Mighty Like A Rose
by Elvis Costello
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Elvis Costello bestography
Mighty Like A Rose is ranked 12th best out of 37 albums by Elvis Costello on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Elvis Costello is This Year's Model which is ranked number 335 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,009.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Mighty Like A Rose on YouTube
Mighty Like A Rose track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Mighty Like A Rose rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  jeremy9 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 32/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | craab | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 22/100 | 16 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 55/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Igtonumama | Top 99 Music Albums of 1991 | 11/99 | 4 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 73 Music Albums of 1991 | 60/73 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 88 Music Albums of 1991 | 50/88 | 2 |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 32 Music Albums of 1991 | 19/32 | 2 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 75/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  spigelwii | Top 8 Music Albums of 1991 | 5/8 | 3 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Q magazine Recordings Of The Year 1991 | 5/50 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 59 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 251 | |||
Mighty Like A Rose collection
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Mighty Like A Rose 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 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 104 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 04/08/2026 13:10 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,688 | 70/100 |
| ! | 11/30/2025 07:32 |  Kingturtle | 7,579 | 73/100 |
| ! | 09/28/2025 21:40 | Marswolf68 | 933 | 78/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 70.5/100, a mean average of 69.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.5.
Mighty Like A Rose favourites
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Mighty Like A Rose forum mentions
pedro1976 07/01/2024 19:07 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
neilgee 01/20/2023 12:27 in What music video are you watching right now? neilgee 07/02/2021 19:07 in What album are you listening to right now?Mighty Like A Rose comments
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indieshins 04/20/2018 00:57 | #213243 | TOP COMMENT
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Depending on your point of view, the nadir of Costello's career, or one of his best. I lean towards the latter view, though it's not on the level of his albums from his first phase. This was the album where Costello pushed everything as far as he could - the production is incredibly dense, and he begins to push his voice. At times, this results in some very obnoxious sounds, as on second track Hurry Down Doomsday, which sounds dated and has an overbearing vocal performance. Still, it is more consistent than its predecessor Spike, even if the highs are perhaps not as high. The only songs that really fall short here are Playboy to a Man and Georgie and Her Rival. The rest are good to great - After the Fall, So Like Candy, Harpies Bizarre, and the closer are all highlights. This is an album to leave until you are a Costello fan, but it is not without its charms, even if it's not one of my most played of his.
If there is a musical equivalent of the kitchen sink, then Elvis Costello threw it at this album. Mighty like a rose, is overblown, pretentious, and indulgent, but underneath the orchestration, the trumpets and God knows what else, there are some decent songs. Opener, the other side of summer, is a great sun kissed anthem, hurry down doomsday, is an angry dirty rocker, and despite the bombast, all grown up, is a beautiful song. Costello/McCartney co-write, so like candy, is excellent, but the pair's, playboy to a man, is awful. The, like a rolling stone-esque, how to be dumb, is good,after the fall, is nice, and closing track, couldn't call it unexpected no:4, is the best track on the album. The rest is either not bad to disappointing. It would have been a better record if Costello had a lower budget, less time, and just a small group of musicians. Having said that, it's good that he got an album like this out of his system. If a record ever was hit and miss, this is it.
apeiron 03/30/2015 00:05 | #138224 | TOP COMMENT
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Not at his best, but this is a Costello album. Listen very carefully to "After the fall", an absolute gem.
dubwicht 01/04/2013 20:23 | #60079
Incredible record and I think his best. Superb production, arrangements and song writing.
lightmyway TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/13/2012 22:05 | #42255 | TOP COMMENT
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This is a album has a few high points that it seems to lean on. Not too bad.
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