5 A classic or soon-to-be classic. I can't say enough good things about one of these records. Typically, you put one of these on and are surprised when it ends, because it's that good. No gimmicks, just music for its own sake.
4 Still a very, very good album. Maybe a couple of not-so-great tracks, or maybe it just can't live up to all those 5's out there. I would buy this album a beer if it were a person. Or, failing that, I'd buy a beer for that band that made it.
3 A good album, but not a standout, either in the artist's catalog or in general. Still very listenable. But if you make all the albums 4's or 5's, you kind of cheapen the whole album-rating process. Sometimes, you have to be in a specific mood to apprecitate these types of albums.
2 Flawed, but not so much that it's not worth an occasional listen. If you ever sit down and think, "What album will I listen to right now?", a 2 will never pop right out at you. You have to be reminded of something on the album, which gets caught in your head.
1 Somebody, somewhere, probably likes this. Whoever this person is, they are probably an enemy of music, as well as all that is good and decent in this world.
0 Shit.
Fact: I share the same birthday with Benoît Mandelbrot. I learned this from a Jonathan Coulton song.