The Boy With The Arab Strap
by Belle And Sebastian
Belle And Sebastian bestography
The Boy With The Arab Strap is ranked 3rd best out of 21 albums by Belle And Sebastian on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Belle And Sebastian is If You're Feeling Sinister which is ranked number 129 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 10,263.
(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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Listen to The Boy With The Arab Strap on YouTube
The Boy With The Arab Strap track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Boy With The Arab Strap rankings
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The Boy With The Arab Strap ratings
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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).
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 437 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/29/2025 18:19 | mutant | 1,634 | 55/100 |
| ! | 12/27/2025 17:02 |  Milhaud | 1,702 | 70/100 |
| ! | 12/23/2025 12:01 | ThuramThugood | 3,005 | 67/100 |
| ! | 12/15/2025 21:44 |  Martini | 735 | 96/100 |
| ! | 12/11/2025 05:30 |  Kingturtle | 7,501 | 73/100 |
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 78.7/100, a mean average of 78.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.5.
The Boy With The Arab Strap favourites
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The Boy With The Arab Strap comments
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Album Rating: 83.50
(1,002/12)
Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - The Boy With The Arab Strap
07.09.1998
1.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career 83
2.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Sleep The Clock Around 88
3.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Is It Wicked Not To Care? 78
4.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Ease Your Feet In The Sea 78
5.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - A Summer Wasting 82
6.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Seymour Stein 95
7.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - A Space Boy Dream 81
8.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Dirty Dream Number Two 96
9.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - The Boy With The Arab Strap 97
10.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Chickfactor 75
11.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Simple Things 76
12.Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - The Rollercoaster Ride 73
Ranked in order of preference:
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - The Boy With The Arab Strap 97
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Dirty Dream Number Two 96
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Seymour Stein 95
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Sleep The Clock Around 88
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career 83
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - A Summer Wasting 82
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - A Space Boy Dream 81
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Is It Wicked Not To Care? 78
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Ease Your Feet In The Sea 78
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Simple Things 76
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - Chickfactor 75
* Belle And Sebastian (TBWTAS - UK - SCO - Sep 98) - The Rollercoaster Ride 73
A decent album with a few highlights but it is let down by a large amount of filler and a few weaker tracks. The positives of this record are the Title Track and the album opener both of them are classic Belle And Sebastian and they capture their style perfectly. The moody vocals and the interesting lyrics are what makes the few songs on here so good along with the diverse instrumentation. However, the slower songs just feel a bit repetitive to me and I feel like they could be a bit more experimental with the instruments. The album does get a bit dry by the end and it does drag as well. Overall, the lyrics on this album are great but the music is weaker than their other releases in my opinion.
Very decent album faves-Arab strap,Seymour Stein and Rollercoaster.
Only getting round to this band in 2019 - pity I missed them at the time. Sinister brought me in and I slightly prefer that at the moment but this is also a superb album. I love the feel and sound of the simple title song which I rate as their best over these two albums.
Sandrof1969 02/11/2018 22:57 | #207760
Un gioiello perfetto nella scrittura come nella realizzazione, fisico ed etereo insieme, delicato e sferzante. AMMALIANTE.
If the Beatlesguys sung like this I might have liked them
nitomano 12/07/2016 19:08 | #179725
Favoritas: Is It Wicked Not To Care?, Sleep The Clock Around, The Boy With The Arab Strap, Seymour Stein, Dirty Dream Number Two
The best Belle and Sebastian album ever. The boy with the Arab strap, is a superb record of incredible songs of a band totally on top of their game. This is without doubt one of the greatest British albums of the nineties. Beautiful songs, beautiful melodies, especially on, is it wicked not to care?, chickfactor, and the title track. Brilliant album from a brilliant band.
Bell & Sebastian's most blissful and happy album.
meccalecca 05/04/2014 20:33 | #110778
Tales of the two young lovers would be passed down for generations.
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