Objectivity In Rating Music, part 2

Plus: Kanye West, Sparks, Rod Stewart, Daddy Yankee, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake

I keep returning to the idea of having some kind of alternative way to rate music beyond “I like or dislike it.” My first instinct is to call that an “objective” rating, even knowing that such a thing is impossible when applied to any kind of art, including music. But I’m realizing that objectivity isn’t really the goal here.

What I’m really after when I seek an “objective” rating is a way to identify good music that is disconnected from my personal taste. This rating could be useful for many reasons - it could provide the basis for recommending the music to other people, it can force me to listen to new things or things I dislike with more open ears, and it can help me appreciate the importance of music that is beyond the songs themselves.

My last attempt at a secondary rating system was aimed at this exact thing. I tried to identify 3 traits of music that I can more or less rate even if I didn’t like the music - Talent, Songwriting, and Importance. I also included a personal adjustment that was intended to balance out any distaste I might feel for the music - meaning I typically raised this when I disliked the album to avoid artificially lowering the rating due to my personal taste.

I like the idea of a simplistic system like the one I proposed. Simple systems stick, while more complex systems take an exponentially higher amount of energy to maintain and put into practice. But I haven’t found this approach very helpful, and I don’t think it really separated my personal taste from the rating. See the graph below - this is a plot of my personal "Taste” rating vs. my attempted “objective” rating per song.

I see a pretty strong trend here. The higher my taste rating is, the higher my so-called objective rating is. This means one thing to me - my objective rating is just another way of saying if I like the music or not. There are very few albums I don’t personally like that I have rated highly from an objective perspective. This means that there’s very little that’s objective about my alternative rating system.

So what to do? Well, I’m an engineer, and engineers are always happiest when stuff breaks. We tested my system to failure, it failed, and now we get to try something new.

First, let’s re-hash the purpose of this secondary rating - to create a second metric for music that separates my personal taste.

To that end, I’m calling the new system by a new name. Objectivity is kind of pointless in music, anyway. So I’m going to call my new rating my “brain” rating. So every album will have a Taste rating and a Brain rating.

What’s that mean? It means I’m going to create two subjective ratings about each album, one driven by how much I like the music (and want to listen to it again), and the other by the other things I learn about the music. It’ll be kind of like recommending a restaurant to someone who likes Italian food if I don’t like Italian food: If I know the chef is great, the ingredients are fresh, and the drinks are delicious, I can stand behind that recommendation.

(I love Italian food, along with almost every other kind of food there is, but you get the point)

This Brain Ranking will include many things (some of which might look familiar):

• The importance of the album culturally, musically, or otherwise

• The exceptional talent of the artist - singing, instrumentation, songwriting, etc.

• Originality

• Critical reception or acclaim

• Commercial popularity

Now I want to be very careful with some of these. The last 2 points are especially tricky - I don’t want to become a mouthpiece for critics or for the Top-40 algorithms, each of which have their own problems creating truly good recommendations. But I can’t ignore that success in these two arenas is very important.

And the key difference between this rating and my previous rating is that I will be 100% making subjective ratings in these categories, and that’s OK. Because the goal isn’t to define once and for all “what is good music?” The goal is to create a rating I can stand behind when recommending the music to someone I think might like it, even if I don’t.

Project B.A.E. - Best Albums Ever - 6

Here are this week’s random selections, continuing to listen my way through the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time:

Feels like a pretty cool variety this week, I have to say. I wonder if Kanye and Rod Steward have ever met before. I feel like they’d both have some interesting things to say, and I’d pay great money to be at that dinner party. If they ever do a collab, you heard it here first.

Yeezus - Kanye West - 2013

According to Wikipedia, “The album has been characterized as West's most experimental and sonically abrasive work.” That’s a pretty good way to describe the first track, “On Sight,” which was about as off-putting of an album opener as I’ve heard. But then we get into the easier-to-appreciate songs where Kanye’s genius is much more apparent to this amateur listener. That being said, this is an aggressive and dark album lyrically, and the sound captures that essence exactly. 

Kanye is another artist who’s taken on a caricature-like quality in my mind. But the image I have of him - as a conflicted, angry, brilliant lyricist and even more brilliant producer - matches this album perfectly. And after hearing the breadth of sounds on this album, I think Kanye could make a hit in any genre he chose. 

Brain Rating: 8.2

Taste Rating: 3.5

Jams

• “Black Skinhead”

Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart - 1971

One of the more unique voices in rock history. One thing I often enjoy about classic rock, and have always enjoyed about Rod Stewart, is the relative lack of polish compared to the shiny, sparkling new music we’ve grown used to in the digital age. This album has that live recorded, raw sound that, when done well, really feels like magic to me. It just feels more real. Not to mention that according to his autobiography, several of the original songs on this album were actually written at the studio or on the way, in just a few days before recording. Raw rock & roll, indeed.

Stewart’s influences sound as if they range from country to soul music, and these all come across in this album. This was another one I grew up with, and highly recommend. 

Brain Rating: 8

Taste Rating: 8.2

Favorite Jams

• “Seems Like A Long Time”

• “Maggie May”

• “Mandolin Wind”

• “(I Know) I’m Losing You”

Kimono My House - Sparks - 1974

This album is #474 on the Rolling Stone list, and if you’d asked me five minutes ago if this was a real album or made up, I wouldn’t have been able to answer. Yet again, a seemingly highly regarded album and artist has completely escaped my notice my entire life. I have no idea what to expect - however, for this album I decided to read up a little before jumping in, just to see how that affects my perception of the music.

The Rolling Stone review compares them to Bowie and Roxy Music, also noting that it “has been cited by countless musicians as a major influence on their careers and playing, including Morrissey (The Smiths), John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) & Steve Jones (Sex Pistols)”. Interesting. I’m imagining some funk, some glam, and some off-the-wall guitar, but we shall see.

Off the wall was right. I got strong Bowie vibes from “Thank God It’s Not Christmas,” with the half-falsetto vocals and unusual arrangement. I’d recommend listening to this album with the lyrics pulled up - that made it way more enjoyable and funny at times. Without the lyrics (and perhaps a mind-altering substance) it’s simply a bit odd.

I can see how this influenced a lot artists, though. I think it must have been so unusual and jarring and tongue in cheek when it was released that it made people think a little differently about music. Today it sounds like a distant relic, a weird musical cul-de-sac. But it was enjoyable for the novelty, and I’ll trust the critics about the importance of this album. They normally have a great grasp on that kind of thing. 

Brain Rating: 7

Taste Rating: 1.5

New Jams

• “Hasta Manana, Monsieur”

Love And Theft - Bob Dylan - 2001

The first thing that struck me is how Dylan’s voice changed so much over the years. By 2020 it had turned into more of a guttural growl than the high pitched whine I was used to from his earlier work.

Initial reaction: I was expecting more… important feeling lyrics from the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature. This feels like a nostalgic album that, if written by a young Dylan in the 70’s, might have felt relevant and timely. In 2001 it feels like an album of songs featuring poetry about a lost youth.

I think this album gives hardcore Dylan fans what they want. Would it have been as successful if it was a debut from another artist? I have my doubts. But just because the topic matter doesn’t relate to me, doesn’t mean it won’t resonate with somebody. And not resonating with lyrics haven’t stopped me liking other music in the past- however here, there’s very little to appreciate besides the lyrics and the wry delivery, so missing the value of the lyrics doesn’t leave much to enjoy. I kind of regret that opinion, but it’s how I feel at the moment.

I think I might have identified a trend in my taste - I don’t connect well to music by older or end of career artists. No matter the decade, I think I’ve enjoyed music recorded by artists closer to my age (at the time of recording) much more. I’ll be exploring that further in future issues.

I can forgive this album for being by an older artist. I hope people forgive me for getting old one day too and constantly reliving my glory days over and over. 

Note to self: listen to this again in 30 years. 

Brain Rating: 7.5

Taste Rating: 2

New Jams

• “High Water ( For Charley Patton)”

Barrio Fino - Daddy Yankee

#473 Rolling Stone list. Released in 2004, it was the Puerto Rican artist’s first big international success, eventually landing on all kinds of top album lists and gaining widespread critical success. According to Wikipedia, it “explores themes ranging from dance, sex, romance, introspection, and protest against political corruption and violence against women,” which I am glad to know considering I don’t speak the language.

This album also prompted me to look up the difference between Reggaeton and Reggae (perhaps proving my ignorance, but hey, nobody’s perfect) and now I now Reggaeton is Reggae’s dancehall cousin. I have no clue how that definition escaped me for this long, but that seems to be a theme of this project.

This album is undoubtedly important, as it had a huge role in bringing the Reggaeton genre and Latin music more broadly to the world, but I can only appreciate its full message as a secondhand observer, since I can’t understand the full context and themes covered in the lyrics. I enjoyed my listen (with the exception of “Gasolina” which, although an excellent mega-poppy song, still makes me taste tequila deep in my esophagus thanks to college).

Brain Rating: 7.8

Taste Rating: 3

New Jams

• “Dale Caliente”

Pink Moon - Nick Drake - 1972

This album was not very well-loved at the time of its release, but has grown in the eyes of the music critics ever since. It’s now at #201 on the rolling stone top 500 list, and interestingly has risen from #301 in the previous edition of the list. I wonder, before listening to the album, what it is about this music that has made its popularity grow and grow since its release. Is it more relatable to today’s listeners? Was it simply not very well known until later years? Did Nick Drake’s death 2 years after the album’s release cause its popularity to grow? Apparently he flat-out refused to perform live during his lifetime, and man can I relate to that feeling. 

After one listen, this is already one of my favorite singer-songwriter albums that I’ve ever heard. The songs are so clean and tight and packed with emotion, but nothing is overdone or derivative-sounding. I was totally immersed.

The onlyh weird moment was when I realized that the “Know” guitar part sounds 100% identical to the Home Depot theme song to me. I was literally in my yard taking leaves into a Home Depot bag when it came on - you may think I’m making that up, but it is, unbelievably, true. It’s a great song but I couldn’t get past the similarity. 

Brain Rating: 8

Taste Rating: 8.6

New Jams

• “Pink Moon”

• “Things Behind The Sun”

• “From The Morning”