The Crane Wife (studio album)
by The Decemberists
eBay
Condition: New
The Decemberists bestography
The Crane Wife is ranked as the best album by The Decemberists.
(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 Crane Wife track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Crane Wife rankings
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The Crane Wife 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 441 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 11/29/2025 01:50 | Exist-en-ciel | 1,938 | 69/100 |
| ! | 11/01/2025 07:56 |  Purplepash | 4,735 | 75/100 |
| ! | 09/14/2025 17:09 |  Milhaud | 1,616 | 69/100 |
| ! | 09/10/2025 12:30 | ekingshill | 851 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/25/2025 21:52 | Hyggevinyl | 4,168 | 72/100 |
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 78.2/100, a mean average of 77.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.
The Crane Wife favourites
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The Crane Wife comments
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LukasAntoine00s 02/12/2022 16:29 | #281181
83
Naaaaa qué disco tan peculiar e idiosincrático, y es muy bueno a decir verdad. Encima se inspiran en la Guerra Civil americana y en libros de Shakespeare para las letras de las canciones. Me parece una pasada tremenda. Mis canciones favoritas: The Crane Wife 3, Sons & Daughters, The Island (la de 12 minutos). Muy muy contento con el sentimiento final que me ha dejado este disco.
Just listened to this for the first time in 2021. Amazing stuff!
A great album, that has some really stand out tracks. The song writing on the record is fantastic and definitely worth a look into. Every song matches the style and tone the group is going for, making a very cohesive and complete album. I really enjoy the instrumentation as well on this album. While there are a few weak tracks and it does seem to slow a bit in the middle the rest of the music is outstanding and really captivated me whilst I was listening. Overall, an experimental and thoroughly enjoyable album.
ExTeaSea 01/18/2020 18:52 | #246980
Decemberists at their most progressive. It's beautiful and epic. Easily one of the greatest albums of 2006.
JulianR 12/21/2018 11:05 | #227547
Definitely the best Decemberists album so far, but they just keep putting out great stuff! Their last two have been very good and very overlooked
Meowtopia 03/20/2018 23:14 | #211365
A perfect indie rock album - a masterpiece. Each song telling an eloquent story. The version I have has After the Bombs, Culling of the Fold, Perfect Crime #1 +The Day I Knew You'd not Come back, and Hurdles Even here, which add to the greatness of the album. This album really show what a great writer Colin Meloy was.
Sandrof1969 02/20/2018 21:01 | #208988
Degli album dei Decemberists che ho conosciuto ( quasi tutti credo… ) "The crane wife" è sicuramente quello che mi è piaciuto di più: è più equilibrato nei suoni, le tendenze melodiche progressive sono tenute a freno, le canzoni sono migliori.
Vatsal 02/15/2018 20:17 | #208340
I forgot about this album for such a long time, and i just came back to it after years and i am in awe! The album is absolutely spectacular!
Favorite Tracks: O Valencia!, Shankhill Butchers & The Island-Come & See/The Landlords Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning
exileonthehell 03/25/2016 18:15 | #162513
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