Talking Timbuktu
by Ali Farka Touré With Ry Cooder
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Ali Farka Touré With Ry Cooder bestography
(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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Talking Timbuktu track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Talking Timbuktu rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 94 Music Albums of 1994 | 58/94 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1994 | 15/50 | 4 |
| 2026 | Hyggevinyl | Top 63 Music Albums of 1994 | 52/63 | 1 |
| 2026 |  EyeKanFly | Top 100 Music Albums of 1994 | 30/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 80 Music Albums of 1994 | 6/80 | 5 |
| 2026 | javicho07 | Top 24 Music Albums of 1994 | 21/24 | 1 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1994 | 62/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | mostlymor | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 53/100 | 10 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 73 Music Albums of 1994 | 30/73 | 3 |
| 2026 | jdizzle123456 | African Albums | 14/50 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 70 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 288 | |||
Talking Timbuktu collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 36 members
Talking Timbuktu 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 64 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/23/2026 05:40 | ScottJones | 144 | 83/100 |
| ! | 04/16/2026 04:56 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,652 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/13/2026 20:05 |  HoldenM | 1,893 | 84/100 |
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 11% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.5/100, a mean average of 74.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.0.
Talking Timbuktu favourites
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Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/19/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5378): By sssvnnn
Jboy56 03/20/2022 12:41 in What album are you listening to right now?Talking Timbuktu comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
I like the intricate interweaving guitars, and neat percussion throughout. The vocals have a lot of character. A very good album to chill with, has a hypnotic quality. Best: "Lasidan", "Ai Du", "Diaraby". "Ai Du" sounding like an American blues track, and "Diaraby" a very good song. Most of the album could have used some better songs, but I still like it. (Edited)
HoldenM 03/13/2026 20:05 | #313540
One of the most gorgeous albums. (Edited)
Amazing album, from start to finish. Top tracks are Soukora, Lasidan and the incredible Diaraby at the end. Takes me straight back to the beautiful landscapes and people of Mali.
teague 09/04/2020 22:29 | #257766 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
I like it... I don't really understand it though.
junodog4 02/03/2020 04:03 | #247435
Lovely. Not on par with Buena Vista Social Club, but still worthwhile.
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