Stone's Five-Star Reviews

THE STONE’S STAR SYSTEM: Rolling Stone magazine, notoriously stingy with handing out stars for its record reviews—unless, of course, they happen to be pals of Jann Wenner—has given two albums in three issues five-star raves. David Fricke gave top honors to Elton John and Leon Russell’s The Union, calling it “a rare gesture in a dying business: an act of gratitude.” The new issue, with Eminem on the cover, finds Rob Sheffield awarding Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy five stars as well, calling it “his most maniacally inspired music yet, coasting on heroic levels of dementia, pimping on top of Mount Olympus… [with] the grandeur of stadium rock, the all-devouring sonics of hip-hop, the erotic gloss of disco.” Whoa. (11/16p)