Best reviewers


Who are in your opinion the best reviewers out there ? Whether it be from stereophile, TAS or an audio forum, you surely have a few reviewers that you trust and respect. I nominate Robert E. Greene from The Absolute Sound as the best reviewer. He understands live music, knows how to describe what he hears, and appears to be impartial. Your choice ?
joe_coherent
Gentlemen, this post has clearly degenerated. But i'll throw my two cents anyway. Nothing tops LOTR (Lord of the Rings). Star Wars is OK, but it is commercial fare. Comparing it to LOTR is like comparing a Big Mac with dinner at Taillevent in Paris (though I acknowledge I sometimes crave for a Big Mac, and nothing else will do).
I submit that you just don't get Star Wars, and there's nothing degenerate about it, nor is it simply "commercial fare". It is a generational phenomenon and spectacle. So-called "baby boomers" "just don't get it", and they don't need to get it, we don't need them to get it, nor do we care if they ever get it. Lord of the Rings is fantasy, not science fiction, and it didn't have the effect that Star Wars has had. History is proof of that. If you want to talk works of fiction, "Gone With the Wind", the novel and the movie, had far more impact than Lord of the Rings could ever hope to have...and it's still eclipsed by Star Wars. You can knock it all you like...
The Best reveiwer would be one whose ONLY payment would be from the magazine at a price per article. The ideal reveiwer wouldn't recieve FREE or discounted product from manufacturers in exchange for a good reveiw. The ideal reveiwer wouldn't be seen selling mega dollar components 6 months after a, "This is the best thing in the World" reveiw. The ideal magazine wouldn't rely on advertising dollars to keep afloat. A magazine without politics. A magazine of truths.
The ideal magazine would be so pure, that if the reader had ever done anything less than perfect in his life, he would be smited from the earth as he read those most holy words, so perfect that no one anywhere would be worthy of reading them, instead it only condemns them to eternal torment. What a page-turner it would be, I am salivating!
Hey Carl don't get me wrong I LOVED the Star Wars Trilogy. Just haven't seen the last one. As far as film goes it's tough to beat. Wonderful story well told. I don't think for a minute that Lord of the Rings would translate as well to film neither would "Stranger in a Strange Land" which is my favorite sci-fi book to date, quite religious in its overtones. But then again I haven't read a good Sci-fi book in a while. Hear the Dune series is great. Sorry Fpeel I stand corrected. The Tolkein books are indeed fantasy. What is so absolutely amazing to me about them is the language created. It was quite an experience when I read these books almost 30 years ago and they stand out to me as among the great works of literature of the 20th Century. Star Wars I agree is a cultural phenomenom and Carl I assure you, it's appeal isn't limited to the Xers. As a matter of fact I was still in my 20's when Star Wars was first released in 1977 and btw what does any of this have to do with music. Oh yeah, I love the Williams score.