Time Of The Last Persecution
by Bill Fay
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Bill Fay bestography
Time Of The Last Persecution is ranked as the best album by Bill Fay.
(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 Time Of The Last Persecution on YouTube
Time Of The Last Persecution track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Time Of The Last Persecution rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Jorbaa | My old top 100 | 98/100 | - |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 88 Music Albums of 1971 | 10/88 | 4 |
| 2026 | javicho07 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 81/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 46 Music Albums of 1971 | 25/46 | 2 |
| 2026 | pctrooper | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 8/100 | 92 |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 57/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | javicho07 | Top 35 Music Albums of 1971 | 9/35 | 4 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 57/100 | 9 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1971 | 95/100 | 0 |
| 2026 | Jorbaa | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 79/100 | 22 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 78 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 491 | |||
Time Of The Last Persecution collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 24 members
Time Of The Last Persecution 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 78 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/07/2026 19:23 | Jorbaa | 742 | 78/100 |
| ! | 08/25/2026 18:03 | RemainInLight | 3,760 | 35/100 |
| ! | 01/04/2026 05:47 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,615 | 70/100 |
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 79.0/100, a mean average of 79.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.3.
Time Of The Last Persecution favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 11 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 08/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5404): By pctrooper dihansse 09/10/2025 20:27 in My discoveries per yearTime Of The Last Persecution comments
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Jameth 09/02/2020 19:52 | #257696 | TOP COMMENT
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Yes, goddammit! This is what I'm looking for. Quick burning, incendiary exaltations. Charcoal grey with slashes of gold searing through.
That mythical guitar at the end of "Release is in the Eye" sounds like a calliope, similar to what Manfred Mann plays (on a Moog. A freakin' Moog.) during the coda to Uriah Heap's "July Morning". I'd love to know how Ray Russell got that tone.
Bill Fay is incredible. I never heard of him until a few months ago. This album is immediately heavy and gripping. So much truth and spiritual yearning behind these songs. One of the greatest albums ever made.
The tag 'the missing link between Bob Dylan and Nick Drake' is bullshit. Not that this is bad, but is has nothing to do with Nick Drake. George Harrison would have been a better comparison with his spirituality. Still a very overlooked gem.
This singer has inspired me... to do great things.
meccalecca 03/20/2013 17:24 | #69160 | TOP COMMENT
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One of the forgotten masterpieces of the 1970s. Fay's songwriting here is on par with the likes of contemporaries like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon. The influence it has had on Wilco is impossible to overlook.
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