No, that's just geeky.

Ultra-geeky is compiling an ongoing, on-line list of five and four-and-a-half star albums from the All Music Guide.

And when you're done with that, you can move on to the Penguin Guide to Jazz, thankyouverymuch.

Now Playing: The Cards looking get to get out of the top with a one run lead intact for the win...and did the fans at Busch just boo Izzy? Yeesh!

I've seen the Penguin Guide to Jazz before, actually. In bookstores? It's as comprehensive as AMG, you'd say?

The comprehensiveness of the Penguin Guide can vary from edition to edition. I've not bought a new one in quite a few years, so I cannot speak to how comprehensive it currently is.

I do, however, think it is a vastly superior guide than AMG's offering. The quality of the writing is better and certainly more consistent meaning that with fewer (still two?) writers, you get a much better sense of where their own personal biases are. If the PG does not, for example, like the direction Lee Morgan took late in his career and you do, it's a fair bet you'll like Grant Green's late recordings because the PG gives them a low rating.

AMG on the other hand, employs such a wide variety of writers that its editorial bent can be much harder to follow. Plus with the Scott Yanow reviews you have to put up with the Thom Jurek reviews and I don't even want to get started on THAT guy.

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Not sure if it's noted, and he's obviously not obscure, but Neil Young has like five 5-star albums...

Again, not particularly obscure, but Husker Du has an incredible FOUR studio recordings (out of only six) with 5 star ratings.

Debut and Homogenic by Björk both got 5 stars.

Can have three 5- star albums... wicked! I only one two of the 5 star albums though.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wmfozfshehok~T2

Brian Eno has five 5- star albums...
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=BRI...=11:uiazqj3bojha~T20

Tom Waits only has two 5- star albums though that's quite sad!
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=TOM...=11:4upyxdgbjolf~T20

Public Enemy has three 5- star albums
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3e861v7jzzua~T2

Massive Attack has two 5- star albums
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=MAS...l=11:0ekxikx6bb19~T2

Miles Davis has 17 or 18 5-star albums. That's gotta be the most.

So, any 5 starts for a newly released album? It simce to me they're afraid to do that.

They give out too many 5 stars.

The lowest I've seen is 1 and a half stars.

The Beatles have the most 5 stars ratings for their albums. The only albums that have under 5 are Yellow Submarine and Let It Be.

this is one of the more amusing reviews i've come across:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4...&sql=10:c69us30ba3dg

so, one star is the lowest they go.

anyone a bit suspicious of the Allmusic star ratings?

For example Isaac Hayes - Black Moses gets 3 and a half but the review suggests it's an essential funk oddyssey for anyone interested in 70's soul.

and then the only recent 5-star album I have seen is Big Star - Third (2006) - which I didn't hear anything about in the press (was it in Metacritic? I didn't see it) and doesn't even have a review - just a 5 star rating!

The Third was a reissue of 1978's Third/Sister Lovers. You'll find the review with the original release.

I'm surprised that AMG seems to be boycotting Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha; they still have no review or rating. They love all his other stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
The Third was a reissue of 1978's Third/Sister Lovers. You'll find the review with the original release.

That's a fantastic album, by the way.

Yeah, it sorta sounds like somebody having a nervous breakdown on vinyl, but he seems to pull himself together.

Basement Jaxx's Rooty got 5 stars, I believe.

Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View got 5 stars. Precious.

Did they change that? It's got 4.5 stars right now.

They must have. I have the book-form AMG, and it's a few years old... I stand by my post.

Klaus Schulze got a couple 5 star ratings, one for his first album Irrlicht and another for his sixth, Moondawn, which also got an AMG album pick.