I have the 1979 Record Guide. At the time, I'd never heard of Pearls Before Swine, and, by the time I "discovered" them, I'd long since forgotten the no-star review. I guess that was the most shocking thing for me to discover in Unterberger's piece. How could their writers miss how awesome it is?
Although I'm still mad about the Guide's remark about Kate Bush sounding like Yma Sumac mating with a vacuum cleaner.

Many of us in college during that time had the RS Record Guide sitting out at all times, like a family Bible. It was the go to book for reading in between any other activities. Like when you wake up too early for class, but the cafeteria has closed for breakfast. Even though the term "classic rock" was not invented until 1980, they were the gatekeepers of High Art.

For myself, as a dee-jay at the campus radio station (which was also a 50,000 watt commercial one) I had a foot in both camps. I did a contemporary (punk/new wave) show during the day and a 60s Rock show at night. But my specialty was doing time-bending links between the two genres. I'll never forgot when someone took the trouble to phone me and praise my seguing X-Ray Specs Germ Free Adolescence into Lulu's To Sir With Love.

Good Morning Mike,
Your post about "no-star" records reminded me of my baker's dozen favorite albums, no-star or starred:

The Stooges – Funhouse
Dupree Bolton-Katanga
The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street
The Beatles – Rubber Soul
Otis Redding-Tell the Truth
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
Carole King - Tapestry
T. Rex – Electric Warrior
Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
Beth Orton – Trailer Park
Todd Rundgren – Something/Anything
Curtis Mayfield-Superfly (Sountrack)

There's no accounting for taste but these are genuine gems among others in my collection.

No stars for the Dictators? Fuckers.

I can't remember when they updated the guide, but I do remember they did a mea culpa on the relative merit of Linda Ronstadt--where the previous edition had given her albums high marks, the updated guide basically called her out as a luke warm covers act.

It reminded me that opinions can/do/will change...and that was an important lesson to learn--as important, if not more, than to consider the opinions someone bothered to put into a book.