Colossal Youth (studio album)
by Young Marble Giants

Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants
Year: 1980
Overall rank: 1,315th   
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 266 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1980 (35th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (209th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,315th)

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Availability

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Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth & Collected Works CD 3 Disc Set Tested
Condition: Very Good


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RARE US PRESSING Young Marble Giants "Colossal Youth" 1980 vinyl NM- Rough US 6
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Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth, 1980 LP Rough Trade Rough 8 1st Pressing
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Young Marble Giants bestography

Colossal Youth is ranked as the best album by Young Marble Giants.

Young Marble Giants album bestography « Higher ranked
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This album (1,315th)
Colossal Youth
Lower ranked »
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(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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Congress the Band
Jefferson Theater, Charlottesville, United States. United States
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Colossal Youth track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track
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1.
Average Rating: 81 (52 votes)Comments: View 0
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2.
Average Rating: 78 (41 votes)Comments: View 0
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3.
Average Rating: 75 (41 votes)Comments: View 0
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4.
Average Rating: 79 (44 votes)Comments: View 0
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5.
Average Rating: 76 (41 votes)Comments: View 0
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6.
Average Rating: 79 (44 votes)Comments: View 0
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7.
Average Rating: 76 (41 votes)Comments: View 0
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8.
Average Rating: 77 (40 votes)Comments: View 0
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9.
Average Rating: 75 (39 votes)Comments: View 0
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10.
Average Rating: 78 (40 votes)Comments: View 0
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11.
Average Rating: 79 (42 votes)Comments: View 0
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12.
Average Rating: 77 (38 votes)Comments: View 0
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14.
Average Rating: 79 (41 votes)Comments: View 0
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15.
Average Rating: 74 (37 votes)Comments: View 0
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Colossal Youth rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,315th | 1980s rank: 209th | 1980 rank: 35th

Colossal Youth collection

Colossal Youth ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 266 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 266 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
90/100
 !
42 hours ago zags7000   20,41064/100
 
70/100
 !
11/18/2025 21:33 Exist-en-ciel   3,97870/100
 
15/100
 !
11/12/2025 20:28 NYAndreas   1,43243/100
 
90/100
 !
10/07/2025 02:20 JacobMullis   72388/100
 
85/100
 !
08/29/2025 21:25 matterhornrider   4,77781/100

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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.3/100, a mean average of 76.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.2.

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Colossal Youth comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 14 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:  
70/100
From 12/07/2018 07:36 | #226388
Solid first wave post-punk, nothing more, nothing less.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 05/26/2016 19:03 | #166971
A bit to repetetive and as others have said, the songs just kind of stay the same and don't evolve to something "more". Other than that this is a great album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/26/2016 19:36 | #157837
God, how good this sounds
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
40/100
From 03/09/2014 21:35 | #105835
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -5 votes (3 helpful | 8 unhelpful)
From 11/05/2013 21:30 | #90867
Ninguna canción que destacar, es el álbum en el hay que nombrar.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/05/2013 21:29 | #90865
"La monotonía del sonito". Melodías monótonas con cambios sobre ellos que pueden resultar divertidos, pero resulta algo repetitivo. Unos instrumentos con un sonido monótono.

Pero cabe destacar buenas melodías y riffs de teclado que encajan mucho con esa época que se experimentaba con el New Wave.

Puede llegar a aburrir, pero el sonido a pesar de ser monótono, es muy agradable de escuchar. Y la voz de la vocalista es muy marcada y agradable.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 08/31/2013 13:30 | #84898
A bit conflicted with these guys. The sound is great, vocals are lovely, but too often the songs just kinda "stay" there, don't progress anywhere and end pretty fast anyway. I still enjoyed the hell out of it, but it left me wanting more :/
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/27/2013 04:14 | #82521
Post-Punk at its coolest
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 04/07/2012 09:00 | #39654
Rough Trade at their finest.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/19/2010 23:35 | #13034
For about two years in the early 80s the only two albums I listened to were "Private Parts" by Robert Ashley and this album "Colossal Youth" by Young Marble Giants. Alison's voice was so sublimely melancoly and her pristine voice was the perfect musical vehicle for Stuart's dark existential lyrics. YMG's trademark sound centered around a weird mix of Philip's steel-hawser bass, Stuart's punchy rhythm guitar (played on a mapleglo Rickenbacker 425) and haunting, rhythmic Galanti electric organ lines, with Statton's vocals tentatively suspended in the space between them, their sound was unlike anything anyone had heard before. The fourth member of the band, Peter Joyce never appeared on stage with the bands but was a key player in the YMG sound. Joyce was a telephone engineer and an electronics whizz, who had made his own synthesiser from a kit. This was a small touch-sensitive keyboard with an attache case-like box of circuitry, with several knobs and dials. It made sounds similar to Eno's synths in the early Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, who employed similar 'low-tech/high-tech' electronics. The YMGs used tape recordings of Peter's home-made drum machine in the studio to record "Colossal Youth." "Colossal Youth" is important because the quirky and eccentric music of YMG became a touchstone a whole new generation of low tech electronica rockers like East River Pipe, Aphex Twin, Luna, Mazzy Star, Magnetic Fields, Will Oldham & Beck. I was lucky enough to see YMG during their first and only American tour at CBGBs in New York and I still have a primative film of that concert. After YMG broke up Alison formed a world music band with Spike and issued three excellent albums and Stuart made an album called "SignalPath." Both Alison's and Stuart's efforts were excellent but none of their post-YMG efforts became the musical zeitgeist that "Colossal Youth" was in 1979 when pop music stood at the crossroads of the punk rebellion & emerging post-punk indie music. YMG have periodically reunited and played concerts in England, Wales and other destinations in Europe, since 2007. Find out more about the current YMG adventures at their MySpace page @ http://www.myspace.com/youngmarblegiants
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel (1980) by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Making Movies by Dire Straits
11. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure
12. Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies
13. Sandinista! by The Clash
14. Heaven And Hell by Black Sabbath
15. Ace Of Spades by Motörhead
16. Boy by U2
17. Gaucho by Steely Dan
18. Dirty Mind by Prince
19. Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden
20. Sound Affects by The Jam
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