Former Lives
by Benjamin Gibbard
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Benjamin Gibbard bestography
Former Lives is ranked as the best album by Benjamin Gibbard.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Former Lives on YouTube
Former Lives track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Former Lives rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  paladisiac | 2010s 65rating (66), #001-100* | 21/76 | - |
| 2026 | paladisiac | Top 100 Music Albums of 2012 | 57/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | The Owl 50 Best Albums of 2012 | 9/50 | - |
| 2025 | paladisiac | top 65r albums (66), #0101-0200* | 23/76 | - |
| 2025 | cicadelic | Amazon Best Albums 2012 | 58/100 | - |
| 2025 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 2012 | 62/100 | 2 |
| 2025 |  HelsinkiSnorkel | Top 72 Music Albums of 2012 | 58/72 | 1 |
| 2025 | Drbassexpert24 | Top 25 Music Albums of 2012 | 20/25 | 1 |
| 2025 | cicadelic | Mowno Bilan 2012 en 50 albums | 24/50 | - |
| 2023 |  HoldenM | Top 35 Music Albums of 2012 | 17/35 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 19 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 25 | |||
Former Lives collection
Showing all 4 members who have this album in their collection
Former Lives 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 12 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/15/2021 13:35 | LosWochos | 47,529 | 75/100 |
| ! | 11/03/2020 15:30 | davarino | 299 | 72/100 |
| ! | 02/10/2020 20:05 | Drbassexpert24 | 1,758 | 65/100 |
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 has a Bayesian average rating of 70.5/100, a mean average of 69.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 69.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 7.9.
Forum mentions
paladisiac 05/21/2013 15:58 in What album are you listening to right now? paladisiac 05/14/2013 16:15 in What album are you listening to right now? paladisiac 05/13/2013 18:42 in What album are you listening to right now?Former Lives 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)
HoldenM 10/17/2014 06:42 | #124640
This album doesn't always get it right, but when it hits, it hits HARD.
While there is nothing groundbreaking here, and very little of the album is quite to the level of Death Cab or The Postal Service, the results of Gibbard's first solo release are hardly less than pleasant
paladisiac 01/02/2013 18:08 | #59820
Sign your band to a major label, sport some radio hits, generate a massive fan following, and you too can put out a solo album like this! This album is safe, often bland and unremarkable; and yet, I still like it for the most part. There are some good pop songs on here, but Ben Gibbard has direly fallen far from the lyrical and musical prowess on display on his band's "the photo album" and his postal service collaboration. Success and age are not kind to many a musician-songwriter and ben gibbard is certainly not immune. Saying that, this is a fine alt-pop album.
Your feedback for Former Lives
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
