Secrets Of The Beehive
by David Sylvian

Album
Secrets Of The Beehive by David Sylvian
Year: 1987
Release date: 1987-10-26
Overall rank: 1,334th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 189 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (24th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (212th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,334th)

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David Sylvian bestography

Secrets Of The Beehive is ranked as the best album by David Sylvian.

David Sylvian album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (1,334th)
Secrets Of The Beehive Lower ranked (1,334th) »
Secrets Of The Beehive

(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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Secrets Of The Beehive track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
September
Average Rating: 82 (37 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
The Boy With The Gun
Average Rating: 83 (38 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Maria
Average Rating: 82 (33 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Track pick (860 - 40 votes)
Orpheus
Average Rating: 86 (40 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
The Devil's Own
Average Rating: 83 (32 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
When Poets Dreamed Of Angels
Average Rating: 83 (34 votes)Comments: View 0
7.
Mother And Child
Average Rating: 79 (31 votes)Comments: View 0
8.
Let The Happiness In
Average Rating: 83 (37 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
Waterfront
Average Rating: 83 (37 votes)Comments: View 0

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Secrets Of The Beehive rankings

Secrets Of The Beehive rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,334th | 1980s rank: 212th | 1987 rank: 24th  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: 2 hours ago)

Secrets Of The Beehive collection

Secrets Of The Beehive ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 189 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 189 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
60/100
 !		10/15/2026 19:53 AwaitingAndrew  Ratings distribution  2,60472/100
 
100/100
 !		10/06/2026 19:09 Graeme2  Ratings distribution  4,92180/100
 
75/100
 !		08/09/2026 13:58 JamesMowbray  Ratings distribution  5,73969/100

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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.7/100, a mean average of 77.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.1.


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Secrets Of The Beehive favourites

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Secrets Of The Beehive forum mentions

This album has been referenced 82 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 08/17/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5407): By Charade
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Charade () 1. by (1980) 2. by (2005) 4. (1977) 5. (1981) 6. by by (1972) 8. by (2000) 9. by (2024) 10. by (1962) 11. by (1975) 12. by (2003) 13. by (1976) 14. (1999) 15. by (2016) 16. (1974) 17. by (1997) 18. by (1973) 19. by (1968) 20. by…”
(3 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)
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From neilgee 11/24/2025 19:21 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
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From pedro1976 02/21/2024 19:33 in What album are you listening to right now?
“19:30”
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Secrets Of The Beehive comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 9 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
90/100
From 02/16/2015 07:02 | #135089 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Sylvian, surrounded by a wealth of musical talent, makes his most accomplished album. Top quality.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
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Rating:  
100/100
From 01/31/2021 00:16 | #265385 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
There's a whiff of pretention about this. But it stays on just the right side for me and sounds lovely. One I'll be listening to at night when I'm alone in that house looking at the hills through the massive window, in amongst the jazz and folk and the log fire burning. Single malt or wine, I'm easy. And Orpheus is just wonderful. Let the happiness in, ha.
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Rating:  
50/100
From 04/24/2022 23:42 | #284607 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
While smooth and easy to listen to, this album passes by without a true highlight. Vocally, it is okay but nothing special. Can only really point to “Orpheus” as any form of highlight. It somehow manages to make thirty five minutes drag which is quite an achievement. It is smooth music for background listening but nothing more.
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From 03/19/2014 04:56 | #106819 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Decent to have in the background.
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Rating:  
100/100
From 04/22/2020 20:56 | #250373 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The most consolidated album of David Sylvian's solo career. An unique album in its kind. No two sound like this.
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Best Albums of  1987
1. The Joshua Tree by U2
2. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
3. Sign "O" The Times by Prince
4. Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths
5. You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur
6. Document by R.E.M.
7. Bad by Michael Jackson
8. Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode
9. Sister by Sonic Youth
10. Substance by New Order