Thursday 16 June 2011

Bringing Back the Grade

When I restarted this blog I made the decision that when I reviewed albums this time around I would not assign them a rating, but rather just discuss the recording and give some thoughts, either positive or negative.  In the (Original) Rock Brigade Blog I used a letter grade – I am a teacher after all. 

However, after further reflection I thought it would be more fun to reinstate the grade.  You put yourself out there a bit more, and sometimes you look back and think you were off in your original assessment, but that’s ok too.

On my favourite sports channel, TSN, respected hockey annalist Bob Mackenzie proclaimed he did not like doing playoff predictions and would not make them.  I thought that the fun of the broadcasters on TSN was the banter and the discussion between them about their individual choices of winners and losers.  My CD reviewing system is the same thing.  Putting that final stamp of a grade on it creates more discussion allowing us all to offer up our differing or similar opinions.  In other words, not "wimping out" and leaving the grade off it.

So far I have been blogging this time around I have reviewed two dics, This is Gonna Hurt by Sixx AM and Mirrorball by Def Leppard.  See more detailed thoughts in my original reviews below but because neither has a letter grade, here it goes.

This is Gonna Hurt suits my tasts perfectly.  There may be a couple songs on there I don’t like as much as the others, but there is nothing on there I dislike or nothing on that I feel the need to skip over when playing from start to finish.  Grade A+

I also don’t feel the need to skip over anything on Def Leppard’s Mirrorball.  But again, this is a live album, so it acts like a bit of a greatest hits CD too.  Still, it’s a fun record and sounds great.  Grade:  A

There you go.  See all my other letter grades on the (Original) Rock Brigade Blog by clicking here. 

Class dismissed for today. :)

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