Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes
by John Fahey
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John Fahey bestography
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes is ranked 4th best out of 25 albums by John Fahey on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by John Fahey is Fare Forward Voyagers (Soldier's Choice) which is ranked number 2151 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 771.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 7 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Hyggevinyl | Top 52 Music Albums of 1964 | 33/52 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 57 Music Albums of 1964 | 5/57 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 40 Music Albums of 1964 | 35/40 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 75 Music Albums of 1964 | 6/75 | 5 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 98 Music Albums of 1964 | 21/98 | 4 |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1964 | 27/50 | 2 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 35 Music Albums of 1964 | 27/35 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 30 Music Albums of 1964 | 1/30 | 5 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 33 Music Albums of 1964 | 33/33 | 0 |
| 2026 | pjerske | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 48/100 | 11 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 45 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 304 | |||
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes collection
Showing all 16 members who have this album in their collection
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes 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 65 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 5 days ago |  LedZep | 5,120 | 79/100 |
| ! | 08/19/2026 12:14 | Proto | 4,285 | 33/100 |
| ! | 06/30/2026 20:52 | cicadelic | 13,865 | 73/100 |
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 16% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.9/100, a mean average of 72.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.9.
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes favourites
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Forum mentions
Norman Bates 02/15/2019 21:04 in What album are you listening to right now?
Tha1ChiefRocka 06/20/2017 01:44 in Looking For Recommendations Guitar Albums:Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes comments
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A neighbor had this and played it with his windows open, so I heard it in 1964. Then later in college I heard the version he rerecorded because the masters were thought lost. Then they were found, and the version I now have is both takes back to back, and it is amazing-- half a decade apart, and there's no really obvious differences...
Jameth 08/09/2019 19:27 | #241000 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
“Sunflower River Blues” seems to be the inspiration for Zeppelin’s “Poor Tom”, and “The Downfall Of The Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill” seems to be the inspiration for Nick Drake’s “Sunday”. Not bad for a mostly obscure album.
Way ahead of it's time.
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