Tip Of The Sphere (studio album) by Cass McCombs

Tip Of The Sphere by Cass McCombs
Year: 2019
Release date: 2019-02-08
Overall rank: 19,136th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 24 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2019 (350th)
Award Top albums of the 2010s (4,310th)
Award Best albums of all time (19,136th)

Cass McCombs bestography

Tip Of The Sphere is ranked 4th best out of 12 albums by Cass McCombs on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Cass McCombs is Mangy Love which is ranked number 9809 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 120.

Cass McCombs album bestography « Higher ranked (16,890th) This album (19,136th) Lower ranked (20,564th) »
HeartmindTip Of The SphereCatacombs

Upcoming concerts

Apr
16
Tue
19:00
Bayside: The Worse Things Than Being Alive Tour
The Van Buren, Phoenix, United States. United States
Tickets from $31.00 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
Apr
25
Thu
21:00
Boogie T: 140 Warriors Tour - Los Angeles (18+)
Echoplex, Los Angeles, United States. United States
Tickets from $25.00 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
May
19
Sun
20:00
Fruit Bats
The Wilma, Missoula, United States. United States
Tickets from $28.00 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

Listen to Tip Of The Sphere on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Tip Of The Sphere track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
3.
Rating: 74 (7 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
4.
Rating: 75 (6 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
5.
Rating: 75 (6 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
11.
Rating: 74 (5 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify

Tip Of The Sphere rankings

Tip Of The Sphere collection

Showing all 7 members who have this album in their collection

Tip Of The Sphere ratings

Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 24 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 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 24 ratings for this album.

Sort ratings
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 Report rating
06/29/2023 07:47 MilanT  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 95779/100
 
70/100
 Report rating
05/20/2021 16:04 SalsaforMango  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 43173/100
 
80/100
 Report rating
08/08/2020 18:28 TonyF12345  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 3,41076/100
 
70/100
 Report rating
12/17/2019 16:13 Oselju  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,85971/100
 
65/100
 Report rating
10/31/2019 04:08 weston  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 3,09171/100

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 24% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.8/100, a mean average of 72.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 10.6.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Tip Of The Sphere favourites

Showing all 1 members who have added this album as a favourite

Tip Of The Sphere comments

Showing all 1 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
75/100
From 02/12/2019 16:49
Tip Of The Sphere is a bit slow to get going. Opener 'I Followed the River South to What' is thoroughly unlikable. The same guitar plays for the run time, and the vocals aren't much more varied. It gets pretty draining after a minute and then goes on for another six.

Luckily things pick up after this, there's some good storytelling in 'The Great Pixley Train Robbery'; 'Estrella' is little bland but overall inoffensive; the backing synths on 'Absentee' almost sound like they're singing in duet with Cass, or sometimes going off on their own tangent which could be chaotic but the mixing keeps the structure from being damaged. Lead single 'Sleeping Volcanoes' is overtly political but does well to avoid the really blunt commentary that's all too tempting at the moment. It adds up to a track with equal parts of hope, sadness and disillusionment.

The next couple of tracks are similar in terms of having a calming repeated guitar line and rewarding lyrics if you don't drift off. 'American Canyon Sutra' shifts up the pace being anchored by light percussion and a single note on the bass. The lyrics are again expressing disillusionment but they have a sharper edge than those on 'Sleeping Volcanoes'. 'Tying Up Loose Ends' is the most emotionally impactful track here, with lyrics reflecting on the loss of connection to extended family, and more broadly connection to the past and the prior identities it carries.

The ten minute closer had me concerned considering how poor the seven minute opener was, but fortunately 'Rounder' outdoes its opposing bookend completely. There's more upbeat guitars that this time carry some impact when they repeat. It also features one of the stronger vocal performances of the album. It unexpectedly ends with a long instrumental passage which nicely closes out the album.

Tip of the Sphere may have a wobbly start but after this is out of the way it's a very calm and subtle record with great lyrics and guitar work. It maintains a feel throughout but the individual tracks are varied enough to make most stand out. Worth repeated listens for the lyrics if nothing else.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Tip Of The Sphere

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!
Log in or register to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.
Best Albums of 2019
1. Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
2. Igor by Tyler, The Creator
3. Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood
4. Magdalene by FKA twigs
5. Schlagenheim by Black Midi
6. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish
7. Ghosteen by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
8. Father Of The Bride by Vampire Weekend
9. Grey Area by Little Simz
10. Fear Inoculum by Tool
11. Dogrel by Fontaines D.C.
12. All Mirrors by Angel Olsen
13. Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains
14. Remind Me Tomorrow by Sharon Van Etten
15. I Am Easy To Find by The National
16. i,i by Bon Iver
17. Anima by Thom Yorke
18. U.F.O.F. by Big Thief
19. Charli by Charli XCX
20. Bandana by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Back to Top