Alas, I Cannot Swim
by Laura Marling

Alas, I Cannot Swim by Laura Marling
Year: 2008
Release date: 2008-02-11
Overall rank: 4,487th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 93 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2008 (64th)
Award Top albums of the 2000s (769th)
Award Best albums of all time (4,487th)

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Alas I Cannot Swim [Digipak] by Laura Marling (CD, Aug-2008, Astralwerks) New!
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Laura Marling bestography

Alas, I Cannot Swim is ranked 5th best out of 8 albums by Laura Marling on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Laura Marling is Song For Our Daughter which is ranked number 1832 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 920.

Laura Marling album bestography « Higher ranked (3,447th)
I Speak Because I Can
This album (4,487th)
Alas, I Cannot Swim
Lower ranked (4,502nd) »
Patterns In Repeat

(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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Alas, I Cannot Swim rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,487th | 2000s rank: 769th | 2008 rank: 64th

Alas, I Cannot Swim collection

Alas, I Cannot Swim ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 93 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 93 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 
02/28/2026 00:00 DaveH68  Ratings distribution  1,36376/100
 
100/100
 
01/26/2026 11:59 Leginlists  Ratings distribution  2,57784/100
 
75/100
 
04/22/2024 10:27 cautionarytale  Ratings distribution  26176/100
 
75/100
 
04/11/2024 06:30 cestuneblague  Ratings distribution  8,03380/100
 
75/100
 
03/25/2024 10:58 Robmc70  Ratings distribution  1,48580/100

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 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.7/100, a mean average of 76.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.9.

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Alas, I Cannot Swim favourites

Showing all 11 members who have added this album as a favourite

Alas, I Cannot Swim comments

Showing all 4 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)

Rating:  
80/100
From 01/17/2018 14:54 | #205883
Excellent debut album. It sets the stage for her songwriting ability. Very good album and a gem of an artist.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/22/2015 03:25 | #146218
I am able to listen to this album straight through at any time and place. Her first masterpiece.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 11/27/2013 16:18 | #94965
For me this is by far her best album. Diminshing returns with each one she does to the point I havnt got the last. This is when she sounded least contrived and wasn't sounding like people expect eg. Joni mitchell. Music press will tell you each one she does is better that the last.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/13/2013 21:07 | #92206
Laura Marling's weakest album. Of course, that still makes it one of the greatest of all time.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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