pitchfork rating score more palatable. Many sites are going to the subscription model as ad-revenue has plunged. Marketing dollars are all now going to the viable markets of You Tube & Tik Tok. Websites have gone the way of Print. Just think about how little traffic BEA get these days. All eyeballs are now focused on "reels".

I don't blame Pitchfork for going this route but it was a bungled, sloppy & confusing rollout. No one wants to pay just to have their voice heard. ( I don't think.) They should have just been direct about what their subscription plan was really about. Paying to read their content & score.

I'll miss you Pitchfork. I for one CANNOT afford yet another subscription! 😅

Romanelli

Bone Swah

Gender: Male

Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

Professional album reviewers are vastly overrated anyway. All of them. People get locked into them and start taking what they say as gospel. Bad albums become overrated because of some "expert"'s opinion. Good albums get buried because some paid guy poured sour milk on his Cheerios.

The only opinions that really matter about albums are our own. And I will say that there are enough smart people on BEA to make that good enough. We don't need professional reviewers like Pitchfork or Scaruffi to know what's good and what isn't.
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Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 67

Location: London Town

Romanelli wrote:

Professional album reviewers are vastly overrated anyway. All of them. People get locked into them and start taking what they say as gospel. Bad albums become overrated because of some "expert"'s opinion. Good albums get buried because some paid guy poured sour milk on his Cheerios.

The only opinions that really matter about albums are our own. And I will say that there are enough smart people on BEA to make that good enough. We don't need professional reviewers like Pitchfork or Scaruffi to know what's good and what isn't.

👏

albummaster

Janitor

Gender: Male

Site Admin

Repo wrote:

Ok. Now I get it. It's just their way of trying to make their new paywall for reading their reviews and gawking at that all-important Pitchfork rating score more palatable. Many sites are going to the subscription model as ad-revenue has plunged. Marketing dollars are all now going to the viable markets of You Tube & Tik Tok. Websites have gone the way of Print. Just think about how little traffic BEA get these days. All eyeballs are now focused on "reels".

I don't blame Pitchfork for going this route but it was a bungled, sloppy & confusing rollout. No one wants to pay just to have their voice heard. ( I don't think.) They should have just been direct about what their subscription plan was really about. Paying to read their content & score.

I'll miss you Pitchfork. I for one CANNOT afford yet another subscription! 😅

Totally get this and the reality is frightening. AI has broken the web (literally in many cases). If the new competition is YouTube or Tik Tok, BEA could maybe get AI to generate some slop for people to look at there.
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Hayden

Location: Vietnam

Me from 8 years ago would never believe I'm saying this, but I'm very glad Bad Bunny won AOTY at the Grammys over Tyler, Clipse and Kendrick—

He came out swinging with that one—
Right time, right place, right moment—

I thought Gaga would've been the shoo-in, with a potential upset from Kendrick, so I'm glad the voters swung this way—

(Clipse was never going to happen, but they would've been my second choice)

And maybe I just live under a rock, but I was surprised for a few reason that Eilish won song of the year for Wildflower—
1) It came out nearly two years ago now, and I'm a little confused as to how it was eligible
2) I had no clue this song became a late hit for that albums

Another category I figured Gaga was a shoo-in for.

Grammys are the Grammys, and the Grammys are the Grammys, but I think it was a good move at the right moment to create something exciting—

But yeah. Good on Bad Bunny. Hope he tears down that big American football game next week—
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Last edited by Hayden on 02/06/2026 06:03; edited 1 time in total

JOSweetHeart

Gender: Female

Age: 43

Location: East Tennessee

Has Alison Krauss seen her final Grammy award already? She had two nominations last night but was overlooked once again. Her last win was in 2012 for Best Bluegrass Album. She was nominated for that award again last night. She currently has 27 wins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_a...mmy_Awards

God bless you and Alison and the guys of Union Station always!!!

Holly (a fan of her since 1994)

P.S. I pray that the new member of Union Station isn't discouraged. His name is Russell Moore, and he sang lead on four of the ten songs from the new album named Arcadia.
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Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 67

Location: London Town

JOSweetHeart wrote:

Has Alison Krauss seen her final Grammy award already? She had two nominations last night but was overlooked once again. Her last win was in 2012 for Best Bluegrass Album. She was nominated for that award again last night. She currently has 27 wins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_a...mmy_Awards

God bless you and Alison and the guys of Union Station always!!!

Holly (a fan of her since 1994)

P.S. I pray that the new member of Union Station isn't discouraged. His name is Russell Moore, and he sang lead on four of the ten songs from the new album named Arcadia.

Arcadia is a really good album and probably should have won but I cannot image Alison and the band loosing any sleep because they didn’t win at the Grammys. Great albums rarely win at these overblown and overhyped events. I guess it’s nice to win but no artist makes albums to win awards

baystateoftheart

Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 31

Location: Massachusetts

After not doing it for a few years, I went back to my tradition of listening to all Black artists in February for Black History Month, and all women artists in March for Women's History Month. Didn't make a whole thread this time, but had a great time musically in February. Here are my top 5 new-to-me albums. Still doing a lot of catchup on 2025 as you can see, but Wattstax stands head and shoulders above the rest. A tremendous concert album that anyone who likes classic soul should hear. Now I'll have to watch the film.

Wattstax: The Living Word (1972) by Various Artists

Through The Wall (2025) by Rochelle Jordan

1st Born Second (2001) by Bilal

Live Laugh Love (2025) by Earl Sweatshirt

Magic, Alive! (2025) by McKinley Dixon

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