A Rainbow In Curved Air
by Terry Riley

A Rainbow In Curved Air by Terry Riley
Year: 1969
Release date: 1969-00-00
Overall rank: 2,029th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 172 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1969 (53rd)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (192nd)
Award Best albums of all time (2,029th)

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Terry Riley bestography

A Rainbow In Curved Air is ranked as the best album by Terry Riley.

Terry Riley album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (2,029th)
A Rainbow In Curved Air
Lower ranked (5,378th) »
In C

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

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A Rainbow In Curved Air track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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A Rainbow In Curved Air rankings

A Rainbow In Curved Air rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,029th | 1960s rank: 192nd | 1969 rank: 53rd  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 4 hours ago).
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 baystateoftheartTop 80 Music Albums of 196968/801
2026 Norman BatesTop 100 Music Albums of 196925/1004
2026TroutMaskGregTop 100 Music Albums of the 1960s99/1000
2026matterhornriderTop 81 Music Albums of 196979/810
2026 arthurbittencourtTop 65 Music Albums of the 1960s45/656
2026Rm12398Top 100 Music Albums of 196975/1001
2026 TamthebamTop 100 Music Albums of 196982/1001
2026 LeonardTop 97 Music Albums of 196951/972
2026Exist-en-cielTop 100 Music Albums of 196958/1002
2026TroutMaskGregTop 41 Music Albums of 196936/411
2026 JoaoMoreiraTop 61 Music Albums of the 1960s19/6114
2026 HaydenTop 100 Music Albums of 196956/1002
2026boyd94Top 100 Greatest Music Albums42/10059
2026pjerskeTop 100 Music Albums of the 1960s18/10017
2026jdizzle123456Greatest Electronic Albums of All Time19/50 -
2026WeepingguitarmanTop 48 Music Albums of 196917/483
2026 Patman360Top 100 Music Albums of 196992/1000
2026 JoaoMoreiraTop 18 Music Albums of 19696/184
2026martinthoTop 78 Music Albums of 196976/780
2026HyggevinylTop 51 Music Albums of 196912/514
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 141
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 826
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

A Rainbow In Curved Air collection

A Rainbow In Curved Air ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 172 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 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 172 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
55/100
 !
02/06/2026 03:00 Proto  Ratings distribution  4,23733/100
 
80/100
 !
01/06/2026 18:27 matterhornrider  Ratings distribution  5,12081/100
 
75/100
 !
12/15/2025 23:24 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,35470/100
 
75/100
 !
10/06/2025 18:08 Tamthebam  Ratings distribution  23,22269/100
 
100/100
 !
07/02/2025 21:28 MarkusKosmo  Ratings distribution  61285/100

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 78.0/100, a mean average of 77.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.9.


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A Rainbow In Curved Air comments

Showing all 9 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:  
80/100
From 02/09/2024 01:24 | #301855
Entrancing music ?
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/19/2022 18:13 | #289804
This surely predates Tangerine Dream and many others. Very original, very,.,.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 08/30/2019 12:54 | #241945
I see all of the positive comments about this album but I just don't get it. I will persevere thought and the rating may well go up with more listens.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
Still as amazing as when I first heard it at school in 1969. Thank god for CD - I had wron out 2 vinyl copies by then!
An INCREDIBLY important and influential piece of music....
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
Wow! Almost 50 years old, and this is magical. As of now it's in my top 3 of 1969. And sure I haven't got that much of that year as well as the decade under my belt, this album is pretty mind-blowing and I am able to pick out the influences from this piece.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
What an amazing fusion of minimalism, classical, jazz, electronic music, and wild experimentation
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 03/03/2017 04:50 | #186703
One of the most important works of all time.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
This avantegarde masterpiece brought Riley to the attention of rock audiences. His improvised use of electronic keyboards, minimilist raga and repetitive rhythms and melodies was highly influential. The electronic psychedelic sounds Riley creates are colourful and uplifting.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
Baba O´Riley/The Who...big influence.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (4 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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