The Fine Art Of Surfacing
by The Boomtown Rats
Condition: Like New
Condition: Used
Condition: Very Good
The Boomtown Rats bestography
The Fine Art Of Surfacing is ranked as the best album by The Boomtown Rats.
(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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The Fine Art Of Surfacing track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Fine Art Of Surfacing rankings
The Fine Art Of Surfacing collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 45 members
The Fine Art Of Surfacing 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 76 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 4 days ago | Exist-en-ciel | 7,180 | 70/100 |
| ! | 01/17/2026 10:19 | Johnnyo | 9,560 | 77/100 |
| ! | 01/06/2026 11:37 | Leginlists | 1,737 | 85/100 |
| ! | 11/29/2025 03:42 | Proto | 3,943 | 33/100 |
| ! | 09/23/2025 01:20 | 5,516 | 65/100 |
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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.6/100, a mean average of 74.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.4.
The Fine Art Of Surfacing favourites
Showing all 10 members who have added this album as a favourite
The Fine Art Of Surfacing comments
Showing all 4 comments |
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Although never really a top band, they would probably have disappeared into obscurity if not for Band Aid, this is not a bad album at all. Some decent, catchy tunes. An Ok album
Some rats albums were horrendous but I liked this one. The production from Visconti raises it above others as well as a handful of great tunes. 'Someone's looking at you' excels in this regard. Great guitar sound and keyboards.
Smart, dark (but not humorless) rock songs featuring the narrative enthusiasm of Bob Geldof's singing, the superb piano/synth playing of Johnny Fingers, the consistently outstanding drumming of Simon Crowe, brattily fun backup vocals, and the best detail-oriented rock production I've ever heard.
Wore this record out a long time ago...Good dance parties, good memories.
Sounds a little dated now
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