planetneutral's Master Rating Log 2021-

[planetneutral]

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/planetne...ating-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/planetne...e-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/planetne...e-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 ) 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.

[RoundTheBend]

Nice rating explanation - my sentiments exactly.

[planetneutral]

[planetneutral]

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On The Beach by Neil Young

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00636

Album metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 ranking: #311 of 500

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #338 of 500 (67.6% of all items rated)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #360 of 686 (52.5% of all items rated)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die rating order: #526 of 1,076 (48.9% of all items rated)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (17.9% of all items rated)

Rating: 80

Posted comment: Side A hits hard, but I'm not as into the slower second side.

Notes: Generally love Neil Young and his material is definitely better on average than most of the RS list fodder, but this RS500 list has had a lot more Neil Young representation than I would have expected.

[planetneutral]

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A Seat At The Table by Solange

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00637

Album metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 ranking: #312 of 500

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #339 of 500 (67.8% of all items rated)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #361 of 686 (52.6% of all items rated)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die rating order: #527 of 1,076 (49.0% of all items rated)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (17.9% of all items rated)

Rating: 60

Posted comment: A couple of OK beats, but mostly too slow to capture my attention.

Notes: As the whitest 45YO male on the planet, I have to concede an uncomfortable pattern of low ratings for both R&B and for solo female artists, the women faring better than R&B overall. As we head further down the Rolling Stone countdown, and away from the certified classics of genres, albums in these categories become increasingly dicey.

[planetneutral]

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Stories From The City, Stories From The... PJ Harvey

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00638

Album metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 ranking: #313 of 500

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #340 of 500 (68% of all items rated)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #362 of 686 (52.8% of all items rated)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die All-Editions-Combined List rating order: #528 of 1,076 (49.1% of all items rated)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: #179 of 1,000 (17.9% of all items rated)

Rating: 70

Posted comment: There are flashes of what I didn't particularly enjoy about Rid of Me, but this is my favorite PJ Harvey album so far.

Notes: I think it was my first PJ Harvey album where I really started to become self-conscious about the pattern of low scores for female artists. I wasn't looking forward to this one and it proved to be almost delightful in spots.

[planetneutral]

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One In A Million by Aaliyah

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00639

Album metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 ranking: #314 of 500

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #341 of 500 (68.2% of all items rated)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #363 of 686 (52.9% of all items rated)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die All-Editions-Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,076 (49.1% of all items rated)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (17.9% of all items rated)

Rating: 55

Posted comment: Another overly long 90s R&B album that does only a little to distinguish itself.

Notes: I'm just tired of hour-plus R&B albums.

[planetneutral]

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El Mal Querer by Rosalía

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00640

Album metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 ranking: #315 of 500

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #342 of 500 (68.4% of all items rated)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #364 of 686 (53.1% of all items rated)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die All-Editions-Combined List rating order: n/a of 1,076 (49.1% of all items rated)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (17.9% of all items rated)

Rating: 65

Posted comment: Good concept, but only a few of these tracks live up to the flamenco pop aspirations of the idea.

Notes: One of the few albums on this list I'd never heard of at all. Never even heard the artist's name. My long-time Rolling Stone print subscription did expire right around the time this album came out. I probably underestimate the impact that has on my ability to keep up. My mother-in-law funded my subscription for Christmas, so I'm back in.

[Streams]

Is this the thread for masochistic exhibitionism?

(I support you, but it doesn't seem like you're enjoying this)

[planetneutral]

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The Who Sell Out by The Who

planetneutral Master Rating Log ID#: 00641

Album metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 ranking: #316 of 500

Rating metadata
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2020 rating order: #343 of 500 (68.6% of all items rated)
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums 2003/2012/2020 Combined List rating order: #365 of 686 (53.2% of all items rated)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die All-Editions-Combined List rating order: 529 of 1,076 (49.2% of all items rated)
1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die rating order: n/a of 1,000 (17.9% of all items rated)

Rating: 65

Posted comment: Campy and light enough, but with only one example of The Who's truly top-notch songwriting, a far cry from their best albums.

Notes: I've made a few attempts over the years to get into this album. It's always the one that makes me question whether or not I'm really a Who fan.