The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
by Townes Van Zandt
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Townes Van Zandt bestography
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt is ranked 4th best out of 34 albums by Townes Van Zandt on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Townes Van Zandt is Townes Van Zandt which is ranked number 705 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,455.
(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 Late Great Townes Van Zandt on YouTube
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  DriftingOrpheus | Top 8 Music Albums of the 1970s | 4/8 | 13 |
| 2026 |  Liedzeit | Lieblingslieder - Favorite Songs | 89/100 | - |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 79/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | daCritic | Top 33 Music Albums of 1972 | 26/33 | 1 |
| 2026 | daCritic | Greatest Country Albums | 7/75 | - |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 16/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 74 Music Albums of 1972 | 19/74 | 4 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1972 | 18/20 | 1 |
| 2026 | BlueNote | Best Country Albums | 9/50 | - |
| 2026 | Cheboygan74 | Top 12 Music Albums of 1972 | 1/12 | 5 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 78 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 378 | |||
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt collection
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The Late Great Townes Van Zandt 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 86 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/02/2026 23:54 | DriftingOrpheus | 730 | 81/100 |
| ! | 04/16/2026 19:31 |  AAL2014 | 4,319 | 75/100 |
| ! | 02/20/2026 03:17 | Proto | 4,318 | 33/100 |
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 78.0/100, a mean average of 77.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.5.
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt favourites
Showing all 4 members who have added this album as a favourite
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 08/07/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5397): By Cheboygan74
Jboy56 05/02/2023 15:53 in What album are you listening to right now?
RockyRaccoon 11/02/2016 15:07 in Country music suggestionsThe Late Great Townes Van Zandt comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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A fantastic album. It's challenging, intelligent and unknown by most music fans. Mr. Van Zandt was a gifted songwriter that deserves to be heard.
Contrary to the title of this album, Townes van Zandt was very much alive upon its release, but would remain critically unknown until his death in the late 1990s.
The Late Great is a typical excellent album from his heyday recordings of the 1960s and 1970s.
Two of his greatest songs are here: "Pancho and Lefty" and "If I Needed You." Also included is "Houseboat in Heaven," co-written with Susanna Clark, the wife of songwriter Guy Clark, who never recovered after the Van Zandt's tragic death. Van Zandt also covers Guy Clark's "Don't Let the Sunshine Fool Ya." More treats include the Lightnin' Hopkins inspired "German Mustard" and the orchestrated epic "Seven Ships of Altmar."
All but three songs written or co-written by Townes van Zandt.
Career Highlight: Pancho and Lefty
Gems: If I Needed You
samistake2ice 08/19/2015 15:08 | #148009 | TOP COMMENT
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This album is criminally underrated in TVZ discography. If I Needed You, No Lonesome Tune, Sad Cinderella, are all standouts in his career. Not to mention the first appearance of Pancho and Lefty! Great great album title and cover too
covecove TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/29/2015 02:00 | #132865 | TOP COMMENT
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A songwriter for songwriters... One of the most underrated albums ever released...
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