My ratings

I try to be as objective as possible with regards to ratings. I rate my music with one single basic set of criteria in mind and that is how much I enjoy the music. Ultimately, music is a diverse and subjective art form and a recording of a composition can stimulate in a number of ways including; interesting production, composition, hooks and textures.
A cursory look through any “all time best albums” list (or similar) will invariably reveal the same records appearing again and again and while I know that with a great deal of those are there for genuine reasons some crop up due to other reasons that makes them misplaced…

1) I feel (and be prepared for strong opinions here) that many albums will be rated in a sheep-like fashion akin to internet memes, a certain album with a person with a tambourine head comes to mind here.

2) Many records become token symbols of critical acclaim and the general music listening public follow without thinking for themselves, a certain album with a yellow curved fruit on the cover springs to mind here.

3) Finally, many albums become famous for their cultural, musical or even political significance. I don’t buy into that. Recorded music should be rated for the strength of the music and nothing else.


A note on fidelity

You will no doubt observe from my collection on my RYM profile that my entire collection is on CD – no vinyl and no digital. If space and money were not constraints, I would collect and listen to vinyl but they are so I see CD as the best compromise. I do, however, detest digital downloads not only because the fidelity is noticeably worse (If you can’t hear the difference I would consider getting a hearing test immediately) but I also object to paying a significantly large sum of money (plenty of digital downloads are not much cheaper or even MORE EXPENSIVE than the physical CD copy). Why on Earth would you pay more for mere data that could be lost in an instant and is inferior in sound quality? Most of it is on Spotify at 160kbs anyway.


A note on production

I am a musician, not a professional one, but I am a musician none the less. I became interested in listening to music at the same time in my life as I began playing music (I play bass and guitar). As a consequence of this, I derive great pleasure from listening to the instruments in great detail – including how those instruments interact. Consequently, I happen to like slick production, I don’t see it as absolutely essential, but I certainly hate poor production that does not allow the music and it’s components to breathe. I do not understand the self-flagellating stance that some take by insisting on “raw” production.

My wishlist contains items that I am currently "auditioning" to buy and items that I am planning to buy.