The Animal Years (studio album) by Josh Ritter
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Josh Ritter bestography
The Animal Years is ranked as the best album by Josh Ritter.
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The Animal Years track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
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The Animal Years rankings
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The Animal Years ratings
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 48 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
75/100  | 01/04/2021 04:49 | Moondance | | 72/100 |
90/100 | 11/09/2020 01:05 | CompassCharlatan | | 91/100 |
75/100 | 09/18/2020 08:05 |  Tamthebam | | 69/100 |
75/100 | 04/22/2020 22:33 | LosWochos | | 75/100 |
75/100 | 03/12/2020 05:07 | weston | | 71/100 |
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).
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This album is rated in the top 5% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.1/100, a mean average of 75.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.6.
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buzzdainer 09/12/2016 18:48
Striking a skillful balance between songs that are deeply personal with those that are ardently political, often at the same time, The Animal Years came at the height of the Iraq War, a conflict that tore families apart both in the United States and abroad. Several songs on this album deal explicitly with this theme, while others, such as the good-natured, midtempo Western romance "Good Man," reveal a longing for escape that can't be entirely disentangled from its cultural context: "You're not a good shot but I'm worse / And there's so much where we ain't been yet / So swing up on this little horse / The only thing we'll hit is sunset."
Sort of all runs together by the end. Not a bad sound, though. The opener is a great one.
Great album, I've actually heard Thin blue flame before.
One More Mouth is the stand out track among a heap of quality songs.
paladisiac 12/09/2011 21:48
Josh Ritter's "the animal years" starts off with a girl in the war" crying "paul said to peter 'you gotta rock yourself a little harder' / pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire". That sets the tone for the whole album. There are some beautiful lines on this one song alone, like this closing sentiment: "Paul her eyes are like champagne / They sparkle bubble over and in the morning all you got is rain ". There's a weight to even scanning through the (am?) radio on "monster ballads" -- "Out on the desert now / I'm feeling lost The bonnet wears a wire albatross / Monster ballads and the stations of the cross / Sighing just a little bit / Smiling just a little bit ". "thin blue flame" has the weight of a closing album (or concert) track, with its cymbals and piano crashing in near the middle leaving 2:30 at the end to restretch the song and close with piano & cymbals and "only a full house". It's all singer-songwriter, indie (folk) rock with ballads and upbeat numbers (see "lillian, egypt" and "good man") galore. It's a very, subtly sweet album.
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