Here is useful information on how to make the most of this blog as a resource for discovering new music. I provide information about where I'm coming, how I listen to albums, and how I grade them. The information is sometimes tedious, so you don't have to read all of this on your first visit to this site. Instead, feel free to skim this page or jump to the sections you're interested in.
A Quick History:
Although I always enjoyed music in my younger years, most of my early listening was with my parents or to music my parents had introduced me to. Without allowance money or access to music streaming or any significant interest in the modern music I heard on the radio, there was little opportunity for me to build my own music library so I simply didn't. That changed, however, late in my freshman year of high school (maybe May or June 2017) when I downloaded Spotify on my iPad. The platform offered easy exploration and I soon realized it was worth venturing into the unknown. Even then, I had a weird sense of responsibility to listen to and be aware of "important" artists. So I slowly began building my own musical identity.
I didn't spend much time exploring before I found Bob Dylan in late 2017. By January, my relationship with music changed forever. I spent pretty much all of 2018 listening to songs here and there from his career and I eventually knew all his critically acclaimed albums like the back of my hand. At the end of the year, Spotify documented my obsession quite spectacularly: I had listened to 450 hours of music from Dylan alone, an average of one hour and thirteen minutes per day. In late 2018, I started branching out. I began with the Beatles when I realized I only knew their number one singles. I worked through their discography, album by album, but not in chronological order (I recall starting with Sgt Pepper, then going to Rubber Soul, then the White Album, etc.). In 2019, I listened to the Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, the Who, and Bruce Springsteen. By the end of that year, I was listening to artists' discographies in chronological order to gain a better understanding of their development and to save time. It was during that year that I discovered my love of the album format and I began writing down the date I first listened to an album, something that I still do religiously.
In October 2019, I started a private story on Snapchat where I discussed new albums that I was listening to. For the first two months, these discussions were informal and very brief. Here's an example of a review from November 2019:
When the coronavirus quarantine started in March 2020, I started to intake significantly more music--approximately 30 new albums per month--and I began working on making my reviews better with the extra time. I soon discovered the website of music critic Robert Christgau, who proved to be a great influence. In that same month, I adopted the grading system which was inspired by Christgau's rating system but is not identical. In July, I created this blog and transported all the old reviews and grades that I could over to the web.
By the end of 2020, I had listened to 385 new albums. All the grades for these albums are available on this blog and most albums have written reviews (the classic periods of the artists already mentioned do not have written reviews). In 2021, I began listening to country blues artists from the 1920s to the 1940s in addition to my usual repertoire of 60s and early 70s artists. In 2022, I explored many early country musicians from the 1920s to the 1950s and began listening to punk music of the 70s. In 2023, I continued listening to punk before focusing almost entirely on finishing up the American 60s rock scene. In 2024, I plan to devote a significant amount of my time listening to early American music, whether it be 1920s-30s folk music, checking out a few early blues artist I missed, or compilations like Anthology of American Folk Music and American Epic: The Collection. I also will continue listening to 50s country music and the British 60s rock scene.
How to Navigate the Blog:
For your first few viewings of this blog, I recommend exploring it while using a desktop. The site is very crammed and hides certain features when viewing on a narrow mobile device. In contrast, it is easy to see important features on the home page when viewing on a desktop.
On the home page, you will notice "archives" and "post types" as filter options on the right side of the screen. The Archives collects posts made in a certain month, which may be useful to see approximately what I started listening to at that time. The Post Types can filter "discography pages," "album reviews," "monthly recaps," and "yearly rankings." Monthly recaps were a short-lived post type in the first half of 2021. Yearly rankings collect my ranking of albums at the end of each half-year (beginning of July) and end of the year (beginning of January). Discography pages and album reviews are explained below.
Discography pages collect all the reviews and grades I have for that particular artist. On each discography page, I note when I began listening to the artist and any more worthwhile details I think necessary before getting into the album reviews. The set up of the discography pages is similarly modeled to Robert Christgau's website.
Under the umbrella of discography pages are several miscellaneous albums/artists pages that compile artists of similar genres and time periods for whom I’ve only reviewed one or two albums. Some notable miscellaneous pages include Early Blues, Early Country, and American 60s Rock Artists. I tried to note the general time period that I listened to the bulk of these artists but sometimes the periods span several years. For instance, I’ve been working on the early blues page on and off since early 2021.
Some album reviews were given individual posts. These were meant to nicely document my experience being first introduced to an artist of high notability. For instance, I gave individual posts to the Rolling Stones' first twelve or so albums. On discography pages, there are links to these individual posts (if the album was given one). Each individual post has a context paragraph which provides information I thought would be interesting and would help understand my review. Other than fixing typos or factual errors, individual posts remain as originally posted. However, discography pages are updated for clearer analysis in the artists' wider discography and to document my changing opinions. Check out the individual post for my initial thoughts but stick to the discography pages for the most up to date grades and the best written reviews. Individual reviews have fallen out of my favor since mid 2022 because of the extra work they require.
My Listening and Grading Approach:
Almost all of my listening is done by myself with headphones on and my grades are given purely based on how much I enjoy (or don't enjoy) putting it on during my own alone time. Every time I give a grade, I ask myself how much I enjoy the record and how well it works as an album. For good albums, this ties into the final consideration: how likely I am to return to it in its entirety. That is, how likely I will give it an uninterrupted revisit at my own leisure.I do not give a grade bump to albums that "aren't for me." I suspect doing so would leave neither me nor the reader happy. I am only going to tell you what I like or don't like. I hope that by using your understanding of my tastes and preferences (which you will learn over time), the grades I give, and what the reviews say, you will have an easy time finding many great records that are new to you. Although what I write is based on how much I like what I hear, I often steer clear of using personal pronouns when possible (especially since mid-2023) to keep the reviews more professional. That is, I write as if it's not about me.
I also try to grade every album on the same level so that, for instance, there is never a C+ album that I enjoy more than a B- album. Thus, comparing any two albums based solely on grade will generally work quite well, especially for higher grades. Of course, if there’s a B- that is technically as uninteresting as a C+, it shouldn’t matter too much because I don't recommend either anyway.
Unless I explicitly make clear otherwise, the core of all my reviews and the opinions that I share in them are written without knowledge or mention of the albums that were released after the fact. This is part of my system: I listen to every discography in order of release--rarely skipping studio albums from an artist--in an attempt to recreate what it would have been like to be a fan of an artist since his/her debut. I also try my best to steer clear of mentioning any music that was released after the fact.
It is also worth noting that I have never played an instrument and I do not know music theory, so these do not influence my feelings about music. Although this may seem surprising, there are many high profile music critics who also do not have this background. In my opinion, my lack of formal music training makes my listening experience closer to what the general public hears, so I believe it is a strength rather than a impairment.
Grades:
It is worth checking out the page Grades first, but here I expound upon those definitions.
Although I ultimately find a B- to be slightly enjoyable as an experience, a B is the highest grade for an album that works as a whole and was ultimately worthwhile. However, I give B's to albums that I suspect I will not revisit. With that in mind, a B+ is the lowest grade for an album that I will definitely return to after reviewing it.
My grading system is very influenced by the fact I'm mostly reviewing albums that are close to or over fifty years old. B's and even some B-'s might be worth exploring if they were newly released today. B+'s are worth going back in time for if you like that particular artist. An A- is always an album worth going back in time for, but not necessarily an album you have to listen to depending on your tastes and preferences.
An A is a fantastic album with no glaring flaws which will continue to enrich with each complete listen. An A+ is an exceptional work which will change your life. Because I do not give the two highest grades very often, I recommend that you give an A or A+ a shot no matter the artist, genre, or release/recording date. Don't be too intimidated by this notion. Generally, I give less than 20 albums those grades per year.
My grading system is also influenced by the listening habits of people my age. Almost no one my age listens to albums all the way through. Therefore, I don't give much credit to an album for having only two or three really good songs. If I'm not bothered that someone has never heard the rest of the album, then why should the album have a high grade?
Statistically, here is the percentage breakdown for the grades I give. I do not aim for a particular percentage breakdown, this is only how it happens to come out to. Note that over 50% of albums fall into the B to C+ range while another third get varying degrees of recommendations. Part of the reason for generally positive grades is because I mostly listen to artists who are critically well-regarded and whom I expect to somewhat enjoy. And of course, I stop listening to an artists’ discography when the quality seems to have dropped off and when I don't see a well-regarded album in the near future that seems worth working towards. If I listened to the entire discography of every artist after I felt the quality dropped off, then my grade percentages would certainly be more concentrated in the B- to C range. But I'm a human and ultimately I want to listen to good stuff, just like you.
A+: 3%
A: 6%
A-: 12%
B+: 14%
B: 20%
B-: 17%
C+: 16%
C: 9%
C-: 2%
D+: 1%
Preferred listening mediums:
My listening is generally done on electronic devices, usually through streaming platforms, to save money. I started off on Spotify but moved to Apple Music in early 2022, so I could continue to enjoy Neil Young's and Joni Mitchell's music, and have stayed there ever since.
While streaming platforms offer remarkable value for music nerds like myself, they do not offer all the music ever recorded. I probably run into this issue more than you do. Most frequently, streaming platforms do not have a particular compilation album that I feel strongly about listening to and reviewing. One way I have found to get around this is to make a playlist that approximates or perfectly replicates the album (such as was the case for Elmore James's The Sky is Crying or Kitty Wells's God's Honky Tonk Angel). If that is not possible, I stick it out with an inferior compilation choice and make a note of it my review. Other times, an artist (or their music from a certain time period) completely evades streaming platforms. At that point, I turn to YouTube, purchase a physical copy, or give up.
Album Types:
I listen to studio and compilation albums at least four times before giving it a grade and written review. For an album I listened to when I wasn't so disciplined and before I created the grading system, I added asterisks (*) to the album's grade. Although the minimum is four listens, I often listen to an album more if I enjoy it or I feel it is necessary to make a better judgement on it. I often listen to an A- album five or more times before grading it because I am enjoying it so much. An A is over seven times. An A+ is over nine.
I grade compilations a little differently than studio albums because they function differently. Of course, I still grade based on my enjoyment, but I also consider how well a compilation summarizes the career of that artist. As such, you will often see me commenting on whether the track-list is a good length, if it is chronologically ordered, and if it misses any important hits from that artist. Generally, I try to look for compilations that are in chronological order and that are shorter than one hour and thirty minutes so that I can still listen to them in one uninterrupted sitting. For artists with a large body of work (Muddy Waters for example), I look for compilations that break up their work into two or more different time periods. I often use AllMusic as a resource to help determine which compilations to check out from an artist. They offer both star ratings for several of an artist's compilations and information about what periods and genres each compilation covers. Because I go through all the effort to carefully choose the compilation I review, you should read my review under the assumption that this is the best compilation that is easily available from that particular artist unless I note otherwise.
I used to listen to live albums once before giving it a grade, especially if it recycled songs already been seen on studio albums. In my early days, despite being unenthusiastic about the medium, I listened to them a lot because it was an easy and quick way to get another album down on my life list. Now, I generally avoid live albums and, in 2022 and 2023 combined, I only listened to eleven live albums. When I do listen to one now, it is often the standard four times through before a grade and review. You will note, however, that the grades are still generally pretty low.
A Few Biases:
I like "folk music," the music of everyday people, whether that takes the form of early country, early blues, early folk music, 50s and 60s rock'n'roll, or punk rock. Classical influences and techniques, self-important attitudes, grand concepts and ambitions, and perfectionist production usually don't well with me. In contrast, rudimentary instrumentation, hands-off production, and rough, expressive vocals will frequently invigorate me.