5 star albums from Rolling Stone magazine: 1980-present

No 5-star albums between 1994 and 2001?

O_O @ the springsteen ratings

i was working from some site that claimed there were only 3 five star albums in the '90s but i remembered the neil young one, so that made it four. like i said, might be missing some.

what a weird list. are we voting for the best one, or the most LOLtastic?

best thread ever

some of these must've been retrospectively assigned grades cause RS didn't do stars for awhile in the 80s.

f'rinstance I reviewed these two and didn't give a grade (though both deserve five):

986: The Queen is Dead - The Smiths
1986: Raising Hell - Run-D.M.C.

lou reed's cancer concept album - what was it called- got seven stars in 92! and IIRC hootie & the blowfish got five...

The Doolittle 5 star seems like a retrofit. I remember reading a 3 or 3.5 star review at the time. RS was being really timid giving out even 4 star reviews then (still?). I thought Goo's 4 star rating was what Lou Barlow was referring to in Gimme Indie Rock.

5 stars for It's Hard!? wtf

voted for Sandinista

pavement is definitely retro

this should be just the in-the-moment 5 stars. i'd be curious to see which those are

i think i need to read some of the reviews justifying the "perfect album" rating .... esp. "It's Hard". And the Jagger.

Is Pavement the only debut on here? They really gave that 5 stars when it came out?

Up to this point, Mick Jagger's solo career has been an incidental affair, something that has surfaced in the interludes between Rolling Stones albums and tours. His previous releases - 1985's She's the Boss, 1987's Primitive Cool and 1993's Wandering Spirit - were earnest, respectable efforts that offered their fair share of pleasures but did not establish a distinct or significant new musical identity for Jagger apart from the Stones. Goddess in the Doorway finds Jagger taking a giant step - not away from the shadow of the Stones but beyond what that understandably history-bound band has been able to achieve on record in recent times.

In terms of consistency, craftsmanship and musical experimentation, Goddess in the Doorway surpasses all his solo work and any Rolling Stones album since Some Girls. It does so by returning to the dance beats, big grooves and modern edge that have characterized the Stones' best work. The key to all the Stones' classics - from "Satisfaction" and "Brown Sugar" to "Miss You" and "Start Me Up" - is that they are built from the rhythm up: Goddess in the Doorway, which was almost entirely constructed around Jagger's rhythm guitar, is a return to that modus operandi.

Jagger has poured his heart into this album. The strongest songs - "Don't Call Me Up," "Brand New Set of Rules," "Hide Away" and "Everybody Getting High" - are also the most candidly personal. In the past, he has slipped into personae - the Street Fighting Man, Jumpin' Jack Flash, the Man of Wealth and Taste - but he lets his guard down to an unprecedented degree on Goddess; the beautiful ballads draw on feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, spiritual yearning and, as always, life with the ladies.

These gains in maturity have taken no toll on Jagger's inner rock & roller. The Street Fighting Man can still swagger at the top of his - or anybody else's - game. Goddess in the Doorway resembles the Stones' best albums in that it's a varied yet cohesive collection of ballads, hard rockers and one country song. But on his own, he is free to cast off the blues-rock anchor that both defines and (at times) confines the Stones. Jagger heads into edgy, danceable modern-rock territory with the throbbing electronic groove of "Gun" and the snarling, whip-crack assault of "Everybody Getting High."

Making the most of this opportunity to stretch himself, Jagger has recruited some outstanding guests, many of them younger artists whom he directly influenced. Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty collaborates on the pop-y, melodic opening track, "Visions of Paradise," which boasts a soaring chorus. Lenny Kravitz produces and co-writes "God Gave Me Everything," a driving, riff-propelled rocker that evokes the punkish stomp of the early Stones.

On "Hide Away," one of my favorite tracks, Wyclef Jean helps burnish a subtle reggae- and hip-hop-inflected groove. Employing some of his most moving and nuanced vocal phrasing, he confides, "I'm gonna fly away/And no one's gonna find me." The lyrics portray a guy who's got it all - fame, fortune and the means to indulge any materialistic and hedonistic impulse he might divine - but is wise enough in his late middle age to know there's something more out there.

"Joy," a rocking, gospel-tinged collaboration with Bono of U2 - and featuring an indelible guitar hook from Pete Townshend - offers a revealing glimpse of what Jagger is seeking: "I looked up to the heavens/And a light is on my face/I never never never/Thought I'd find a state of grace." The mark of U2 is overt on "Joy," but the band's influence subtly courses through the rest of the album; like Bono and company in the last decade, Jagger (along with producers Marti Frederiksen and Matt Clifford) has adapted modern rhythms and contemporary production techniques to his own naturalistic rock & roll ends.

"Everybody Getting High," featuring Aerosmith's Joe Perry, and "Lucky Day" are fierce, biting rockers. No one struts or wags a tongue as sharply as Jagger, and "Everybody Getting High," in particular, stands out as a blistering, arena-ready, hard-rock singalong. The absurdist lyrics find Jagger poking fun at scenes from his celebrity life: "My dress designers, they wanna doll me up in blue/Mmm-hmm pretty/Next fall collection, they're gonna show it in the zoo." The tight blues shuffle "Lucky Day" is highlighted by some brief but fiery harmonica playing from Jagger. Like a good blues workout, it leaves you hungry for more, and this masterful use of tension and restraint is part of what makes Goddess in the Doorway so beguiling.

It may seem a truism, but it's worth noting that he is - along with John Lennon, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Bono - one of the great male rock voices of this age. And he is in exceptional form on Goddess in the Doorway. If anything, Jagger's voice is rounder and warmer than ever, and he brings a new richness of phrasing to the heartbroken, confessional "Don't Call Me Up" and the extraordinary closing tracks, "Too Far Gone" and "Brand New Set of Rules."

After all of the excursions undertaken on Goddess in the Doorway, Jagger brings it all back home with these last two numbers, which are musically rich and lyrically reflective ballads in the grand tradition of such Stones pillars as "Wild Horses" and "Moonlight Mile." Jagger offers unabashedly human, vulnerable sentiments on "Brand New Set of Rules" (which features daughters Elizabeth and Georgia May on background vocals): "I will be kind, won't be so cruel/I will be sweet, I will be true/. . . I got a brand-new set of rules I got to learn."

It is a clear-eyed and inspired Mick Jagger who crafted Goddess in the Doorway, an insuperably strong record that in time may well reveal itself to be a classic. World, meet Mick Jagger, solo artist.

JANN S. WENNER

(Posted: Dec 6, 2001)

Wasn't that the one that sold less than a thousand copies on the day of its release?

sorry, had to post that -- a review for the ages.

xpost to self

not that most people wouldn't kill to sell 1000 copies on the first day of a release, but for a guy with ubiquitous name recognition and millions of fans, that's an epic fail.

sott ftw

Yeah some of these received five stars as reissues, e.g. in 2007 Xgau gave the Deluxe Edition of Daydream Nation five stars but in the original review, Robert Palmer gave it only three and half stars.

ah yeah, that must've been the case with S&E, too.

From the original review itself, which concludes with the line "Daydream Nation presents the definitive American guitar band of the Eighties at the height of its powers and prescience", you would never guess it would end up with less than 4 stars.

Gah, why do we pay so much attention to the stars?

theyre shiny :(

Never forget: St. Anger 5-stars in 2003.

it's hard is probably the worst of the ones i've heard, but lol @ springsteen cheerleading

no way did appetite get five stars in 1987, either (assuming they reviewed it at all upon release -- lots of places didn't, seeing how they were just another dumb hair-metal band and all.)

"Tug Of War", just ahead of "Sea Change" and "Smile". :)

some classics in there along with some real headscratchers. i think springsteen is one of the worst musical artists of all time. it was tough to decide between some of these, so i just went with the one i listen to the most: REM automatic for the people

i think springsteen is one of the worst musical artists of all time

^rong

yeah that's wrong. but you could probably go your life without hearing any of the five star boss masterpieces above and be OK.

the only time i can tolerate any springsteen is when fucking RATM covered that one track. and i didnt even really like that either. but it was far less overblown crappy nonsense than his own shit is. i can't even guess how anyone listens to him without vomiting.

xp i can take or leave most of his stuff, 'cept i like a lot of the singles. of course, the entirety of BTR is perfect

that list is so gross. like 90% of those artists are just really terrible. five stars my ass.

why are you even on this thread?

Master of Puppets is a better album than Sandanista! but some part of me did not want to vote that way.

but i did anyway haw

Godess in the Doorway, muthafuckas!!!

er, goddess even.

Sign 'O' the Times, easily. The few rap albums on the list are good too, but not among my personal favourites, and the rest of the list is adult rock.

Are we sure about Dog Shit in the Doorway (Keith's amended title)? I thought it got 4.5 stars.

Sign 'O' the Times for me.

you guys is all rockists

Diamond Life walks this poll

Went with Remain in Light.

Strokes "This is It" got five stars, didn't it? I remember that being a big part of the fuss.

I would've thought J0hn'd have voted for Pirates.

I love Pirates and parts of it are some of my favorite stuff ever but Diamond Life is just permanent all-time wow wow wow.

that 5-* sade review was written in 2004! RS was lukewarm-to-hostile on pop/R&B in the 80s. this list is a symphony of revisionism, among other things. a better poll would be all the now-classic albums rolling stone panned, like the infamous review of nevermind.

(sade ruled my world up thru love deluxe)

The only ones of these I rate at all are Smile, Sea Change, Automatic, Graceland, Queen is Dead, and Tug of War. Most of those are "pretty great" records but for 5/5 it's got to be Smile, Graceland, or Automatic.

If we count Original Musiquarium, a compilation, then it takes this in a fucking WALK.

Yeah, I almost voted for it too.

Dogshit dammit!!!

oh, you must mean the edition with Scott's Sabbath reviews. never did get that one.

Did Rolling Stone even review Slanted and Enchanted when it came out? they certainly didn't give it 5 stars in 1992.

I think they gave the last beastie boys record 5 stars too

'Love and Theft' ... some of the entries are totally baffling me - Document? Really? For giggles, I may pick up an RS this wknd.

Rolling Stone really is as bad as Q magazine.

three of those are up there amongst my very favourite albums. i don't really think i can narrow it down from those.

lool @ 01-08

for some reason i found it tough to find "actual" ratings and realized that some were probably revisionist history shit. basically this thread exists to take a dump on rolling stone.

lol pipecock is retarded

yeah, to the 5 buroughs got 5 stars....
i dunno.

Going by memory here, so could easily be wrong, but I think 1989 was the year they brought star ratings back-- Freedom really did get 5 stars (and I swear they brought them back within a few weeks of that review) and for 6 or 7 years before that they didn't have ratings.

Sea Change - Beck

lolllllll

remain in light, btw

Love and Theft is the best one from this decade.

This is definitely an inaccurate list..

no way did appetite get five stars in 1987, either

I'm immediately suspicious of this as well. Also, Nevermind WAS highly praised by Rolling Stone, but only shortly after the initial review.. It was in their albums of the year, and in '92 they did the 25th anniversary issue with people voting for their favorite albums, and Nevermind was in the top 3 of the 90's (at the time we were only 30 months into the decade).

If there's no reissues or greatest hits then we shouldn't be counting Original Musiquarium I.

haha I remember reading some letter to the editor bemoaning Kurt Loder's review of Sign 'O' the Times (which I of course voted for here) as not being enthusiastic enough. I believe that was also during the no-stars-given-out phase of RS reviews.

Goddess In The Doorway 4 life

haha it wasn't until billstevejim's post just now that I realized that Goddess will probably win, and deserves to in a way: it's the ultimate "5 star album from Rolling Stone," in the sense of that honor having come to basically amount to cronyism.

wow tattoo you? jeepers.

well, of course! Having made a comeback in 1978, the Stones were entitled to another three years later.

Some of these struck me as a little odd, either because I remembered the star ratings differently, or because RS didn't give out star ratings for a number of years. I checked in the RS DVDs, and the following either didn't get five stars, didn't get a star rating at all, or didn't get a full review upon release:

Remain In Light - Talking Heads (no star rating)
Zenyatta Mondatta - The Police (no star rating)
Diamond Life - Sade (no star rating)
Rain Dogs - Tom Waits (no star rating)
Graceland - Paul Simon (no star rating)
Master of Puppets - Metallica (no star rating)
Raising Hell - Run-DMC (no star rating)
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths (no star rating)
Appetite For Destruction - Guns N Roses (not reviewed upon release)
Document - R.E.M. (no star rating)
Sign 'O' The Times - Prince (no star rating)
The Joshua Tree - U2 (no star rating)
Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen (no star rating -- I can only find it in the end-of-year wrap-up; I find it hard to believe it didn't get a proper review upon release, but I wasn't able to find one)
Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth (no star rating)
Straight Outta Compton - N.W.A. (not reviewed upon release)
Doolittle - Pixies (3-and-a-half stars)
Metallica - Metallica (four stars)
Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement (no review upon release -- first Pavement album to be given a proper review was Westing)

this thread suddenly makes me want to listen to DOCUMENT very loudly with the windows open and a few cans.

the funniest thing abt the Goddess review is that Wenner was forced to do it himself since everyone refused to whore out enough to write that crap. and then he uses his publisher-5-star-by-fiat rule..

2008: Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen
2007: Magic - Bruce Springsteen
2006: Modern Times - Bob Dylan
2005: Late Registration - Kanye West
2004: Smile - Brian Wilson
2003: Elephant - The White Stripes
2002: The Rising - Bruce Springsteen
2002: Sea Change - Beck
2001: Love and Theft - Bob Dylan
2001: Goddess in the Doorway - Mick Jagger

good summation of the decade, must be acknowledged. token black person included!

This suggest there were no

...star ratings given in the 1980s, which is sorta how I remember it.

Wenner by most accounts didn't write that, someone else did and he signed it.

Jagger?

TS: the Jann Wenner Goddess in the Doorway review vs. The Source's 5-mic review of Benzino's album

>Wenner by most accounts didn't write that, someone else did and he signed it.

i remember reading - i think it was somewhere on the old rockcritics.com site? - that he was forced to write it since everyone refused. oh well, you probably-surely know more about this

Springsteen released a new album last year?

and the world didn't stop spinning on its axis???

how odd.

2008: Working on a Dream – Bruce Springsteen
2007: Magic - Bruce Springsteen
2006: Modern Times - Bob Dylan
2006: To the Five Boroughs- The Beastie Boys
2005: Late Registration - Kanye West
2004: Smile - Brian Wilson
2003: Elephant - The White Stripes
2002: The Rising - Bruce Springsteen
2002: Sea Change - Beck
2001: Love and Theft - Bob Dylan
2001: Goddess in the Doorway - Mick Jagger

That Springsteen album isn't out yet.

um 2008? (rs reviewed it pre-release, i take it. weird.)

no, that's probably just a typo. Springsteen is '09.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this list is so boring that i had nearly fallen asleep by halfway down it, but i'm glad i didn't, as i would've missed the glorious 84/85 b2b of sade and tom waits.

add the new U2 album to this list

raising hell vs. rain dogs

This poll is so fucked. There really shouldn't be "revisionist history" reviews.

I'm voting Goddess in the Doorway because that Jann Wenner review amuses me. And I really really really want to know the name of the hack that ghostwrote it.

it is vv difficult to find a site w/all the actual 5 star reviews listed. or at least i didn't find one. : /

i think it's more of an indictment of rolling stone than you gear

i mean, duh on nation of millions omission

(and Frank's Wild Years imo)

daydream nation, rain dogs and master of puppets are probably the records here that had the biggest impact/influence on me (youth...). also S&E, sign o' the times, doolittle, sandinista, raising hell, appetite. went with daydream nation

would be cool to see a list of actual, time-of-publication five stars...

i'm one of ilx's few U2 stans and i of course enjoy the new album but that 5-star review is pretty embarrassing.

Hmmm, using what criteria shall I judge between Master of Puppets, Straight Out of Compton and Rain Dogs?

"new album"?

these were actual time-of-publication 5 star reviews:

Sandinista
Tug of War
The Final Cut
Metallica

not sure about some of the other obvious choices.

Remain in Light

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

buncha comedians

2001: Goddess in the Doorway - Mick Jagger 6