Shades
by J.J. Cale
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
J.J. Cale bestography
Shades is ranked 5th best out of 23 albums by J.J. Cale on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by J.J. Cale is Naturally which is ranked number 2236 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 733.
(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 Shades on YouTube
Shades track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Shades rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Wasinski | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 64/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 59/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 41/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 62/100 | 2 |
| 2025 | dukeboxkool | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 18/100 | 17 |
| 2025 | Repo | Top 55 Music Albums of the 1980s | 42/55 | 5 |
| 2025 | Johnnyo | Top 56 Music Albums of 1981 | 19/56 | 3 |
| 2025 | Repo | Rank 'Em: JJ Cale | 7/8 | - |
| 2024 |  MW19704U | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 46/100 | 3 |
| 2023 | cronadigallina | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 33/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 24 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 89 | |||
Shades collection
Showing all 20 members who have this album in their collection
Shades ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 43 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/07/2026 03:08 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,685 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/16/2025 01:30 | morphee | 1,218 | 83/100 |
| ! | 10/01/2023 16:09 | TonySayers61 | 25,650 | 64/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 71.4/100, a mean average of 69.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.5.
Shades forum mentions
Repo 09/21/2025 02:39 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
neilgee 04/04/2021 20:16 in What album are you listening to right now?Shades comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
A good rock-blues album. Very underrated, but I'm not surprised. Just listen it. (Edited)
Another mellow J.J.Cale album. Shades, is not the best of his records, but it has some good tracks. Carry on, wish I had not said that, and, mama don't, are all enjoyable, while the instrumental closing track, cloudy day, is lovely.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
