Bring The Family
by John Hiatt

Bring The Family by John Hiatt
Year: 1987
Release date: 1987-06-03
Overall rank: 3,621st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 106 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (50th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (533rd)
Award Best albums of all time (3,621st)

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John Hiatt bestography

Bring The Family is ranked as the best album by John Hiatt.

John Hiatt album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (3,621st)
Bring The Family
Lower ranked (8,231st) »
Slow Turning

(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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Bring The Family rankings

Bring The Family rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,621st | 1980s rank: 533rd | 1987 rank: 50th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 4 hours ago).
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026machiajTop 100 Greatest Music Albums43/10056
2026PurpleHazelTop 51 Music Albums of 198724/513
2026 Norman BatesTop 100 Music Albums of 198785/1001
2026RiveraTop 100 Greatest Music Albums81/10019
2026JohnnyoTop 100 greatest music albums (alternative list)57/100 -
2026amirmishaliTop 32 Music Albums of 198722/322
2026 zags7000Top 100 Music Albums of 198723/1004
2026RiveraTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s19/10016
2026matterhornriderTop 50 Music Albums of 198732/502
2026JohnnyoTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s16/10017
2026JohnnyoMost listened to studio albums of 2021 (101 - 200) (To delete)97/99 -
2026cicadelicTop 100 Music Albums of 198764/1002
2026cicadelicRolling Stone 1987 Critics Best Album6/10 -
2026Johnnyomale solo artists (2 B deleted)75/99 -
2026 LeonardTop 100 Music Albums of 198795/1000
2026Johnnyoin February 2021 (2 B deleted)36/50 -
2026Johnnyo1 album per artist - greatest albums of all time59/100 -
2026 TamthebamTop 100 Music Albums of 198789/1001
2026 Patman360Top 73 Music Albums of 198728/733
2026machiajTop 40 Music Albums of the 1980s7/4017
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 123
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 412
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Bring The Family collection

Bring The Family ratings

Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 106 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 106 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !
02/10/2026 23:58 Proto  Ratings distribution  4,20133/100
 
90/100
 !
12/22/2025 03:23 zags7000  Ratings distribution  20,56864/100
 
95/100
 !
09/23/2025 18:03 Johnnyo  Ratings distribution  9,77777/100
 
85/100
 !
09/15/2025 00:09 Skerns  Ratings distribution  5,15580/100
 
85/100
 !
05/05/2025 20:49 machiaj  Ratings distribution  80571/100

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 11% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.6/100, a mean average of 73.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.6.


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Bring The Family favourites

Showing all 13 members who have added this album as a favourite

Bring The Family comments

Showing all 6 comments |
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Rating:  
85/100
This is a great album that led to a string of other albums that I listen too. "Tip Of My Tongue" is my favorite song on this album. The albums Stollen Moments and Slow Turning I have on CD, it's a hard to find his albums on vinyl. On album Stolen Moments track "Listening To Old Voices" is another favorite.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 09/23/2025 18:04 | #311030
A pretty much perfect album by a great artist.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
I agree with MEZ - John Hiatt is criminally underrated as an artist. This album features some of his finest work, and there isn't a throwaway track on here. Highly recommended!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
Most of John Hiatts stuff is solid to very good. This album being very good. Very underrated artist imo. MEZ
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Great CD. Getting Ry Cooder to play along was genius. Hard to single out songs 'cuz the whole record is strong. But I think "Memphis" and "Lipstick" are faves.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
If not one of the best, certainly one of the most underappreciated and underrated songwriters of all time.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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