Strange Mercy (studio album) by St. Vincent

Strange Mercy by St. Vincent
Year: 2011
Release date: 2011-09-13
Overall rank: 632nd   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 543 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 2011 (11th)
Award Top 100 albums of the 2010s (90th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (632nd)

St. Vincent bestography

Strange Mercy is ranked 2nd best out of 9 albums by St. Vincent on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by St. Vincent is St. Vincent which is ranked number 468 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,854.

St. Vincent album bestography « Higher ranked (468th) This album (632nd) Lower ranked (907th) »
St. VincentStrange MercyMASSEDUCTION

Upcoming concerts

Mar
22
Fri
19:00
Vincent Neil Emerson
Wooly's, Des Moines, United States. United States
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Mar
28
Thu
20:30
Jonah Kagen W/ Vincent Lima
Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, United States. United States
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Mar
28
Thu
20:30
Jonah Kagen w/ Vincent Lima
Brick and Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
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Strange Mercy track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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2.
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Rating: 89 (164 votes)Comments: 0
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3.
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Rating: 85 (138 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 86 (129 votes)Comments: 1
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Rating: 84 (126 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 80 (107 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 80 (107 votes)Comments: 1
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9.
Rating: 81 (110 votes)Comments: 0
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Track pick Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Strange Mercy rankings

Strange Mercy collection

Strange Mercy ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 543 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 543 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 Report rating
02/03/2024 10:37 JR  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,05881/100
 
85/100
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01/08/2024 10:32 mash  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 99388/100
 
65/100
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01/01/2024 20:42 Cheboygan74  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,14851/100
 
100/100
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12/12/2023 15:31 beatlematt  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 40178/100
 
60/100
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12/10/2023 19:33 VVNVR  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 62571/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.7/100, a mean average of 77.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.

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Strange Mercy comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 29 comments |
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Rating:  
80/100
From 01/29/2022 09:06
A fantastically written record with so many brilliant lyrics that keep us entertained throughout. The themes are consistent as well and link together nicely to create a cohesive album in terms of song writing. Musically, it is great in places as well with the first 3 tracks being just amazing. After that we get a few more excellent instrumentation performances but they are a bit more scattered around. It does slow down nearer the end though and lacks the consistency to maintain the sound for the full run time. Overall, this is an album that shows so much potential and is very enjoyable to look into.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 05/14/2021 08:59
The quintessential St. Vincent record, if there can even be one.. considering Annie keeps changing what St Vincent is with every album. But for me, this album will always represent St Vincent in her core element and its my favourite record of hers.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 01/09/2020 19:18
Annie Clark delivers a more hard-hitting and thematically coherent album than Marry Me and Actor. She puts a lot of difficult-to-face subjects like the condescending roles of housewives, depression, and both subjects' eventual succumbing to barbiturate use mixed with alcohol.
I think she has more potential musically though. We get some cool licks in this album and an occasional solo, but this feels much more like a songwriting-oriented album than Annie really showing off her guitar talents. The effects on the instrument keep the listener's interest, but it, paired with the more compressed drumbeats, sound more synthetic than organic. Thinking about it, maybe it goes along with the theme of drug use putting a user in a more drunken stupor?
Either way, this is a great listen, especially in the wake of more feminist movements and in midst of a huge push for equality.

85/100

Best Tracks: Surgeon, Cruel, Strange Mercy, Year of The Tiger, Northern Lights.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 01/01/2019 12:36
This is an excellent album (based on two listens so far). Thematically coherent with a very strong set of songs. I'm currently particularly taken with Dilettante - or at least the last 50 seconds of it which are stunning while being hauntingly familiar.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 09/03/2018 17:42
The pinnacle of art pop. But then Grimes came and raised the bar once again. But it’s not a race; they both made great music.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 03/23/2018 18:02
Her best album. The title track is incredible.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 08/04/2016 11:04
I think, Strange mercy, is her best record, at least to date, and this is her strongest set of songs. Of course, she is an artist who could still yet to release her greatest album, but for me, at this moment, this is her best.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 07/21/2016 04:31
Still Annie's best, an album that is both geniunely moving and often beautiful, almost shoegazing it's style which adds to her typically cerebral, oblique guitar-based art rock. It's also the first album that seems less veiled in overworked experiments and esoteric references that occasionally made St Vincent's albums seem too cold or even a bit condescending; it feels more personal, even with her usual abrupt and sometimes brutal tone shifts and use of heavy metaphor, as well as her most self-deprecating. And nothing represents her twin knockout punch of melancholic beauty and can-barely-restrain-the-crazy as the combination of "Champagne Year" and "Dillentate".
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 09/21/2015 15:06
Best tracks:
1) Surgeon
2) Cruel
3) Cheerleader
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/13/2015 04:08
I love this record, excellent guitar playing, beautiful vocals, and Annie's most honest and moving lyrics yet.
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Best Albums of 2011
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2. Bon Iver, Bon Iver by Bon Iver
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