Good Old Boys
by Randy Newman

Album
Good Old Boys by Randy Newman
Year: 1974
Release date: 1974-09-10
Overall rank: 2,956th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 160 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1974 (47th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (517th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,956th)

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Randy Newman bestography

Good Old Boys is ranked 2nd best out of 35 albums by Randy Newman on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Randy Newman is Sail Away which is ranked number 1752 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 974.

Randy Newman album bestography « Higher ranked (1,752nd)
Sail Away This album (2,956th)
Good Old Boys Lower ranked (5,734th) »
12 Songs

(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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Good Old Boys rankings

Good Old Boys rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,956th | 1970s rank: 517th | 1974 rank: 47th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 8 hours ago)

Good Old Boys collection

Good Old Boys ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 160 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 160 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !		05/02/2026 15:29 Pluto11  Ratings distribution  12,27672/100
 
75/100
 !		02/28/2026 18:43 DaveH68  Ratings distribution  1,36376/100
 
70/100
 !		02/07/2026 08:08 PurplePiePete  Ratings distribution  1,84680/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.2/100, a mean average of 74.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.6.


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Good Old Boys favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 16 members

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Good Old Boys forum mentions

This album has been referenced 11 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From EyeKanFly 05/25/2021 20:20 in What album are you listening to right now?
“What album are you listening to right now?”
View forum topic (7 mentions) →

From Mercury 01/13/2021 21:37 in Greatest Metal According to Gowi/LedZep/Repo/Rocky and I!
“This may be a long post. I mean maybe not. Basically I listened to 6 of the 8 albums and have limited thoughts on them all. The only ones I haven't heard here is the 96 minute ( :cry: ) Agitated Radio Pilot album and the much needed relisten to I Speak Because I Can... but the long and short of it…”
View forum topic (2 mentions) →

From Anonymous 04/02/2018 08:34 in Great albums from 1974
“My favourite from the year:”
View forum post →

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Good Old Boys comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 8 comments |
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Rating:  
95/100
From 04/09/2013 00:54 | #72107 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Possibly the most venomous satire of Newman's career atop breezy country, orchestral and jazz arrangements. As always Newman spares no one side a fraction of his wit.
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Rating:  
80/100
From 05/23/2017 05:38 | #191262 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
My favorite of the 70s albums. I think it's successful because he's not just parodying the "good old boys" of the South, but really capturing the conflicted sense of being that haunts their conscience everyday. And perhaps, more than we realize, Newman as well.
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Rating:  
90/100
From 02/10/2016 04:54 | #159250 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Like all great satire, it opens itself up to a world of interpretation, rather than didactic preaching. This is the tour de force of Newman's method painting vivid portraits in the first-person-narrators of his songs.
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Rating:  
95/100
From 12/26/2013 17:54 | #98823 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Masterful songwriting
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Rating:  
95/100
From 08/21/2017 20:38 | #196492 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A very clever record, but it doesn't hold back emotionally. Great arrangements too.
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Best Albums of  1974
1. Red by King Crimson
2. On The Beach by Neil Young
3. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis
4. Crime Of The Century by Supertramp
5. Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt
6. Court And Spark by Joni Mitchell
7. Here Come The Warm Jets by Eno
8. Diamond Dogs by David Bowie
9. Sheer Heart Attack by Queen
10. A Tábua De Esmeralda by Jorge Ben