I borrowed this awesomely concise rating system from a Rate YourMusic user named SamBolstad, which I shall refer to hereafter as The Bolstad System or Bolstad Rating. I will use it in future reviews on this blog, applying my scores to the albums based on the following criteria, taken from SamBolstad's RYM profile:
"From my all-time favorites on down, ranking all the albums I have rated based on the rating system I use.
Rating System
I rate albums by giving out up to 5 points for various combinations of the characteristics listed below (increments of 0.25), then calculate the rating on a 5-star scale. The ratings, however, are in no way intended to present an objective analysis of the music--art is a highly subjective field, and I allow my favorite albums to mingle in with truly great albums, with the intent of reflecting my personal taste in music. I am always open to suggestions for how to improve this rating system!
Catchiness - How catchy, approachable, and aesthetically appealing the album is. It can lose points for particularly grating or annoying songs.
Lyrics, topics and originality - How consistent and coherent the lyrics are over the album, as well as how original or insightful the message is.
Flow, wordplay - Rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, clever phrase construction, good punchlines.
Vocal expressiveness - Knowing how to emote or use your voice effectively with the rest of the music. Can also simply mean being a great singer.
Musical originality, creativity - Inventive use of sound and a clearly individualistic musical persona.
Instrumental expression - Emotive use of instruments to express.
Songwriting, movements, layering, musicianship - Quality of the songwriting, lush (or appropriate) instrumentation, more than verse-bridge-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus, good intros and outros.
Variation over the album - Changing the approach with each song, diverse sounds through evolving instrumentation. You lose points for filler or styles/sounds that drone on across songs for the back half of an album.
Structure, pacing and strength strength over the album - Transitioning through high and low energy phases, intro and outro songs. Instrumentals and interludes between some songs. Dud tracks can ruin this aspect also.
How does it compare to the canon? - Community opinion, as well as how much the album has influenced future works.
Cover art - Aesthetic appeal of the image, consistency with message and sentiment of the album.
Personal bias - Essentially my most basic attitude and general stance on the album, beyond what can be justified by all those other attempts to quantify the music. Based partly on the feelings I get when I recall the album at times I'm not listening to it, the taste the album leaves in your mouth, its reputation, and so on.
My rough rating scale for allocating points:
5 - Perfect, genius, classic
4.75 - Practically perfect
4.5 - Near classic
4.25 - Mostly genius
4 - Excellent
3.75 - Very good, few big problems
3.5 - Good
3.25 - Moderate success
3 - It mostly clicks
2.75 - A bit above average
2.5 - Average
2.25 - A bit below average
2 - Okay…
1.75 - Not so good
1.5 - Pretty bad
1.25 - Annoying
1 - Bad
0.75 - Almost offiensive
0.5 - Disrespectful
0.25 - Repulsive
0 - Worth nothing"
