Starfish
by The Church

Starfish by The Church
Year: 1988
Release date: 1988-02-16
Overall rank: 1,197th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 231 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1988 (19th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (192nd)
Award Best albums of all time (1,197th)

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eBay
eBay
The Church - Starfish - Intervention Records LP
Condition: New


eBay
eBay
1988 The Church "Starfish" Arista AL-8521 Near Mint Stereo Vinyl LP Album
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
The Church Starfish 1988 Vinyl Record AL-8521
Condition: Used


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The Church bestography

Starfish is ranked as the best album by The Church.

The Church album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (1,197th)
Starfish
Lower ranked (3,670th) »
Heyday

(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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Starfish track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
2.
Track pick (900 - 120 votes)
Average Rating: 90 (120 votes)Comments: View 5
8.
Track pick (850 - 80 votes)
Average Rating: 85 (80 votes)Comments: View 1

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

Starfish rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,197th | 1980s rank: 192nd | 1988 rank: 19th

Starfish collection

Starfish ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 231 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 231 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !
06/02/2026 08:56 Purplepash  Ratings distribution  4,90975/100
 
80/100
 !
04/14/2026 12:16 Fritz  Ratings distribution  1,34477/100
 
100/100
 !
02/09/2026 01:13 Jouster  Ratings distribution  743/100
 
85/100
 !
01/03/2026 02:24 ExTeaSea  Ratings distribution  5,22183/100
 
75/100
 !
11/18/2025 21:40 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  13,63670/100

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 78.4/100, a mean average of 77.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.2.

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Starfish comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 12 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:  
85/100
From 10/20/2022 00:11 | #290615
Australian music & songwriting at its best ~ well worth a listen.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 12/26/2020 16:12 | #263229
Even the songs that aren't as great fit in the mood and contribute to the overall atmosphere of the album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
Brilliant atmospheric album from one of the most underrated bands in history. "Under the Milky Way" was the right choice for the single release but the whole album has incredible and very different songs with great guitar sound. 9/10 perfect tracks made to listen during dark winter nights. The only one i don't like is "Spark".
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
This a criminally underrated album, and an underrated band in general. As a big fan of new wave, this is one of my favorite albums in the genre.

Best tracks: Under the Milky Way, Reptile, Destination, Spark
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
I don't throw statements like this out often: IMO, this is the most underrated album of all time. You would be just as hard pressed to find The Church fans here in the U.S. as you would be to find a bad song on this album. It is catchy, different, and has a spacey feel that I haven't heard in anything else. A masterpiece for sure.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (4 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
This is a pretty cool album by The Church. Some great tracks like Reptile, Destination, A New Season and the classic Under the Milky Way. Would definitely recommend people to give this one a spin or two. It provides a dreamy sound to it with the tone of the instrumentation, very atmospheric.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 02/13/2015 23:38 | #134903
Adore it from top to bottom.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 11/07/2014 01:52 | #126376
A fantastic Australian band and this is their finest album. They did have some great songs on earlier albums
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 10/14/2014 03:43 | #124451
Everybody hopefully knows about the classic "Milky Way", but "destination"
Before it is a great lead in song..... & what about "reptile".... FINE
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/22/2013 00:09 | #65790
Pretty damn good album, but not ANYWHERE near as good as Heyday.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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