[A] Right. The '90s were a boom time for the music industry, driven in part by the arrival of almost everything old in a new format: CDs. Consumer Guide is at heart exactly that, a guide, and when a first-rate collection of first-rate songs arrived in the mail, consumer guidance often followed. With a few exceptions, most of the artists you list above recorded a lot of first-rate songs but didn't conceive their output in terms of albums, which at their best tend to be structured so they flow, to include tracks that may not be irresistible on their own but intrarelate (note: the previous word is not "interrelate," although that can happen with successions of songs as well). Greatest hits records hit home differently, track by track by track. Unsurprisingly, they suit artists who rode through their careers on the strength of memorable songs—some hits, some evocative of similar hits, others strung together by the artist in question's unique style and vocal identity.

[A] Remembering with certainty why I made that call half a century ago is pretty much impossible, but I can certainly see a logic there. A, B, C, and D don't stand for anything. They're the first four letters of the alphabet, just as 1, 2, 3, 4 are the first four numbers. To resort to F, which clearly stands for "Fail," would be to abandon that logic. E gives us five grades, with E the lowest and "Plus" and "Minus" available for further detail work. But did I ever actually resort to E Plus or E Minus? I dimly recall doings, and by checking my site—Tom Hull is unstoppable—have determined that there are seven E+'s, fifteen E's, and two E-'s (Aorta, Kim Fowley).

[A] Sure I'm missing something by not searching out singles. I'm also missing something by never visiting New Zealand. But do I hear enough great music in the course of my life? Damn right—few humans hear more, and focusing on albums as I have for 60 years has proven an enriching way to do that.

[A] I assume you mean 2024's Gratitude, of which I wasn't aware until I got this question, which says something about how "unnoticed" it's been. Streaming it first listen on Spotify as I write and would say solid, as she generally has been. But only time will tell—suitable breakfast music will enable me to check it out with my secret weapon the Carola Test. Would observe for the nonce that that's what Blige has always been: solid. Would observe that at 54 she's still an unmistakable pro. Would also observe that pros generally need something a little more scintillating than solid to break into the A list and that I'd handicap this as what I call an Honorable Mention.

[A] My suspicion after one play of Geese's Getting Killed is that your Television/Patti/Talking Heads comparison is a bit hyper. But I'll certainly play it again and at a guess would allow as how it might be some kind of A.

[A] I may be forgetting something, but I don't recall a single chansonnier (is there female variant of that term?) who's rung my chimes. I miss the African-American groove too much is one problem. But a while back I gave an A minus to a 2010 album called Bad Reputation: Pierre de Gaillande Sings Georges Brassens, in which de Gaillande translates and sings a bunch of Brassens's chansons. I ranked it 31st in that year's Dean's List. So I found it in my shelves and gave it a spin, which sounded damn good, funny and occasionally filthy (it's on Spotify). I read French moderately well, but I barely speak it unless I'm ordering food. Carola's French is quite good and when we've vacationed there she's run the show and saved our asses. Similarly, both she and Nina have run the show when we've visited Italy, where Nina's studied the language a little, although I do the driving, which in Italy is something to brag about.