The Life Pursuit
by Belle And Sebastian

Album
The Life Pursuit by Belle And Sebastian
Year: 2006
Release date: 2006-02-06
Overall rank: 1,314th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 332 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 2006 (16th)
Award Top albums of of the 2000s (194th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,314th)

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Belle And Sebastian bestography

The Life Pursuit is ranked 5th best out of 21 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 138 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 9,556.

Belle And Sebastian album bestography « Higher ranked (1,140th)
Dear Catastrophe Waitress This album (1,314th)
The Life Pursuit Lower ranked (3,165th) »
Push Barman To Open Old Wounds

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to The Life Pursuit on YouTube

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The Life Pursuit track list

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

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Act Of The Apostle
Average Rating: 82 (64 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
Track pick (860 - 81 votes)
Another Sunny Day
Average Rating: 86 (81 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
White Collar Boy
Average Rating: 81 (62 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Track pick (860 - 76 votes)
The Blues Are Still Blue
Average Rating: 86 (76 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
Track pick (860 - 68 votes)
Dress Up In You
Average Rating: 86 (68 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
Sukie In The Graveyard
Average Rating: 84 (63 votes)Comments: View 0
7.
We Are The Sleepyheads
Average Rating: 82 (58 votes)Comments: View 0
8.
Song For Sunshine
Average Rating: 78 (55 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
Funny Little Frog
Average Rating: 84 (68 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
To Be Myself Completely
Average Rating: 79 (53 votes)Comments: View 0
11.
Act Of The Apostle II
Average Rating: 80 (53 votes)Comments: View 0
12.
For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea
Average Rating: 81 (60 votes)Comments: View 0
13.
Mornington Crescent
Average Rating: 82 (56 votes)Comments: View 0

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

The Life Pursuit rankings

The Life Pursuit rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,314th | 2000s rank: 194th | 2006 rank: 16th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)

The Life Pursuit collection

The Life Pursuit ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 332 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help 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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 332 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !		09/03/2026 17:40 RemainInLight  Ratings distribution  3,76035/100
 
75/100
 !		07/03/2026 20:46 dhbarrett  Ratings distribution  8,75465/100
 
100/100
 !		05/29/2026 22:38 Mum  Ratings distribution  1100/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 77.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.9.


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The Life Pursuit favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 43 members

brent13
mash
acousticmatty
Igtonumama
Aitch
Fevernova
Sandrof1969
drstuey
ThuramThugood
boppare

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 97 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements
“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 08/28/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5418): By baystateoftheart
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by baystateoftheart () 1. by (1966) 2. by (1965) 3. by (1967) 4. by (1972) 5. by (1972) 6. (2015) 7. by (2013) 8. by (1969) 9. (1971) 11. by (2015) 12. by by (2012) 14. (1989) 15. (1970) 16. (2007) 17. by (1964) 18. by (1975) 19. by (1971) 21.…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 08/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements
“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

The Life Pursuit comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 19 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/24/2025 12:29 | #312295
Album Rating: 82.92
(1,078/13)

Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - The Life Pursuit

06.02.2006

1.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Act Of The Apostle 81
2.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Another Sunny Day 100
3.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - White Collar Boy 73
4.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - The Blues Are Still Blue 72
5.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Dress Up In You 97
6.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Sukie In The Graveyard 83
7.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - We Are The Sleepyheads 71
8.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Song For Sunshine 73
9.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Funny Little Frog 88
10.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - To Be Myself Completely 73
11.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Act Of The Apostle II 98
12.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea 82
13.Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Mornington Crescent 87

Ranked in order of preference:

* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Another Sunny Day 100
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Act Of The Apostle II. 98
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Dress Up In You 97
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Funny Little Frog 88
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Mornington Crescent 87
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Sukie In The Graveyard 83
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea 82
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Act Of The Apostle 81
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - White Collar Boy 73
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - To Be Myself Completely 73
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - Song For Sunshine 73
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - The Blues Are Still Blue 72
* Belle And Sebastian (TLP - UK - SCO - Feb 06) - We Are The Sleepyheads 71 (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 02/22/2023 17:45 | #294354
A Masterpiece. Might be one of the most inderrated albums of all time
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/25/2022 22:47 | #284671
Another solid indie pop record from Belle And Sebastian. Highlights are “Sunny Day”, “Mornington Crescent” and “Act Of The Apostle”.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/01/2021 00:22 | #273152
Listening for the first time in 2021. This album is GREAT!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/01/2020 14:59 | #252665
A more pop upbeat simpler album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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