Wave
by Patti Smith Group
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Patti Smith Group bestography
Wave is ranked 4th best out of 13 albums by Patti Smith on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Patti Smith is Horses which is ranked number 195 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 7,682.
(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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Wave track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Wave rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 5 hours ago).
Liedzeit
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Wave 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 128 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/16/2026 09:12 |  RasmV | 2,546 | 73/100 |
| ! | 06/07/2026 08:11 | Kettwig | 1,343 | 90/100 |
| ! | 05/15/2026 15:15 | duelek | 2,080 | 75/100 |
| ! | 01/20/2026 17:38 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,215 | 70/100 |
| ! | 12/15/2025 04:17 | acoustic-horn | 245 | 76/100 |
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 is rated in the top 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.5/100, a mean average of 75.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.9.
Wave favourites
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Wave comments
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Often described as being a more radio-friendly, mainstream pop rock sound album but I don’t quite buy that although generally, the album is less liked by fans than what went before. To be fair, it is a little patchy but still a great listen.
It’s certainly less raw than the albums that went before but it’s still got the quintessential Patti angst and rhetoric with standout tracks like Frederick and Dancing Barefoot.
As with much of Patti’s work we have love and addict portrayed here in equal measure
It starts great with two of her strongest songs, then a pretty good byrds cover but after that, the air gets let out of the balloon, and the rest of the album limps by. Not a Bad Album but this is definitely the weakest of her 70s output. It really was wise of her to take a break.
Jboy56 02/01/2022 17:26 | #280418 | TOP COMMENT
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This album starts well but honestly, the so-called B_side is dark and turned inwards. No good melodies or anything.
Not worth a complete revisit, Better albums wait out there.
Silly underrated. This is a major album and is very influential on 80s bands like the Smiths.
Not as good as her first three albums, but still a decent enough record with a cover of The Byrds, so you want to be a rock'n'roll star, included.
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