Rating Albums

[joannajewsom]

This is totally a rip-off of the thread regarding chart rating criteria. Just curious to know how you rate albums. Do you take the Ebert/Allmusic approach of assigning ratings relative to their genre? How generous are you with assigning perfect ratings? Etc.

[theharrisonfords]

That's a good question. I think an overall rating would be very tough to do because there is so many factors that go into defining what should be considered in a rating and what should not. I always find myself trying to rate something based on individual songs, rather than an album all together. A perfect example of that would be Sandinista by the Clash. While half the song, in my opinion, is lackluster, the other half consists of an album I perceive to be brilliant. However, because half of it is average, at best, I really would struggle to give it a good rating- even though some of the material rank as their best. Same thing goes for album oriented rock. The Dark Side of the Moon is so much better as a whole than the individual songs, because it is so interconnected. The songs by themselves are not as good than the songs together. It's very contextual, I think; and rating albums should not be standardized or treated just like every other album. So I guess in a long winded fashion, I would agree, to a certain extent, with the allmusic standard. I should add though that the allmusic model seems to be built also on the band's themselves, comparing their albums to their predecessors, which can be difficult to determine.

I am afraid to say that I am pretty bad with giving everything a high rating. I guess I am too easily impressed.

[videoheadcleaner]

With rating an album, I usually go on individual songs as well. Overall (digital and physical) I have about 700 albums. About 20 of those albums I cannot fault; be it with construction of the album, the songs, the themes and the musicality of them. Many albums in my collection are rated highly, simply because I know what I like and would not keep an album I didn't like. For example, I recently culled a few digital albums (Collective Soul's Blender, Chris Cornell's Scream etc.) leaving my collection with only albums I rate highly.

Therefore, when rating on this site, I have many favourites. I don't read reviews often about albums but if I do, sometimes I agree with what is said and sometimes I don't. I think personal opinion in what you believe to be great or aesthetically pleasing to listen to is just that: personal and someone's opinion.

In the end, to rate an album contains many factors. I use individual song ratings to come to a conclusion of ranking. But if 2 or more albums have the same rating, then I determine which is constructed better, which themes resonate with me and if I just simply like it better than the other album.

[Richie Hunt]

Where is RF's post? looking forward to the next chapter of "JJ vs RF"...

If you are asking how you calculate the rating out of 100 for an album then this is how I do it.

Listen to the entire album, give each song a score out of 10. Take the top 10 songs and their scores and add them up. Thats a score out of 100. So to get 100/100 you have to have 10 songs that scored 10 from the album.

So scoring individual songs is based on pure enjoyment of the music:
0-1 dont like listening to it at all
2-3 dont like it but can get through it
4-6 i like listening, but doesnt excite me
7-8 i look forward to hearing this song when i listen to this album
9-10 love it, awesome song

The top score i have given to an album is 85, so im not generous at all.

Harkan wrote:

[joannajewsom]

Harrison, I just read allmusic's explanation, so I'm clear now on how they rate albums. That may explain why they gave Paris Hilton's album 4.5/5 stars . I take their ratings with a grain of salt, anyway, to say the least.

Interesting, Richie. But in regard to taking the top 10 songs, what if the remaining, let's say, 7 are completely horrendous? Would you feel comfortable giving an 85 to an album with 6 or 7 terrible songs and 10 really good songs?

[Richie Hunt]

Well if there are 7 shit songs, they are probably worth 0/10, so they wouldnt add anything to the overall score. If you were doing an average score then yea, its an issue.

But for me, if an album has 7 bad songs, in reality you are going to press the 'next' button on your player, so therefore it doesnt really matter they are on there - bad songs dont detract from the rating unless there are lots of them. This might be a slight kink in my ratings calc, but i think its minor.

[purple]

Whenever I listen to music I'm always thinking of ways that I would tweak it to make it better suit my tastes; for example, recording White Light/ White Heat louder. A 100 album is one which I can't think of any major tweaks and I've only given one album 100; sure, could think of several minor tweaks, but no major ones

[theharrisonfords]

I don't know, there can be more than one 100 album. What if you had an album that you would consider a 100- flawless; and then you listen to another album that was the same, would the former album be at fault because there was another 100?

In response to Hunt's input, I couldn't rate an album using that criteria. When I think of good songs in relation to the entire album, I think of the dilemma with the White Album. I think it would be safe to say that some of the tracks on the White Album are among some of the Beatles finest work, but there are some tracks that ruin it for me (glass onion, the 'pie' songs...), and it just cannot be justified to appoint it a top album. There are some exceptions, but if you are skipping through seven tracks just to listen to ten great ones, something is wrong there. Essential album? Sure. Greatest of all time? Hardly. But convincing you is not my objective, and I digress.

I agree with purple on WL/WH, if only the drums were louder...save for Sister Ray, that's perfect. But if that was made louder, you would have another Raw Power- which I think succeeds WL.

[Charicature]

I usually consider both the presence of outstanding single tracks, the overall quality of all the tracks on the album, and how well those tracks seem to flow together.

My number 1 album, for instance, Chrome by Catherine Wheel has strong individual tracks, a few standout singles, and meanwhile seems to flow through the psychological steps of a passionate relationship that falls apart, so that all the songs fit together in an odd sort of way. Actually, that theme also seems present on Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, also in my top 10 if I recall. The theme works so well in constructing a good album that I even use it to construct mix CDs.

Start with some whimsy - two people meeting...then bring in passion and obsession, expose some flaws (discovery), move into disillusionment, then they break apart exposing the emotions of grief and anger and despair, finally coming to acceptance and moving on. Just seems to work for making a great flow of music.
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[purple]

There are plenty of albums that I consider perfect, but I wouldn't give them a 100 on the grounds that they don't mean that much to me e.g. Revolver.