The method
How I score
Every album review carries a cup score out of 100. It isn’t a feeling rounded to a number — five criteria are scored from 6 to 10, and the total is what they add up to. Here is exactly what each one means.
| 90-100 | Cup of Excellence |
| 85-89 | Specialty |
| 80-84 | Specialty grade |
| 70-79 | Premium |
| 60-69 | Commercial |
The scale starts at 60 because I don’t review what I have nothing to say about. No sips from things I don’t like. Simple as that.
Songwriting
The writing, stripped bare: melody, lyrics, structure. What would be left if you took everything else away.
- 10The songs would survive any arrangement
- 9Nothing here is filler, and more than one song does something you didn't see coming
- 8Strong and memorable, but a few tracks rest on the chorus alone
- 7Two or three great songs; the rest is structure
- 6Competent, nothing catches
Performance
The singing and the playing. Conviction, not technique.
- 10Conviction you can't fake, held from start to finish
- 9Excellent, with moments that outgrow the record
- 8Technically flawless, emotionally level
- 7Solid, but you hear the craft more than the person
- 6Competent, anonymous
Production
The sound, and the arrangement choices. The room left for the songs.
- 10The sound is the point, not the packaging
- 9A point of view you can hear; the record would be lesser without it
- 8Well judged; serves the songs without commenting on them
- 7Clean, with no point of view
- 6Could be any record from its year
Cohesion
The album as an object. The running order, and whether the whole thing holds.
- 10The running order is an argument, not a filing system
- 9A clear journey; the detours are deliberate
- 8Coherent, one or two tracks too many
- 7Very good songs, no album
- 6A pile of singles
Aftertaste
What's left afterwards. The only forward-looking criterion: how long the record is likely to resonate, not how hard it hits today.
- 10Will hold for thirty years, and deepen on the way
- 9Still alive months later, still giving things up
- 8Good after ten listens, but done revealing itself
- 7You drift away from it without deciding to
- 6Complete on the first listen
One thing to know about the top
Between 90 and 93, a record has my admiration. From 94 up, it has something else. The top of the scale isn’t reserved for the best-made records — it’s for the ones that won’t let go of me. A flawless album that doesn’t stay with me will sit around 93, and that is a high score, not a reservation.
