A Thousand Leaves (studio album)
by Sonic Youth

A Thousand Leaves by Sonic Youth
Year: 1998
Overall rank: 3,578th   
Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 168 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1998 (62nd)
Award Top albums of the 1990s (601st)
Award Best albums of all time (3,578th)

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Sonic Youth bestography

A Thousand Leaves is ranked 11th best out of 42 albums by Sonic Youth on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Sonic Youth is Daydream Nation which is ranked number 75 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 15,683.

Sonic Youth album bestography « Higher ranked (3,251st)
Sonic Nurse
This album (3,578th)
A Thousand Leaves
Lower ranked (3,825th) »
The Eternal

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

Upcoming concerts

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The Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, United States. United States
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20:00
David Tao - Soul Power II-LA
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04
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T.S.O.L.
The Observatory North Park, San Diego, United States. United States
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A Thousand Leaves track list

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

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Rating/Comments
1.
Average Rating: 74 (25 votes)Comments: View 0
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2.
Track pick (860 - 60 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (60 votes)Comments: View 1
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4.
Average Rating: 85 (38 votes)Comments: View 1
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5.
Average Rating: 82 (31 votes)Comments: View 1
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6.
Average Rating: 82 (28 votes)Comments: View 1
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8.
Average Rating: 82 (29 votes)Comments: View 1
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9.
Average Rating: 76 (24 votes)Comments: View 0
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10.
Average Rating: 78 (24 votes)Comments: View 0
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11.
Average Rating: 77 (24 votes)Comments: View 0
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

A Thousand Leaves rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,578th | 1990s rank: 601st | 1998 rank: 62nd

A Thousand Leaves collection

A Thousand Leaves ratings

Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 168 votes)
   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 168 ratings for this album.

Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !
09/07/2025 05:38 juanr1096   6,05178/100
 
20/100
 !
09/03/2025 05:48 Proto   3,72533/100
 
35/100
 !
08/11/2025 16:49 EyeKanFly   8,09265/100
 
70/100
 !
05/12/2025 04:17 zags7000   20,39664/100
 
85/100
 !
02/27/2025 20:44 dihansse   6,21375/100

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 13% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.4/100, a mean average of 73.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.0.

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A Thousand Leaves favourites

Showing all 12 members who have added this album as a favourite

A Thousand Leaves comments

Showing all 4 comments |
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Rating:  
75/100
From 11/28/2020 17:55 | #261586
I haven't listened to it in a while, but from memory I seem to remember female mechanic on duty being wild af. And that the whole album is really good if a tad long and overdone in parts
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 07/29/2020 23:59 | #256433
Hmm. This one's a bit weak, isn't it? A lot of contrived and formulaic moments on A Thousand Leaves. It does have amazing guitar interplay, like every Sonic Youth album does, but that's really it. The song Sunday is supposedly the best song on here, I found it to be a little generic. Still, it's not horrible, it's not doing anything that I would say is crossing the line into awful, it just feels a little under par.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 10/28/2017 03:40 | #200188
Another Incredibly underrated album, Sonic Youth decided to relax, stretch their legs a bit and just quietly play some guitar. and on songs that don't do that, they'll have one of the following things that also goes extremely well for them: they'll have a kickass hard rock edge, a relaxed psychedelic melody, or a really cool jammy instrumental. In all aspects, this album rocks, but it is occasionally forgettable.

Favorite Tracks: Sunday, Wildflower Soul, Hoarfrost, Hits of Sunshine, The Ineffable Me
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 10/22/2015 00:29 | #151829
While a few of these tracks go for way too long, there is enough melodic and hypnotizing tracks to keep you enjoying it.

Favorite tracks: Contre le sexisme, Sunday, Female Mechanic Now on Duty, Hoarfrost, Hits of Sunshine, Karen Koltrane

A-
7.5
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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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
4. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill
5. Aquemini by OutKast
6. Music Has The Right To Children by Boards Of Canada
7. XO by Elliott Smith
8. Ray Of Light by Madonna
9. Deserter's Songs by Mercury Rev
10. Electro-Shock Blues by Eels
11. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams
12. Without You I'm Nothing by Placebo
13. Adore by The Smashing Pumpkins
14. This Is Hardcore by Pulp
15. The Shape Of Punk To Come (A Chimerical Bombination In 12 Bursts) by Refused
16. The Boy With The Arab Strap by Belle And Sebastian
17. System Of A Down by System Of A Down
18. TNT by Tortoise
19. Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star by Black Star
20. Stratosphere by Duster
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