planetneutral's Master Rating Log 2021-

planetneutral · 2020-12-30T14:04:16-05:00

Sometime in the era of 2009ish, my wife gave me a copy of the original edition of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Like so many foolhardy list-obsessed music enthusiasts, I began an endeavor to listen my way through it. You've heard a similar story in this forum many times before I'm sure. It didn't start well. In August of 2009, a mere eight albums into my effort, the library I work in flooded completely, burying my office in liquid sewage and putting an end to my new practice of sitting in my office listening to CDs. In 2010, I started to keep a rating log on RYM, combining my general listening and half-assed effort to work through the book. - https://rateyourmusic.com/list/planetneutral/planetneutrals-master-rating-log (I stopped using this list for a while. I'm working on catching it up.) I also kept a log specifically related to the 1001 Albums book. - https://rateyourmusic.com/list/planetneutral/chronicle-of-the-1001-albums-you-must-hear-before-you-die (This is up-to-date.) And I picked up a copy of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, which had enough parallels with the 1001 Albums book that I figured I might as well track my progress through both. https://rateyourmusic.com/list/planetneutral/chronicle-of-1_000-recordings-to-hear-before-you-die (Up-to-date.) The 2010 listening effort only lasted until April, the travails of library flood recovery dominating my attention. And it was totally backburnered until 2016, when I started really focusing on the original Dimery 1001 Albums book, using a spreadsheet list and a random number generator to make selections. By this point, I was also tracking revisions to the Dimery list. My current spreadsheet lists all 1,076 albums that I know that have been included in at least one edition. I had two good runs of listening between Jan. 2016 and Apr. 2018. But I was starting to have real problems with the Dimery book, namely that it was almost comically Anglophile. Could I really justify listening to three Dexys Midnight Runners albums? Did I really need to commit to three Blur albums? Or every single thing Brian Eno ever touched? Was I giving too much of my limited lifespan to this guy's musical worldview? I decided that the answer to the last question was yes and so I just stopped, 380 albums into my effort. The last album I reviewed in 2018 was Tanto Tempo by Bebel Gilberto, which I described as "Deeply unremarkable." And I thought that would be the end of the story. I shifted my hobbyist attention away from album listening and into building out Spotify playlists, like my 770+ song 1980s A-Z playlist. But then something unanticipated happened, when my friend announced he was going to listen to the new 2020 edition of the Rolling Stone 500 album countdown. He started at #1, which I completely bristled at, especially since he didn't seem very inspired by the top ten. ("It's all downhill from here!" I protested fruitlessly.) But I realized it was someone close to me, who was taking on my kind of project. So I decided to join him and, in so doing, continue with the other two book-driven lists that I had been tracking. So I am currently about 2/3 of the way through the Rolling Stone list (which my friend abandoned around #50 :o) and, with the new year, thought I'd try to start chronicling my listening here at BEA. I'm a little intimidated since the people in this space take their chronicling and rating and reviewing seriously and I'm kind of a doofus with really mainstream taste and a limited attention span (courtesy of three tech-enabled children, age 10-15). I generally like things and generally listen to things I expect to like. At the time of this post, my mean rating is 75 over 650+ ratings, with 70 being the mode. But part of the fun is that I'm growing a little impatient with the Rolling Stone list as we head toward the bottom, so this ride could get a little bumpy! The reviews I post as "comments" on BEA tend to be terse (despite the logorrhea of this intro post) and, if consensus of the BEA audience is any guide, unhelpful/unpopular. I will probably use this diary context to offer more informal commentary and notes from my listening experience. We'll see. Just wanted to try keeping track of stuff here and see what happens. I'm not especially thoughtful, attentive, or critical. I'm not looking to be convinced not to like something that I find joy in, but I'd love to have people encourage me to reconsider my negative takes. I mostly want to have motivation to keep going. And the reality for me is that documentation is a double-edged sword as it fuels my hobbyistic tendencies, but keeping up with a diary does increase the overhead of the actual listening. My current overall chart: Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by planetneutral Here's one attempt-in-progress to put words to my ratings, which I switched to BEA's scale relatively early on: 100 - Beyond objective consideration. Either basically flawless or containing so much 100+ material that it overcomes any shortcomings. 95 - Important to me, but just slightly out of the 100 league or flawed in some way I can't overlook. 90 - Generally speaking, the highest rating an album will receive if it has no personal resonance for me. Would have to be a significant first experience for me to rate an album of new-to-me music higher than this. 85 - The flawed version of 90. 80 - Genuinely compelling to me. (I consider anything at this score or above worth your time to listen to at least once.) 75 - I liked it+ 70 - I liked it 65 - OK+ 60 - OK 55 - A hint of something redeeming. 50 - Meh. 45 and below - Increasing levels of dislike. I have yet to rate anything below 15. I claim no consistency and surely go through periods where I am more or less enthusiastic in general. Rating is always about how the material meets the mood. This log only chronicles first listens, but it is rare for me to change rating on a re-listen. Thanks for actually reading this far. I intend to start using this diary on 1/1/2021, although I might tinker with a test post or two before then.

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planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00759
Rating Date: 2021-02-13

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Elephant by The White Stripes
Year of Release: 2003

Rating: 80

Posted comment: Personal preference for White Blood Cells, but this is very good.

Notes:

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: #390 2012: #390 2020: #449
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? Y
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? Y
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? #14 of 53

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #457 of 500 (91.4% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #482 of 692 (69.7% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: #571 of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: #211 of 1,000 (21.1% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00760
Rating Date: 2021-02-14

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Ram by Paul & Linda McCartney
Year of Release: 1971

Rating: 80

Posted comment: Full of charming quirkiness, but ultimately lacking the rawness that makes McCartney a more compelling release.

Notes: But, like I said about Let It Be, even half-assed Beatles output is better than most other artists' high-water marks.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #450
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #458 of 500 (91.6% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #483 of 692 (69.8% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.1% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00761
Rating Date: 2021-02-14

First Take by Roberta Flack
Year of Release: 1969

Rating: 70

Posted comment: A number of slower songs with long run times. If it was all as groovy as Compared to What, this might be a top-tier album.

Notes: Wonder what a young Leonard Cohen thought of that cover.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #451
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? Y (Note: Book entry is just for the song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face")
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? #87 of 87

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #459 of 500 (91.8% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #484 of 692 (69.9% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: #212 of 1,000 (21.2% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

Last edited by planetneutral on 02/16/2021 04:10; edited 1 time in total

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00762
Rating Date: 2021-02-15

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Anthology by The Supremes
Year of Release: 1974

Rating: 85

Posted comment: It's impossible to ignore just how many hits The Supremes were responsible for.

Notes: I was prepared for another overly long compilation that has no place on an all-time album list. But this one is actually pretty rewarding, despite still having no place on a list like what Rolling Stone is offering.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: #431 2012: #423 2020: #452
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #460 of 500 (92.0% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #485 of 692 (70.1% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: #213 of 1,000 (21.3% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00763
Rating Date: 2021-02-15

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Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails
Year of Release: 1989

Rating: 75

Posted comment: I definitely seem to get more personal enjoyment out of this synth-pop sound than what comes in the albums thereafter.

Notes:

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #453
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? #49 of 92

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #461 of 500 (92.2% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #486 of 692 (70.2% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.3% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00764
Rating Date: 2021-02-16

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Ege Bamyası by Can
Year of Release: 1972

Rating: 80

Posted comment: I'm sure there's a direct correlation between everyone calling this accessible and it being the Can album I've enjoyed the most so far.

Notes:

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #454
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #462 of 500 (92.4% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #487 of 692 (70.4% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.3% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

Mercury Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call Profile
St. Louis

wooohoooo 🙏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 yeaaahhh! Ege Bamyasi is friggin awesome! Glad you liked it!

That is all I had to say. Love the diary, obviously, or else why would I keep barging in with inane comments like the above?
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

planetneutral Profile

Mercury wrote:

I appreciate your comments.

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00765
Rating Date: 2021-02-17

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Go Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley
Year of Release: 1959

Rating: 70

Posted comment: Kinda fun, but there aren't any standout tracks.

Notes: Not really sure why this particular Bo Diddley album would stand above others for an all-time album list.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: #214 2012: #216 2020: #455
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N (Because there isn't one for the 50s yet.)

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #463 of 500 (92.6% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #488 of 692 (70.5% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.3% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00766
Rating Date: 2021-02-18

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Greatest Hits by Al Green
Year of Release: 1975

Rating: 85

Posted comment: I genuinely appreciate a compilation with the confidence to tell its story in 10 songs.

Notes:

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: #52 2012: #52 2020: #456
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N (No comps.)

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #464 of 500 (92.8% of all items rated - avg. 77.1)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #489 of 692 (70.7% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.0% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.3% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

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