The Desert Music
by Steve Reich
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Steve Reich bestography
The Desert Music is ranked 8th best out of 29 albums by Steve Reich on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Steve Reich is Music For 18 Musicians which is ranked number 531 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,266.
(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 The Desert Music on YouTube
The Desert Music track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 73 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Desert Music rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 74 Music Albums of 1985 | 37/74 | 3 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 82 Music Albums of 1985 | 71/82 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1985 | 26/50 | 3 |
| 2025 | JamesMowbray | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 31/100 | 4 |
| 2025 | mostlymor | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 23/100 | 4 |
| 2023 | sonicdiscourse | 1985 To-Do List | 89/94 | - |
| 2022 |  BozoTyrannus | Top 8 Music Albums of 1985 | 3/8 | 4 |
| 2020 | BozoTyrannus | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 44/100 | 11 |
| 2018 | AlienCinema | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 61/100 | 2 |
| 2018 |  CellarDoor | Top 45 Music Albums of 1985 | 34/45 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 13 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 38 | |||
The Desert Music collection
Showing all 2 members who have this album in their collection
The Desert Music 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 22 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/07/2025 16:23 | Araldo | 1,472 | 80/100 |
| ! | 11/24/2025 16:22 |  EyeKanFly | 8,985 | 65/100 |
| ! | 08/20/2025 10:12 |  DommeDamian | 7,806 | 48/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 71.3/100, a mean average of 70.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.9.
The Desert Music favourites
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The Desert Music forum mentions
bongritsu 02/05/2015 19:32 in What album are you listening to right now?The Desert Music comments
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