I am using the tom hull variant of the christgau consumer guide grading scale which I find conveys enough information to make my ratings useful.

The scale is a letter grade scale.

Any A-grade record I recommend unequivocally to anyone interested in finding new music. An A is that sort of classically great record that draws me into all of this in the first place. A- is the same but it could be overlong, or just fail to succeed at total consistency. An A+ inspired awe, it's affecting, I am drawn to it again and again. When I remove any A-level record from my current listening queues to make room for something else there's always a twinge that I'm not doing it justice, if that isn't there even a record I like a lot can't be more than a B+ (***).

B+ is a recommendation, especially if you are tuned for the style of the music. B+s are the meat of the music industry, and if you can't turn them out I don't see why you're in there. B+s get extra ratings according to their value to me from one to three stars, you'll see that if you browse my 3.5s as tags. A B+ (***) is a record I really, really enjoyed while it was in my life, and I'd be more than glad to see come back to me. A B+ (*) is a record that I enjoyed listening, and when it was time to cut out of my life I did so gladly knowing I have more music to get to.

fanatics about a genre or artist will probably still want to try the rest of the Bs. a B is a B+ that doesn't inspire me to relisten to it. It's hard to quantify but that's it, mostly. If I look at an otherwise fine record in my queue and I sigh and listen to something else and then go look at it again and do it again and finally listen to it out of duty that means it's a B. when I put it on I'll probably enjoy it just fine, though I'll probably be glad to move on when it's over. a B- isn't even that good but sometimes it is that good. it probably has a couple really good songs or it wouldn't even be worth my time.

a C I don't understand the value of at all. a C+ I think is totally misguided but it doesn't pain me to have on.

then finally there is the *dud* tag, reserved for records I couldn't bring myself to sit through more than half of. this isn't necessarily indicative of their quality - maybe they're good, and it's me? but they didn't go off, and they get a 1 or a .5 rating depending on how my time was before I cut them.

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