Songs For Drella
by Lou Reed / John Cale

Songs For Drella by Lou Reed / John Cale
Year: 1990
Overall rank: 2,272nd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 137 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1990 (32nd)
Award Top albums of the 1990s (396th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,272nd)

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LOU REED/JOHN CALE SONGS FOR DRELLA CD Never Played Scratch Free
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Lou Reed & John Cale: Songs for Drella CD / Special Velvet Digipak / Inc Booklet
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Limited Edition - Lou Reed & John Cale - Songs for Drella CD. Sealed
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Lou Reed / John Cale bestography

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Songs For Drella
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Songs For Drella 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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Songs For Drella rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,272nd | 1990s rank: 396th | 1990 rank: 32nd
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026cicadelicTop 100 Music Albums of 199054/1002
2026TroutMaskGregTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s36/10013
2026 RomanelliMy Overall Chart: 1301-140089/100 -
2026saltysurpriseTop 52 Music Albums of 199046/521
2026 LeonardTop 100 Greatest Music Albums32/10069
2026matterhornriderTop 45 Music Albums of 199039/451
2026 neilgeeTop 100 Music Albums of 199076/1001
2026SumbodyTop 37 Music Albums of the 1990s14/3713
2026SkernsTop 69 Music Albums of 19905/695
2026stangetzawayTop 29 Music Albums of 19908/294
2026 RomanelliTop 89 Music Albums of 199045/893
2026 cestuneblagueTop 100 Music Albums of 199025/1004
2026stangetzawayTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s78/1005
2026Juneof44Top 50 Music Albums of 199025/503
2026 TamthebamTop 94 Music Albums of 199019/944
2026Foxforce5Top 27 Music Albums of 199014/273
2025JohnnyoGreatest albums of the '90's (201 - 300) by U R C84/100 -
2025 andy_hunterTop 73 Music Albums of the 1990s39/7310
2025juanr1096Top 48 Music Albums of 199027/482
2025 LeonardTop 100 Music Albums of 19901/1005
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 137
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 708
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Songs For Drella collection

Songs For Drella ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 137 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 137 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 
01/26/2026 10:36 Tamthebam  Ratings distribution  22,93969/100
 
80/100
 
12/22/2025 01:04 zags7000  Ratings distribution  20,41064/100
 
85/100
 
12/05/2025 22:23 Araldo  Ratings distribution  1,47180/100
 
70/100
 
10/15/2025 21:49 traistboar  Ratings distribution  1,63279/100
 
25/100
 
11/01/2024 05:52 Proto  Ratings distribution  4,10833/100

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 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.7/100, a mean average of 75.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.

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Songs For Drella favourites

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Songs For Drella comments

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Rating:  
95/100
From 03/21/2018 17:54 | #211442
Songs for Drella is a musical retelling of the life of Andy Warhol as told by two of the great musicians whose careers he launched. Every song feels unique, and every one brings something to the table, my only complaint would be that Lou Reed sings the vast majority of the songs, John Cale only singing a third of them, but that’s only a problem if, like me, your more of a John Cale fan. You really feel the love these two had for old Andy, but they don’t act as if it was all good times, the album really does portray the life of someone who they (Reed particularly) loved and hated in equal mesure at different times in their lives.

The best tracks here are most of the tracks on which Cale provides the vocal (“Style It Takes”, “Forever Changed” and the spoken word story “The Dream” particularly) and Reed’s brilliant “Slip Away”, “I Believe” and the beautiful, haunting “Hello It’s Me”, which may be my favourite song Lou Reed has sang since the Velvet Underground.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/18/2018 17:19 | #208700
Il secondo sodalizio artistico tra Lou Reed e John Cale, ventitrè anni dopo il primo. A ben guardare è più un disco dei Velvet Underground questo "Songs for Drella" che non il terzo omonimo dei Velvet stessi o soprattutto "Loaded"; questo proprio perché, per me, ciò che fa la differenza tra un disco dei Velvet ed uno solista di Lou Reed è John Cale. Sia come sia questo omaggio funebre all'amico scomparso ( Andy Warhol ) è sentito, sincero, crudo, non retorico e soprattutto non triste. In una parola: riuscito. Dopo di questo le strade dei due torneranno a separarsi, per sempre.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 12/03/2016 15:13 | #179509
This album was written by Reed with Cale as an homage to Andy Warhol (= "Drella") right after his death. It describes Warhol's life in songs. Remember Warhol was the initiator of the Velvet Underground project that launched Reed's and Cale's careers. The album is full of emotion. Great lyrics. Of course, this is a dark album. But to me it's reed at his best.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 07/10/2016 13:35 | #171009
A good album but let down by Lou Reed's talking vocals. Why can't he sing like he used to do? Apart from that, very good.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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