THE RATING GAME: Pop Eye has given...

THE RATING GAME: Pop Eye has given Rolling Stone magazine a hard time for the high scores its reviewers often give new albums, so it’s only fair we call rival magazine Spin on it too. In fact, the ratings in the latest issue of the alternative-oriented monthly make Rolling Stone’s staff seem like a bunch of jaded cynics.

All but one of Spin’s 16 reviews--from PJ Harvey to Depeche Mode to such obscure acts as New Zealand singer-songwriter Graeme Jefferies--are given the magazine’s highest rating, a green box. The rating is described as meaning “Go directly to your local record store. Buy this album. Immediately. Kill if you must.”

“It was unbearably green,” admits Spin music editor Craig Marks. “It just worked out that way. It just happened that all the reviewers liked the records they were assigned. Next month we’ll be a lot meaner.”