planetneutral's Master Rating Log 2021- - Music Diaries

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.

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

I am convinced that the recent RS list is not accurate or actually crowd-sourced at all. I think they are very out of touch and got a bunch of lists and edited out some boring picks or too many repeats and replaced them with albums only picked by one or maybe 2 tops people if the album kinda gave the list more "well-rounded" variety, etc. I don't know, I just feel its mostly bullshit.

That king sunny ade compilation is absolutely an example of this utterly ridiculous list. Like I refuse to beleive that specific compilation was one of the top 500 crowd sourced and voted albums. Just nah not the case. Unless a few people called each other, disgreed on which album and just made a backroom agreement to just pick that compilation.

Blah blah blah, a lot of these albums are cool, but that recent list is more fishy than (insert potentially inappropriate joke about smelly unwashed private parts).
_________________
-Ryan

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

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

planetneutral Profile

Mercury wrote:

I am convinced that the recent RS list is not accurate or actually crowd-sourced at all. I think they are very out of touch and got a bunch of lists and edited out some boring picks or too many repeats and replaced them with albums only picked by one or maybe 2 tops people if the album kinda gave the list more "well-rounded" variety, etc. I don't know, I just feel its mostly bullshit.

That king sunny ade compilation is absolutely an example of this utterly ridiculous list. Like I refuse to beleive that specific compilation was one of the top 500 crowd sourced and voted albums. Just nah not the case. Unless a few people called each other, disgreed on which album and just made a backroom agreement to just pick that compilation.

Blah blah blah, a lot of these albums are cool, but that recent list is more fishy than (insert potentially inappropriate joke about smelly unwashed private parts).

Complete agreement. The further down the list I get, the more manipulated it feels, which is making it somewhat harder to push through these last albums. I'll still be glad to have gone through the exercise, but I wish the person who got me on this journey had started with #500. Then we'd be presently working through the top 25, where my average rating is 88.2, instead of the 72 avg of the most recent 25. If I'm being honest, it's been diminishing returns since about #200.

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00780
Rating Date: 2021-02-26

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Sheryl Crow by Sheryl Crow
Year of Release: 1996

Rating: 75

Posted comment: Tails off at the end, but overall a slightly stronger album than her debut.

Notes: This is the kind of album I appreciate more when it is offset by albums I don't really like.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #475
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)? #44

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #478 of 500 (95.6% of all items rated - avg. 76.9)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #503 of 692 (72.7% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.4% 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#: 00781
Rating Date: 2021-02-27

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Kimono My House by Sparks
Year of Release: 1974

Rating: 75

Posted comment: Fun and surprisingly close to being a great album.

Notes: Not quite though.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #476
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? Y
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: #479 of 500 (95.8% of all items rated - avg. 76.9)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #504 of 692 (72.7% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: #577 of 1,078 (53.4% 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#: 00782
Rating Date: 2021-02-27

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Moanin' In The Moonlight by Howlin' Wolf
Year of Release: 1959

Rating: 80

Posted comment: A clear influence on so many artists that I personally prize.

Notes:

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #477
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? N
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? Y
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #480 of 500 (96.0% of all items rated - avg. 76.9)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #505 of 692 (73.0% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.4% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: #214 of 1,000 (21.4% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00783
Rating Date: 2021-02-27

Something Else By The Kinks by The Kinks
Year of Release: 1967

Rating: 75

Posted comment: There is a solid playlist's worth of Kinks tracks that I love, but I have yet to really feel that with a full album. This album comes closest so far.

Notes: Waterloo Sunset though. A truly great one.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: #289 2012: #290 2020: #478
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (repeatedly revised 2005-2018)? Y
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (2008)? N
planetneutral's music collection? N
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? #63 of 88

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #481 of 500 (96.2% of all items rated - avg. 76.9)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #506 of 692 (73.1% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: #578 of 1,078 (53.6% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.4% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

Last edited by planetneutral on 02/28/2021 04:27; edited 1 time in total

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00784
Rating Date: 2021-02-27

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Amor Prohibido by Selena
Year of Release: 1994

Rating: 65

Posted comment: Totally harmless and kinda charming.

Notes: Bonus points for remaking Back on the Chain Gang as a completely different song.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #479
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: #482 of 500 (96.4% of all items rated - avg. 76.9)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #507 of 692 (73.3% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.6% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.4% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00785
Rating Date: 2021-02-28

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The Weight Of These Wings by Miranda Lambert
Year of Release: 2016

Rating: 65

Posted comment: Given that this a relatively recent country release with a 94-minute run-time, it didn't test my patience nearly as much I would have expected.

Notes:

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #480
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: #483 of 500 (96.6% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #508 of 692 (73.4% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.6% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.4% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00786
Rating Date: 2021-02-28

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Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde by The Pharcyde
Year of Release: 1992

Rating: 60

Posted comment: Good energy. These guys are having fun. But they aren't the most skilled or thoughtful rappers of their time.

Notes: Worth noting here that I am skipping over If You're Feeling Sinister at #481, which is #47 on my all-time list and would make this seem like a less mediocre run of albums.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: N 2012: N 2020: #482
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: #484 of 500 (96.8% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #509 of 692 (73.6% of all items rated - avg. 76.5)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: #579 of 1,078 (53.7% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.4% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

planetneutral Profile

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00787
Rating Date: 2021-02-28

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The Anthology, 1947-1972 by Muddy Waters
Year of Release: 2001

Rating: 85

Posted comment: So many classics of Chicago blues songwriting. Maybe a bit much for the total novice, but a thoughtful distillation of a very long career.

Notes: I'm not really a blues guy and even I own this one.

Included in...
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums? 2003: #38 2012: #38 2020: #483
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? CD
planetneutral's Decade list (min. 70 rating)? N

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #485 of 500 (97.0% of all items rated - avg. 76.8 )
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #510 of 692 (73.7% of all items rated - avg. 76.6)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 2005/2013/2017/2018 Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,078 (53.7% of all items rated - avg. 74.2)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (21.4% of all items rated - avg. 79.5)

Last edited by planetneutral on 03/01/2021 04:08; edited 1 time in total