Which one to rate ...? Vashti Bunyan performing at the Barbican's Folk Britannia event Into the Mystic. Photograph: Mark Winpenny/Live
Put two or three arts critics in a room together, and they'll soon grumble about the star rating system, writes John L Walters.
In the Guardian and other papers, reviewers are required to rate most things - DVDs, classical concerts, theatre (though not TV) - with up to five stars, as if they were consumer items in Which?
Other publications have their own version of this system. Most opt for five, though Leonard Maltin's movie guide has a span of four (plus BOMB), while Time Out, with a touch of the Spinal Taps, goes - very occasionally, we're assured - all the way up to six.
Although five stars sounds like a wide range, most things fall in the zone around three and four. It's not that there aren't plenty of dull, two-star gigs and hopeless, one-star CDs. But, on the whole, I prefer not to waste too much of my time experiencing them: they're not much fun to write or read about, either. Admittedly, it can be amusing to see a short one-star put-down of the latest blockbuster, but to be honest I'd sooner write (and read) about artists who deserve some attention.
Yet the star system is crude. Take Tunng, who I reviewed at the Spitz the other week. Four-star content, a performance that hovered somewhere between three and four, but an overall gig experience (late running, sound, vibe, etc) that was certainly no more than three stars. So three stars it got.
Another problem was highlighted by the Barbican's Folk Britannia event, Into the Mystic, which featured seven acts. Do you rate a gig like that on the best bit, or the overall impression? I once gave five stars to Brazilian band Mestre Ambrosio, at a similar Barbican marathon, but my rating reflected them, rather than the whole evening.
Now and then there will be a gig so devastatingly good that I can't help give it five stars. (There's a rumour that jazz critics are barred from dishing out more than two five star reviews a year.) And every now and again there's a music event or recording so abysmal that it really does deserve just one star. But you don't want to read about that, do you?
