The year Spin Magazine jumped the shark and sold out was when they named the computer as the best Album of 00. This seems to be the year that AMG threw in the towel. Artic Monkeys 3 and a half stars, Lily Allen three and a half stars, the Decemberists- three and a half stars. They're literally turning into Rolling Stone. Where else can you see three and a half stars for nearly every record they review in one year. This is just the tip of the iceberg compared to giving the new Paris Hilton 4 AND A HALF stars. AMG used to have a backbone. When everyone was praising concept records like the Downward Spiral and the Wall AMG stood their ground and said these records are flawed. Look at the review for the Downward Spiral now and you'll see they've bumped it up from 3 stars to 4 and a half stars.
Yeah and it also bugs me that AMG refuses to give anything current 5 stars. Only albums out for 5+ years have perfect scores while many more recent and superior albums like Is This It, Funeral, SMiLE receive 4 1/2 stars because they haven't been around long enough.
every album (well, obviously not debut albums!) is rated compared to the act's other albums. They're really not meant to be rated against another act's albums, for example.
Interesting point. Which albums in the new millennium deserve a five star ratings and which all time albums do you own that don't deserve this accolade?
Personally I think The Arcade Fire Funeral is as close to 5 stars as i've heard in a while.
As for the curent AMG ratings, I think they are defintely sitting on the fence with that Arctic Monkeys album, similar to all the times Rolling Stone sat on the fence with reviews. However AMG do get it right an awful amount of times with albums ratings. It's just that you can't compare Paris Hilton's 4.5 stars with say The Arcade Fire's 4.5 stars. I think a lot of the time the ratings are to guide fans of whichever artist so as to find its best work.
