.A bit on the ratings

The ratings (from * to *****) are pretty self-explanatory, but I figured that I'd write a little bit on what the ratings mean to me. This is a general guide; obviously I'll make my feelings clearer in the actual reviews. One thing to keep in mind is that I give more credit to an abundance of good moments rather than an absence of bad ones - an album that's mindblowing at points but misses the mark with others will rank higher than one that is generally well-written and performed but doesn't produce any real reaction. On the other hand, if an album does something that's bad to the point of unlistenability, that's definitely a major strike against it.

*****
This is the best rating I give. Unlike many review sites I won't say these albums are 'perfect' or that ones that come close but don't get it are 'flawed' - there's no such thing as musical perfection, but these albums are so good that I usually can't imagine any significant and realistic way they could be improved. So I don't have to be absolutely in love with every song, but I should be with a great portion of it, and it should be very listenable all the way through and engaging each time. If an album hasn't lost any appeal to me after 10 or so listens that's great - if it's something I still want to pull out and can really enjoy no matter what kind of music I've been getting into, that's even better. In short, these are the desert island discs, and I recommend them to anyone who's open-minded enough about music to, say, visit a record-review page. I say this because these are the albums that I would say transcend the genre; that is, they're so good that even if you don't really like the genre, they're a marvel of songwriting and sound that anyone with a good interest in music should be able to appreciate.

****
This is the grade I usually give to albums that are generally solid and contain a good amount of great material and should appeal to anyone who is interested in the genre. I'd say a great artist is one who can consistently put out albums at this level, and anyone with a streak of 3+ of these is someone I'd consider particularly inspired. These albums usually stick out after a week of listening and usually songs from these albums will make my mix playlists. They are definitely albums I will be listening to years after I first discover them.

***
Usually this grade is given to albums that are pleasant and mostly solid but lack enough substantial material to really be fully satisfying. These are the types of albums that usually contain a few songs I like, and they don't make me want to shut them off in the middle of the album, but these are the ones where I usually just choose the tracks I like after I've given it a few listens. In other words, as the rating implies, they are middle of the road - not good enough to really recommend to anyone who doesn't like the artist already, but not bad enough that I can say it's not worth your while. Either way they are always worth a shot and I would always consider these to at least be fairly 'good' albums.

**
These are recommended to the completionists like me who want to hear all of an artist's work, good or bad, simply because even 'bad' albums can have a track or two worthy of repeat listens. These albums are usually a chore to sit through and usually have a couple of fundamental problems (way too long, songwriting too bland, production sucks, etc.) Generally they are albums which I don't have much of an emotional response to but may spin the better tracks regardless.

*
Only for collectors or the morbidly curious; they are quite simply the albums that I will say I never want to hear again. They usually have a lot of fundamental problems, or at least one really big one (i.e. "the songwriting is absolutely terrible!"). Occasionally they will have one or two songs I can tolerate but if listening to an album is boring and bad to the point where it's offensive, chances are you're looking at a one-star turkey.

Ok, one other note; of course many albums fall in-between categories, so I give a 1/2 to signify that. So ****1/2 is something that's really great and highly recommended if not an absolute classic, and a **1/2 is serviceable and warrants a few listens but is probably better off avoided.