CRS BOTY reviews and feedback...

[Fogeyspasm]

Thanks for the night.
My lad is buzzing after last night.
The photos are been posted to all and sundry.
Thanks everyone and he will definately be returning if venue age restrictions allow!



Good luck again to Andy for when he becomes a dad
Great years ahead!

[Fogeyspasm]

Ps forgot to add.
Nice to put names to faces of some of the people we met and talked to, and some just the acknowledging nod of fellow fans.
Also big hi to the It Bites forum guys and gals too.

[johninblack]

"Interesting" choices. Especially Pete Nicholls, who is an aquired taste at best, and also hasn't done anything this year unless I'm mistaken?

IQ done around half a dozen gigs including last years BOTY. Amongst the CRS crowd they are held in very high regard.

I don't know who Johanne James is so I suppose I shouldn't comment but I doubt he's as good as Andy Edwards.

Johanne is drummer with Threshold who are superbly brilliant. Johanne is IMHO fully deserving of his award.

And the Magenta album cover is rubbish! Frost* should easily have walked that one.

Again IMHO the Magenta cover is as good at least as the others that were nominated.


What we really have to remember is that the CRS is the citadel of the hobbit botherers and for the upstarts that are Frost* to make such an assault on their stronghold is actually rather a good result. I mean, come on how the hell could some pop writer possibly be placed higher than the keyboard player with Yes? You know as well as I do that a lot of the CRS members have a huge problem with Jem's dayjob, that is entirely their problem and their short-sightedness. It was very interesting that we were about 3-4 people deep at the front of the stage then there was a gap of 4-8 feet behind the gap were your typical middle aged, balding, slightly overweight MEN. It was almost as though they were scared that to be further forward they might be associated with us lot.
Funny old world, innit.

[Fogeyspasm]

typical middle aged, balding, slightly overweight MEN

That was me at the front  :lol:

[Cynthia's Mallet]

Just took a look at your photos, Johninblack - who was carrying Johanne James over his shoulder?!! :shock:

[johninblack]

Just took a look at your photos, Johninblack - who was carrying Johanne James over his shoulder?!! :shock:

That was Martin Hudson, he did the same thing last year.

That was me at the front  :lol:

I'm one too, fortunately we have become enlightened.

[LivingForever]

IQ done around half a dozen gigs including last years BOTY. Amongst the CRS crowd they are held in very high regard.

Well, ok - but really, 6 gigs does not make for an active year. I guess I imagined these things should work like the Brits where you should at least have released something this year to be eligible. I mean, you know, why don't we just nominate Peter Gabriel or Jon Anderson for this award next year?

And the Magenta album cover is rubbish! Frost* should easily have walked that one.

Again IMHO the Magenta cover is as good at least as the others that were nominated.

Hmmm ok, if you like that kind of thing I suppose it's alright...  

What we really have to remember is that the CRS is the citadel of the hobbit botherers and for the upstarts that are Frost* to make such an assault on their stronghold is actually rather a good result. I mean, come on how the hell could some pop writer possibly be placed higher than the keyboard player with Yes? You know as well as I do that a lot of the CRS members have a huge problem with Jem's dayjob, that is entirely their problem and their short-sightedness. It was very interesting that we were about 3-4 people deep at the front of the stage then there was a gap of 4-8 feet behind the gap were your typical middle aged, balding, slightly overweight MEN. It was almost as though they were scared that to be further forward they might be associated with us lot.
Funny old world, innit.

I'm not suggesting for one second that Frost* or its members should have won all these awards - just that, well, maybe some more interesting people who've actively contributed to new music this year should have been recognised in places.

I mean - for Yes's touring keyboard player to win best keyboards? Frankly it's ludicrous. Are you telling me that none of the keyboard players in bands who released fantastic new albums this year were as good? Next year, the bass player out of the Musical Box to win.  :shock:

James

[johninblack]

I mean - for Yes's touring keyboard player to win best keyboards? Frankly it's ludicrous. Are you telling me that none of the keyboard players in bands who released fantastic new albums this year were as good? Next year, the bass player out of the Musical Box to win.  

It's more likely to be a member of Strangefish. For a couple of years they won just about everything purely due to their popularity with the CRS and it's members.
These awards have very little to do with who really deserve them. it's more about who is flavour of the month amongst CRS members. Ridiculous situation but that's how it is.

Have a look here for some background.

[Dodie]

[
And the Magenta album cover is rubbish! Frost* should easily have walked that one.

Ah, well. I sponsored that award under strict instructions that Frost weren't nominated. And we still came 4th! :lol:

I only just joined the CRS a month or two ago, and the main reason was so me and my lad could see Frost. Well worth it - we had a fab time last night, and loved it (and we also really enjoyed Magenta). I thought it would be fun to vote in this year's awards. Normally I do this at least once a year as part of the classical music industry's awards, and their ceremony tends to be a VIP affair at the Dorchester. Swanky, and full of powerful people (neither of which adjectives really fits me at all!)

Ironically, I felt much more at home last night, despite not really knowing anyone! But I too thought one or two of the results were peculiar. I was amused by quite a loud moan from a large amount of the audience everytime Frost and It Bites were named in a runners-up position. I guess there were quite a few of us Frosties there last night who fully expected a clean sweep!  :lol:

Voting for the cover art was a tricky one for me. I confess I voted for Magenta's cover because I thought it was a more interesting and creative image than most (and not because I liked it as such). But I would have voted differently had the award been devoted to artwork generally, and not just the cover. For example, the inside of the EIMA booklet would have been worth voting for, but not so much the outside cover on its own terms, imho. And exactly the same thing goes for Marillion's Happiness is the Road - wonderful artwork inside the books, but the cover itself isn't much to get worked up about. No offence intended to anyone who feels differently! :oops:

Or did I take it all too seriously?

Cheers

David

[Brom]

This sort of stuff happens all the time. I was a member of CAMRA (Campaign For Real Ale) once. The town I lived in at that time continually had the same pub in the Good Beer Guide year after year, not surprisingly it was the pub that most of the members hung out in, OK, it was a goodish pub, but there were others equally as good, if not better in the area but they never got a look in. I championed one of these other pubs and got it into the guide. I moved away, the next edition of the guide saw guess which pub continue to reign supreme.

I would'nt worry too much, I don't think the CRS awards hold much kudos in the outside world and not that much on the inside either.  

[Bert]

...we were about 3-4 people deep at the front of the stage then there was a gap of 4-8 feet behind the gap were your typical middle aged, balding, slightly overweight MEN....

That's where I stood !!  

No seriously, I think you're spot on. My thoughts were:-

I thought Magenta were quite impressive and from where I was standing, the sound was superb. Having never heard their work before, I was frankly blown away, to the extent I bought the album (thanks to Big Black Shed for filling in my knowledge on this).

I did get the impression that were some vested interests going on, and any organisation inevitably has some politics riding around in there somewhere. Not dissing Oliver Wakeman at all, I thought the funniest thing I heard all night was when he collected his award and some wag in the audience asked whether he called the other members of Yes "uncle". That joke worked on so many levels.. whomever you were Sir, I salute you.

The (light-hearted) groans from us Frost*ies probably said everything that needed saying really. But it's OK; change is never easy. What's important is that we keep banging the Frost* etc drum and smash the system. Man    Anyway, it's nice to be on the slightly subversive side, I reckon.

So far as Frost* were concerned, I thought they played really well, despite I understand the feelings of the band afterwards. Certainly Mrs Bert (2nd Hand Prog) thought they were great. Lovely also to say hello again to Mr & Mrs JiB, Sammi, BBS, Gig Buddy, MikeEvs etc. Hope to see you all again soon.

[Dodie]

"Interesting" choices. Especially Pete Nicholls, who is an aquired taste at best, and also hasn't done anything this year unless I'm mistaken?

I thought that was the weirdest one. I have all of IQ's albums (never seen them live though), so I'd call myself a fan - but never in a million years would I have expected this result for best male vocalist. Especially with no achievement of note during 2008.

The other wierd ones were Oliver Wakeman for keyboardist (I would have thought there were at least three stronger contenders for this just from the bands which were mentioned time and again during the night), and Pendragon's Pure for best album.

Don't get me wrong - I've nothing against Pendragon. I'm a luke-warm lapsed fan, I suppose (they're one of the few "neo-prog" bands that I feel ever-so-slightly embarrassed by, as if they somehow typify quirks of the genre that don't really do us much favours - but on the other hand I admire that they obviously have a lot of passion for what they do). I haven't heard the new album. But am I right in thinking that it is actually coming out on more "public" commercial release later this year? So is there perhaps a case that it could have been included in next year's voting instead?

I really thought that Frost or It Bites would win the best album - but I guess all that means is that those are the albums I've enjoyed the most.

In the grander scheme of things, I didn't think any of the CRS results were as odd and logic-defying as Robert Plant recently being named as the greatest ever rock vocalist by Planet Rock. Nothing against Plant, but he's not my idea of a great singer.

I guess it just goes to show that even among folk of similar passions and tastes, we should all actually decide on our own personalised awards of the year. But then that would sad and nerdy. So right up my street, probably.

Cheers

David

[Dodie]

Thanks for the night.
My lad is buzzing after last night.

Mine too - I think we probably chatted briefly afterwards when I was worrying about finding a T shirt that would fit.

nice to put a face to a name, etc.

Also really nice to briefly say Hi to Tom - hope he didn't think I was weird or mad (though of course I am probably both)

Cheers

David

[Dodie]

My husband ... couldn't understand why the Magenta guitarist got the award as he thought that JM was much better.

We reckoned that JM was awesome, but I've got to admit that I thought Chris Fry was amazing too. Very versatile, and a great performer too - and some astonishing soaring solos. Very much my cup of tea, truth be told.

It was certainly right that JM and Chris Fry were the top two.

Cheers

David

[Dodie]

[It was very interesting that we were about 3-4 people deep at the front of the stage then there was a gap of 4-8 feet behind the gap were your typical middle aged, balding, slightly overweight MEN. It was almost as though they were scared that to be further forward they might be associated with us lot.
Funny old world, innit.

Actually, we would have loved to have been a bit closer, but we didn't want to rude and push in front of people LOL. My son is very tall for his age, and I'm quite wide (more than slightly overweight, alas, but with a full head of hair and not quite middle aged yet). So we would certainly have spoilt people's views. But we loved our first taste of Frost live, and sang along with every word we could manage.

Sorry, I'll desist from posting on this topic now - its just we're still thrilled to bits about the gig last night.

Cheers

David