‘In their Prime’:
In Antiquity, the era of the Old Greeks, not the birthday nor the day of passing away counted. It was the period when a hero flowered. The name for it was ‘akme’, the period in which he was most productive.
Michel G.
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I am thinking my music by albums, not interpreters. So I barely use t he artists page. In the end i don’t really care how you name the feature (which could be a great feature btw). I just think that the OP and others made some valuable comments, which should not be responded to by ridicule or blame of political correctness. Thanks.
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I do not get why some people go ballistic on such feature (in their Prime). It is pretty much subjective like any other recommendation as well. No one is forced to use it nor has to take this as ultimative truth.
I think we can wish and ask for changes and I am pretty sure if the majority of users is voting for changes Roon will consider it carefully.
However, I do not like the expressions and wording of some folks. This is a software product, indeed a very good software product. Nothing to go wild!
Only my two cents.
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Interesting thread from the fine-tuning aspect.
From an informative and functionality perspective, if as has been mentioned an artist’s work from the aforementioned “peak career period” is incomplete due to the source data not matching an available album (as that album is not found locally or on subscribed/connected services), should we still be able to see it and read information on it?
I think it may be hugely beneficial to many for a greyed-out/shadowed icon or avatar for the work to still be visible with the ability to read associated narrative. (A hover tag for these with a consistent message of “Album not in library or available from subscribed services” or similar should prevent user experience annoyances).
The advantage here would be to highlight work(s) that might otherwise remain unknown to the person browsing. It may prompt them to try to find that work elsewhere (either by purchasing files/physical media or by alternative streaming service).
T
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How/why does an artist get this banner? I tried a few at random. Sometimes an artist gets a prime banner, sometimes not. Same with collaborators.
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Although this thread has ended up with a potentially positive outcome with @danny taking this away to look at (looking into how local as well as streaming library could be incorporated into ‘In Their Prime’), the way the thread title is worded leads to massive overreactions, heated debate, and upset people, click bait for sure.
I suppose thats how you get people to take a look at the thread in the first place, but surely a less inflammatory title would have been a nicer starting point for a good conversation?
I dont find ‘In Their Prime’ at all ageist or potentially insulting to the artist - yes it is is subjective but for most of the bands I have taken a look at it seems pretty bang on from where Im sitting.
I struggle to imagine that anyone is so angry in life to take offence, maybe its me thats not normal, who knows!?!
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I like the feature. If I’m looking at a new-to-me artist, for starters just give me best albums from their years of greatest relevance in the “zeitgeist”, influence, innovation, sales clout, whatever you want to call it. Every artist has this period, then sooner or later they go into more of a “legacy artist” mode. That’s no more ageist than saying a person generally can’t run as fast when they’re 60 as they can when they’re 25. It’s just the reality.
If I’ve just discovered a 70s or 80s band, I don’t need the first album I encounter to be the their cash-grab reunion LP from 2012 with only 2 original members, that had little cultural impact, attracted few new fans, & was mainly done as publicity to get existing fans to shell out for their upcoming tour. It’s just clutter, until and unless I decide I’m all-in on that band. If at that point I want to find that (possibly totally decent) album, the “discography” button does, in fact, exist.
Would any sane person tell a Black Sabbath newbie to start with Forbidden or a New Order neophyte to start with Get Ready or a Fleetwood Mac newcomer to start with Time? Of course not. I happen to love New Order’s 1993 Republic album. Roon says that 1983-1989 was their prime. Am I insulted on NO’s behalf? Of course not. I know it’s just a handy starting place. Actually, in NO’s case 1987’s Substance compilation should definitely be listed as it’s really THE place for people new to New Order, but it’s not.
The feature is just a place for beginners to begin, that’s all.
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Exactly. Perfectly put.
You can argue that Springsteen’s High Hopes album is a highlight (OK, you actually can’t, but bear with me), but for someone wanting to discover what the fuss is about, that’s not the most helpful place to point them towards. I’ve found this function helps me get my bearings around any number of artists I want to explore.
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I have no problem with the title (as an artist I realize my prime was a long time ago) though perhaps a “Best of…” might have sufficed and covered more ground. I do have issue with the giant ‘shouty’ year numbers that take precedence over the albums themselves (which have the release dates repeated directly underneath). Trying to figure out what exactly this ‘feature’ brings beyond just going to an artist’s discography or album page and finding out what their best albums are. Perhaps tie ‘ITP’ into discography, so that ITP choices are somehow highlighted within the discography view. As it currently stands, I feel as if I’m being given a half dozen different routes to get to the same place. My ADD gets kicked into overdrive! 
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Absolutely, especially ahead of Republic, any day of the week.
Let’s take New Order. In Their Prime seems to filter out what it sees as “greatest hits” albums. But, I would argue in their case “Substance” was the breakout album and even though it contains hits, it was not a greatest hits collection, but, rather a compilation of non-album extended releases and should be included in the display.
On the other side, under The Cure, the best of singles collection Galore IS included in the prime selection, I am assuming because there is a version that has incorrect metadata and so it is leaking through.
I would rather it be a gathering of the best reviewed or even best selling albums. Heck, for most new listeners to a band, a best of, anthology, etc release is much better exposure for a new user, than an unguided “list” of albums to try (no matter how great they are).
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I do wonder if region makes a difference here. Quite often it takes, for example, British musicians sometime to breakthrough in the US. This may account for different perspectives.
For instance, IMO In Their Prime for Kate Bush is just plain wrong. Her most prolific period was the late 70s through to 1985s Hounds of Love. But Aerial is one of her best releases too but not the beginnings of her “Prime”.
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Yooo calm your ol titties down. This post is hilarious. Im really not trying to be mean, but take a deep breath and count to 10. It’s all right this feature is at the bottom you don’t have to pay any attention to it. Also as many pointed out prime doesn’t refer to only age, but also most prolific period and if you disagree with the dates it’s okay, you can just ignore it and never see it.
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Aargh we may have to agree to disagree on that one - agreeably, of course. Republic is an absolute gem. I think it may be their most consistent album (not including Substance) start to finish. I do realize I may be in the minority there. With that said, I threw on Get Ready…and it’s better than I remembered. Sounds good enough. I need to run through NO’s catalog again, it’s been a minute. Anyway. Off topic.
Substance is a special exception, but in general I don’t blame Roon for excluding compilations from the “best of” as a rule, for one thing they’re usually released years after an artist’s “prime”. I wonder if it could be incorporated somehow though. Like, here’s some key albums from their prime years…and also, here’s a best-of comp.
I actually don’t see Galore listed for the Cure’s prime. I have Qobuz and the album is indeed listed in the discography. On mine it’s just the 4 studio albums from 85 to 92. I wonder if the system is learning and evolving…in the 4 hours since your post, I guess? Or if it shows different users different things? I suspect many Cure fans would be a bit miffed that Pornography is not included in the prime period, but again it’s just a handy guide. The discography tab still exists.
Edit: one little bug I noticed just now, the New Order discography tab disappeared, and the compositions tab wouldn’t load, it said check your network connections which was a red herring, network is fine. But shutting down Roon and simply relaunching made the issue go away.
Different. It is base on what you have access to in terms of streaming.
I do have access to Galore via Qobuz. But perhaps you have Tidal? And like you said before, maybe the metadata allowed it to slip through. Interesting.
Couldn’t be bothered trying to read through the whole bickering thread. My suggestion is to remove any subjectivity by defining ‘prime’ purely based record sales. That’s that sorted then
Sorry, but the word ‘good’ is on our list. Oh…, and all star ratings are required to be 3 stars. And who are you calling ‘dense’?
I have both services. And yes the version that shows up is the Tidal version.
It was very slow or did not load those for me as well an hour ago. Seems fixed now, I did not relaunch either
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I think they should add “In Their Dotage” section just so we can all be clear. You know they could include stuff like Mahler 10th (well at least what he got to finish), Let It Be by Beatles, Clash Sandinista, etc.
And make sure to add artist pix when they were 1000 years “past their prime” just to put the boot in.
All of this… all of it… could be solved by letting users have a voice in what they see, and how they see it. It’s called “software” for a reason.
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