Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes
by John Fahey

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes by John Fahey
Year: 1964
Release date: 1964-00-00
Overall rank: 4,648th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 64 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1964 (27th)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (372nd)
Award Best albums of all time (4,648th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY

Listen & Collect

Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.

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 2141 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 777.

John Fahey album bestography « Higher ranked (4,494th)
Blind Joe Death
This album (4,648th)
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes
Lower ranked (4,648th) »
Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes

(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 Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes rankings

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,648th | 1960s rank: 372nd | 1964 rank: 27th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 6 hours ago).

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes collection

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes ratings

Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 64 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 64 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !
06/30/2026 20:52 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  13,32973/100
 
70/100
 !
12/20/2025 00:32 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  14,85970/100
 
70/100
 !
10/27/2025 07:15 duelek  Ratings distribution  2,05475/100
 
65/100
 !
10/25/2025 15:23 Elauqsapid  Ratings distribution  2,72164/100
 
60/100
 !
07/17/2025 18:47 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,47049/100

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 16% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.0/100, a mean average of 72.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.8.


Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to leave a rating

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes favourites

Showing all 4 members who have added this album as a favourite

Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes comments

Showing all 3 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
95/100
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...
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
“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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
Way ahead of it's time.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Death Chants, Break Downs & Military Waltzes

Anonymous
What do you think of this album? Leave a comment or rate it below.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments and join the discussion.