Friday, October 9, 2009

Rating System-

When it comes to Album Reviews, I am going to stick with Glide’s (old) Star Rating System, to go along with the writeup.  Sometimes the star ratings come easy, some other times not so much, but I think having some sort of guide to refer to is a good thing.  Basically it breaks down like this:

No Stars- Why was this made?!
1 Star- Bomb-riffic
2 Stars- Meah
3 Stars- Good
4 Stars- Great
5 Stars- Boosh!!!!!

There will be half stars tossed in there as well just to mix things up.

Some examples of past albums I rated using this system and the official breakdown of half stars etc. after the jump....
Here was the old way it was officially broken down by Glide, including half stars, to use as a reference for the system I will be using here on the site:

5 STARS:  This is a Must Have, essential listening, a truly life changing album - think top 50 records of all time status.  I would really only expect maybe 1 or 2 of these a year

4 1/2 STARS:  Just shy of genius - an album that will stand up to heavy listening 10 years from now.  You couldn’t stop listening to it after the first time.  It will be on most critic’s Best Of The Year lists.  You would recommend readers to go spend $15 on this CD

4 STARS:   A great record. One of the better ones you’ve heard lately. It might not make top 20 of the year, but it’s a new favorite of yours.

3 1/2 STARS:   Its not earth shattering, but start to finish, it’s a solid record.  A genuine thumbs up

3 STARS:  A good CD.  It’s in your iPod and you would burn it for a friend, but they don’t really have to run out today and spend money on it

2 1/2 STARS:  It’s pretty good.  Has some high-points.  You wouldn’t listen to it everyday, but it’s alright

2 STARS:  ehh...its got a couple of good tracks, but it'll spend more time on the shelf than in your player

1 1/2 STARS:   If someone hasn’t heard it, they aren’t missing anything - you'd say skip it

1 STAR or below:   Just like the 5 stars, chances are we won’t have more than a handful of these all year. 


So you get a sense of me personally, here are some reviews of albums and their star rankings I have done in the past: 
 0-Stars
Thankfully I can not remember a zero star release that came across my inbox or that I have listened too...Maybe I am just blocking them all out.
1-Star 
Had a few of these to suffer through, this may be my favorite review of a 1 star album, pitiful.
2-Stars
Usually these bad boys are just OK, but won't stay with me (or the average listener) for long.  An example is here.
3-Stars
Probably the most rated, because believe it or not (you jaded reader you) most music is pretty good out there in some form or another, or at least it be to my ears yo.  Here's an entry from a well known band.
4-Stars
Very happy to have these around as they usually stick with me.  Here's one that has for a few years now. (Just a quick note, Glide changed their rating system in 2010 to 10 stars, This disk would have been 8, basically double the old stars)
5-Stars
Very hesitant to give these out, but here is one that deserved it.  Usually just used for album of the year candidates, but we've had years when no release got 5 stars, So It Goes.... 

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