Breathe
by Midnight Oil
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Midnight Oil bestography
Breathe is ranked 9th best out of 28 albums by Midnight Oil on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Midnight Oil is Diesel And Dust which is ranked number 951 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,830.
(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 Breathe on YouTube
Breathe track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 74 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Breathe rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 80 Music Albums of 1996 | 53/80 | 2 |
| 2026 | markl73 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 68/100 | 7 |
| 2026 | mikepen | Top 29 Music Albums of 1996 | 22/29 | 1 |
| 2026 | joathome | Top 58 Music Albums of 1996 | 8/58 | 4 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 20 Music Albums of 1996 | 20/20 | 0 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1996 | 15/100 | 4 |
| 2025 | stangetzaway | Midnight Oil Ranked | 11/11 | - |
| 2025 |  TheDude85 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1996 | 59/100 | 2 |
| 2025 |  bojolpif71 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1996 | 77/100 | 1 |
| 2024 |  Leonard | Top 100 Music Albums of 1996 | 93/100 | 0 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 20 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 83 | |||
Breathe collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 21 members
Breathe 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 30 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/28/2026 21:05 | TheHutts | 2,127 | 76/100 |
| ! | 09/20/2025 15:57 | TodFitz | 27,367 | 63/100 |
| ! | 04/18/2025 13:08 |  Tamthebam | 23,334 | 69/100 |
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 69.3/100, a mean average of 68.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 68.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.1.
Breathe forum mentions
dihansse 05/31/2025 16:50 in My discoveries per yearBreathe comments
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1996 album "Breathe" followed the fine, but overlooked album "Earth, Sun and Moon"; maybe the band took this relative failure as hint that a change of musical direction was needed. The previous albums had been very polished and well-produced; "Breathe" has a simpler production. At times quite raw as on tracks like "Surf's Up Tonight", which reminds me of Alex Chilton. Other tracks are almost pure acoustic, and the album is often described as their softest and most folky.
Maybe so; most important, I think, is that fine new songs are there. The raw simplicity of the haunting "Surf's Up Tonight" may make this song the first you really notice; but soon many others are bound to grow on you. The soft and quiet "Home" featuring Emmylou Harris is just beautiful. "Time to Heal" may be the track that comes closest to the sound of "Earth, Sun and Moon" - great song. Other outstanding songs are "E-Beat" and "One Too Many Times". Could turn out to be their most enduring album.
https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDmidnightoil.html (Edited)
Good rock album. It was completely unknown to me until my brother showed it to me. It is very good, Common Ground is the best song.
Underwater is my favorite. Definitely a more forboding and crunchier sound here. Might just be using the word 'crunchier' because there is a picture of a fish with big teeth on the front cover.
Brad1770 TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/05/2018 11:41 | #204618
Nope! Midnight Oil well past their best . Too long at 13 tracks and none are memorable . And this is coming from a Midnight Oils fan.
One of my favorite Oils albums. 'Home' with the duet of Emmylou Harris & Peter Garrett is the highlight of the album. (Edited)
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