Clutching At Straws
by Marillion
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Marillion bestography
Clutching At Straws is ranked 3rd best out of 41 albums by Marillion on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Marillion is Misplaced Childhood which is ranked number 626 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,711.
(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 Clutching At Straws on YouTube
Clutching At Straws track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Clutching At Straws rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Robert Anton Wilson | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 23/100 | 16 |
| 2026 | joathome | Top 33 Music Albums of 1987 | 33/33 | 0 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | The best prog & metal albums of each year since 1983 by Loudwire | 5/42 | - |
| 2026 | Robert Anton Wilson | Custom chart | 36/61 | - |
| 2026 | Rich150 | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 78/100 | 23 |
| 2026 | Pavloss | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 61/100 | 8 |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | 1980s, #401-500* | 18/35 | - |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 62 Music Albums of 1987 | 24/62 | 3 |
| 2026 | Rm12398 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 73/100 | 6 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1987 | 19/100 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 145 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 983 | |||
Clutching At Straws collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 87 members
Clutching At Straws 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 189 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/18/2026 12:04 | iann97 | 2,228 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/31/2026 14:47 | JamesMowbray | 5,728 | 69/100 |
| ! | 07/28/2026 15:52 | ecocruzr | 257 | 69/100 |
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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.9/100, a mean average of 78.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.2.
Clutching At Straws favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 26 members
Clutching At Straws forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 08/20/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5410): By DeckillerView latest topic →
neilgee 01/22/2026 20:41 in What album are you listening to? (cont.) BestEverAlbums 11/08/2023 21:00 in Album of the day (#4707): Clutching At Straws by MarillionView latest topic →
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Clutching At Straws comments
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I think it's a slight improvement over Misplaced Childhood, but by this point it was clear that the band was taking a far more "adult-oriented" and less proggy direction. The direction's certainly not a bad thing, but I think the band lost some of its energy and power along the way. The first two Marillion albums are melodic, deep, yet also very powerful. This one...well, it's up and down. It's a little too soft on the whole. With that said, the opening 3 tracks are stellar, and White Russian gives me that Fugazi vibe I've been looking for.
discojets1 12/24/2016 16:48 | #180900 | TOP COMMENT
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In my opinion they improved their sound immensely from Misplaced Childhood. Its more progressive and less poppy. Steve Rothery is fantastic on this album. Fish voice sounds very reminiscent of Peter Gabriel during the Genesis on this album. Very ethereal and dreamy, nice 80s synth and guitar sound. (Edited)
The last Fish vocal Marillion album and although very good, at the time it did not have the impact the first three albums had on me. I was gutted when Fish left (they were the first band I saw live - Real to Reel tour - and my favourites at the time) but listening now I think you can hear things were changing...shame neither Fish nor Marillion were as good afterwards.
Again an impressive beginning with that epic-sounding feel. Always liked 'Torch Song'.
Excellent album from Marillion, my second favourite by the band (behind Misplaced Childhood). Fish's vocals were perfect on this record. Fav tracks : Warm wet circles, slainth math, sugar mice and the last straw. (Edited)
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