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And as cheap as it may seem, the reader has nothing to hold onto.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 16:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Plus, it does make a difference. The Pitchfork comparison was kind of unavoidable -- particularly given that they have a fairly unique bell curve to their numerical ratings (ie. a 6 isn't an D but prob. closer to a C+ or B- of some sort). Given the closeness of content (and staff, even), it makes sense to go in a different direction.

Of course, letter grades aren't unique — EW aside, Xgau has kind of written the book on them. But it's actually a pretty interesting standard. I mean, giving a C to a Radioheard record or something would be a pretty big slam.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Chris your review of Travistan would have been a lot better without your taking a stand on whether the albums works or not.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:05 (nineteen years ago) link

The text of reviews tells people whether or not they're curious to hear what you're describing. If you're only writing a paragraph than a rating makes a little sense (IF you spend the paragraph describing the album rather than the grade), but for longer pieces grades are superfluous.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Unless, of course, you do the "too long, didn't read" technique of reading reviews where if it is more than two paragraphs you scan the first and last sentence and look at the number/letter next to the review.

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Chris your review of Travistan would have been a lot better without your taking a stand on whether the albums works or not.

Awwww gimme a hug!

What I'm thinking about are the reviews in The Wire, which are great at description but sometimes avoid evaluation. I'll read one and think: "Okay, this is an album of repetitive staticky noise - but how does it compare to the others?"

― Chris Dahlen (Chris Dahlen), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:11 (nineteen years ago) link

well the problem there is that albums of repetitive staticky noise are usually pretty equal in value. And if they're not a paragraph about what makes one superior is infinitely more valuable than someone attaching a number to it.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

I do this with most longer reviews, but merely out of curiousity - it doesn't really influence whether or not I check the album out. If you like the writer you'd read the work and if you don't like the writer than what the fuck do you care what they'd rate it?

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:22 (nineteen years ago) link

ratings on longer reviews only benefit people who don't really care why you think what you do. I'm surprised any writer would want to encourage that.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 5 January 2005 17:24 (nineteen years ago) link

What I'm thinking about are the reviews in The Wire, which are great at description but sometimes avoid evaluation. I'll read one and think: "Okay, this is an album of repetitive staticky noise - but how does it compare to the others?"

i don't get this, but have you read the reviews in Ugly Things? everything's totally bonkers according to stax and his reviewers, but in both publications the writers tend to use tone and adjectives to describe their feelings about a record instead of a number, letter, or inanimate object that can be interpreted as a value judgement.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:41 (nineteen years ago) link

I am a terrible guy to have around and regardless of how drunk i am now, my inability to control rating systems will result in numberous Bs.

I APOLOGIZE STYLUS

― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Sunday, 9 January 2005 11:23 (nineteen years ago) link

To be honest, I just like assigning numbers/grades bcuz I'm a nerd and it is fun to try and quantify something entirely unquantifiable (like my love/hatred for a record).

― deej., Sunday, 9 January 2005 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link

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