A Tonic For The Troops (studio album)
by The Boomtown Rats

A Tonic For The Troops by The Boomtown Rats
Year: 1978
Overall rank: 6,611th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 44 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1978 (113th)
Award Top albums of the 1970s (1,042nd)
Award Best albums of all time (6,611th)

Listen on Spotify Spotify
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
The Boomtown Rats - A Tonic For The Troops cassette
Condition: Very Good


eBay
eBay
The Boomtown Rats A Tonic For The Troops Vinyl LP 1979 Columbia Record JC-35750
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
The Boomtown Rats A Tonic For The Troops Vinyl LP Orig PROMO Record VG+
Condition: Used


  My favourite store:  

The Boomtown Rats bestography

A Tonic For The Troops is ranked 2nd best out of 8 albums by The Boomtown Rats on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by The Boomtown Rats is The Fine Art Of Surfacing which is ranked number 3984 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 361.

The Boomtown Rats album bestography « Higher ranked (3,984th)
The Fine Art Of Surfacing
This album (6,611th)
A Tonic For The Troops
Lower ranked (8,864th) »
The Boomtown Rats

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Nov
14
Fri
19:00
Blackberry Smoke: Rattle, Ramble and Roll Tour 2025
GLC Live at 20 Monroe, Grand Rapids, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Nov
17
Mon
20:00
Nick Mulvey: Dark Harvest World Tour
The Regent Theater, Los Angeles, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Dec
02
Tue
19:00
hannah bahng - The Misunderstood World Tour
House of Blues Houston, Houston, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

Listen to A Tonic For The Troops on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

A Tonic For The Troops track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Rating: 78 (16 votes)Comments: View 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
2.
Rating: 76 (11 votes)Comments: View 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
6.
Rating: 80 (17 votes)Comments: View 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
8.
Rating: 76 (11 votes)Comments: View 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
10.
Track pick
Rating: 86 (23 votes)Comments: View 1
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify

Track pick Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

A Tonic For The Troops rankings

A Tonic For The Troops collection

A Tonic For The Troops ratings

Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 44 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 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 44 ratings for this album.

Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 Report rating
07/13/2025 17:17 rfowler  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 44385/100
 
80/100
 Report rating
08/26/2024 16:02 matterhornrider  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 4,70381/100
 
75/100
 Report rating
08/20/2024 10:30 Tamthebam  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 22,75769/100
 
65/100
 Report rating
05/05/2024 13:47 cicadelic  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 11,00173/100
 
75/100
 Report rating
03/25/2024 07:42 zsolti  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 62881/100

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 21% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.9/100, a mean average of 71.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.3.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

A Tonic For The Troops favourites

Showing all 7 members who have added this album as a favourite

A Tonic For The Troops comments

Showing all 2 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated 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 06/09/2023 16:58
Probably the best album from Bob Geldof and co.

Side 2 especially is enjoyable
#297513 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/12/2018 16:03
She's So Modern and Rat Trap are the highlights on this one.
#226879 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for A Tonic For The Troops

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!
Log in or register to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.
Best Albums of 1978
1. Darkness On The Edge Of Town by Bruce Springsteen
2. Parallel Lines by Blondie
3. The Cars by The Cars
4. This Year's Model by Elvis Costello
5. Van Halen by Van Halen
6. Die Mensch·Maschine by Kraftwerk
7. The Kick Inside by Kate Bush
8. Some Girls by The Rolling Stones
9. Music For 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
10. More Songs About Buildings And Food by Talking Heads
11. Dire Straits by Dire Straits
12. Hemispheres by Rush
13. Outlandos D'Amour by The Police
14. 3rd by Big Star
15. All Mod Cons by The Jam
16. Chairs Missing by Wire
17. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! by Devo
18. The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu
19. Real Life by Magazine
20. Powerage by AC/DC
Back to Top