The Boy With The Arab Strap (studio album) by Belle And Sebastian

The Boy With The Arab Strap by Belle And Sebastian
Year: 1998
Overall rank: 908th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 417 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1998 (15th)
Award Top albums of the 1990s (172nd)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (908th)

Belle And Sebastian bestography

The Boy With The Arab Strap is ranked 3rd best out of 20 albums by Belle And Sebastian on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Belle And Sebastian is If You're Feeling Sinister which is ranked number 120 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 12,163.

Belle And Sebastian album bestography « Higher ranked (594th) This album (908th) Lower ranked (1,164th) »
TigermilkThe Boy With The Arab StrapDear Catastrophe Waitress

Upcoming concerts

Apr
24
Wed
19:00
Belle and Sebastian w/ Haley Heynderickx
The National, Richmond, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Apr
26
Fri
20:00
Belle and Sebastian
Union Transfer, Philadelphia, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Apr
27
Sat
20:00
Belle & Sebastian
Orpheum Theatre presented by Citize, Boston, United States. United States
Tickets from $28.00 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

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The Boy With The Arab Strap 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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The Boy With The Arab Strap rankings

The Boy With The Arab Strap collection

The Boy With The Arab Strap ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 417 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 417 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 Report rating
03/14/2024 02:56 sszwalbenest  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,62476/100
 
45/100
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03/03/2024 06:50 Proto  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 62442/100
 
75/100
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03/02/2024 21:06 Hyggevinyl  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,92373/100
 
95/100
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02/08/2024 03:17 EntList  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 24373/100
 
70/100
 Report rating
02/04/2024 18:18 asimpkins  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,98668/100

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 78.8/100, a mean average of 78.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.5.

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The Boy With The Arab Strap comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 17 comments |
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Rating:  
65/100
From 04/22/2022 13:35
A decent album with a few highlights but it is let down by a large amount of filler and a few weaker tracks. The positives of this record are the Title Track and the album opener both of them are classic Belle And Sebastian and they capture their style perfectly. The moody vocals and the interesting lyrics are what makes the few songs on here so good along with the diverse instrumentation. However, the slower songs just feel a bit repetitive to me and I feel like they could be a bit more experimental with the instruments. The album does get a bit dry by the end and it does drag as well. Overall, the lyrics on this album are great but the music is weaker than their other releases in my opinion.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/01/2020 15:01
Very decent album faves-Arab strap,Seymour Stein and Rollercoaster.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 03/03/2019 14:09
Only getting round to this band in 2019 - pity I missed them at the time. Sinister brought me in and I slightly prefer that at the moment but this is also a superb album. I love the feel and sound of the simple title song which I rate as their best over these two albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 05/22/2018 06:19
Decent album not the Best
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 02/11/2018 22:57
Un gioiello perfetto nella scrittura come nella realizzazione, fisico ed etereo insieme, delicato e sferzante. AMMALIANTE.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 07/06/2017 06:35
If the Beatlesguys sung like this I might have liked them
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/07/2016 19:08
Favoritas: Is It Wicked Not To Care?, Sleep The Clock Around, The Boy With The Arab Strap, Seymour Stein, Dirty Dream Number Two
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 06/12/2016 16:02
The best Belle and Sebastian album ever. The boy with the Arab strap, is a superb record of incredible songs of a band totally on top of their game. This is without doubt one of the greatest British albums of the nineties. Beautiful songs, beautiful melodies, especially on, is it wicked not to care?, chickfactor, and the title track. Brilliant album from a brilliant band.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 01/20/2016 17:17
Bell & Sebastian's most blissful and happy album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 05/04/2014 20:33
Tales of the two young lovers would be passed down for generations.
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Best Albums of 1998
1. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
2. Mezzanine by Massive Attack
3. Moon Safari by Air (FR)
4. Aquemini by OutKast
5. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill
6. Music Has The Right To Children by Boards Of Canada
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11. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams
12. Without You I'm Nothing by Placebo
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15. The Boy With The Arab Strap by Belle And Sebastian
16. This Is Hardcore by Pulp
17. TNT by Tortoise
18. Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star by Black Star
19. Yield by Pearl Jam
20. System Of A Down by System Of A Down
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