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About a year ago, AMG bumped a bunch of 90s albums and a few early 00s albums up from 4 1/2 to 5 stars.
I was looking through our top 200 albums of the decade, and there are tons of albums that have 4-4.5 stars in our rankings that should be five imo. So I was thinking, which albums would you guys nominate for 5 stars?
I think the obvious ones are:
Radiohead- Kid A
The White Stripes- White Blood Cells
Bob Dylan- Love & Theft
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Streets- Original Pirate Material
OutKast- Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below
Arcade Fire- Funeral
Franz Ferdinand- Franz Ferdinand
Kanye West- College Dropout
Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
Antony & The Johnsons- I Am a Bird Now
TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
Radiohead- In Rainbows
M.I.A.- Kala
Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion
AMG tends to rate by consesus ultimately, so most of those albums will probably eventually be 5 stars.
I nominate:
Green Day - American Idiot (4.5)
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (4.0)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (4.5)
Arcade Fire - Funeral (4.5); Neon Bible (4.0)
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (4.0)
Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit (4.0)
In addition to your original list (all worthy imo) I would strongly back Interpol's 'Turn On The Bright Lights' to move up half a point to the rightful 5 stars it should deserve. Fleet Foxes, in due course, will ascend to 5 I'm willing to bet.
Less obvious suspects:
Ágætis Byrjun - Sigur Rós
Discovery - Daft Punk
Arular - M.I.A.
Silent Shout - The Knife
Ágætis Byrjun - Sigur Rós
Discovery - Daft Punk
Arular - M.I.A.
Silent Shout - The Knife
Arular is in my top 3 of the decade, but I'm pretty sure they took it from 4.5 stars to 4 stars when Kala came out. I guess to say that it was not as good as Kala. I think it's better, but time will tell if they bump it up to 5 stars.
I was looking through our top 200 albums of the decade, and there are tons of albums that have 4-4.5 stars in our rankings that should be five imo. So I was thinking, which albums would you guys nominate for 5 stars?
I think the obvious ones are:
Radiohead- Kid A
The White Stripes- White Blood Cells
Bob Dylan- Love & Theft
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Streets- Original Pirate Material
OutKast- Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below
Arcade Fire- Funeral
Franz Ferdinand- Franz Ferdinand
Kanye West- College Dropout
Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
Antony & The Johnsons- I Am a Bird Now
TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
Radiohead- In Rainbows
M.I.A.- Kala
Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion
Joanna Newsom's Ys will also receive one, i guess that if they give Kala a 5, maybe Arular will be a 4.5 again.
PJ Harvey's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea should also be a 4.5, but i don't know if they're gonna do it, cause Dry and To Bring You My Love are also a 4.5, i don't know why the latter is not a 5 yet.
Today i checked AMG and the site has a bug, some discographies are messed up and some albums reviews are gone. But Lady GaGa's The Fame is now a 4.5 star record, they switched the rating and the review. I still don't get it why they upgraded that album, but not some classics of this decade.
I think we'll see some 4s go upto 4.5s:
some major bumps I hope to see:
Antony & The Johnsons- I Am a Bird Now (4.0 > 5.0)
Arcade Fire- Funeral (4.5 > 5.0), Neon Bible (4.0 > 4.5)
Bob Dylan- Love & Theft (4.5 > 5.0)
LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver (4.5 > 5.0)
M.I.A.- Arular (4.0 > 4.5), Kala (4.5 > 5.0)
Joanna Newsom- Milk Eyed Mender (4.0> 4.5) Ys (4.5 > 5.0)
Radiohead- Kid A (4.0 > 5.0), Amnesiac (3.5 > 4.0), HTTT (4.0 >4.5), In Rainbows (4.5 > 5.0)
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (4.5 > 5.0), A Ghost is Born (4.0 > 4.5)
Brian Wilson- SMiLE (4.0 > 5.0)
I was looking through our top 200 albums of the decade, and there are tons of albums that have 4-4.5 stars in our rankings that should be five imo. So I was thinking, which albums would you guys nominate for 5 stars?
I think the obvious ones are:
Radiohead- Kid A
The White Stripes- White Blood Cells
Bob Dylan- Love & Theft
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Streets- Original Pirate Material
OutKast- Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below
Arcade Fire- Funeral
Franz Ferdinand- Franz Ferdinand
Kanye West- College Dropout
Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
Antony & The Johnsons- I Am a Bird Now
TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
LCD Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
Radiohead- In Rainbows
M.I.A.- Kala
Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion
Speaking of AMG, is there a list anywhere of albums with a 5 star rating?
I haven't come across a page listing all 5-star ratings (imagine it may be a lot of them; remember the ratings supposedly only are to be compared with an act's own albums and their other ratings, so a 5-star album may happen in some cases that it normal would not- just a thought, though).
AMG has something like 1300 5 stars, including comps.
"not just the best album of 1999, The Soft Bulletin might be the best record of the entire decade." Yet the writer who wrote the review still only gives it a 4.5
I always joked about that with friends. There are some 5 star reviews that basically tear the album apart, and some less than 5 star reviews that make you scratch your head and ask "Why didn't they give it a 5 if they like it so much?"
I think to a degree the rating is to be compared to other albums by that artist, but not all artists get 5 star albums. Also, I think the review is sometimes not linked to the star rating. Often the review is the original review--written before the album acheived classic status. I think the star ratings tend to be based on consensus rather than a particular critic's view--at least after the album is several years old.