Old Ways
by Neil Young
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Neil Young bestography
Old Ways is ranked 32nd best out of 98 albums by Neil Young on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Neil Young is After The Gold Rush which is ranked number 84 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,100.
(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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Old Ways track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Old Ways rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 76/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 82 Music Albums of 1985 | 38/82 | 3 |
| 2026 | henrygreen0203 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 23/100 | 16 |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1985 | 43/50 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 30/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Neil Young: So Far.. | 15/25 | - |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 73 Music Albums of 1985 | 48/73 | 2 |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 32 Music Albums of 1985 | 24/32 | 1 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1985 Pt 2 | 16/26 | - |
| 2026 | Moondance | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 40/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 57 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 154 | |||
Old Ways collection
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Old Ways 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 95 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 19 hours ago | lanadeleswift | 3,769 | 86/100 |
| ! | 09/14/2025 15:31 | JamesMowbray | 5,646 | 69/100 |
| ! | 06/09/2025 11:32 |  VictorVale | 3,889 | 81/100 |
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 63.8/100, a mean average of 62.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 62.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.5.
Old Ways favourites
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Forum mentions
jackup 12/15/2021 07:44 in What album are you listening to right now?Old Ways comments
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El disco de Neil Young más cercano a la tradición country. Extraordinario.
Old Ways came out at the peak of Neil Young's struggles with Geffen Records in the 1980s. I actually enjoy this album. Young obviously experimented with country on earlier albums, but never on this level. Its definitely not a top tier release for Neil, but there are plenty of enjoyable tracks here. I'm actually surprised that the duet with Willie Nelson Are There Anymore Real Cowboys didn't become a country hit just because of the magnitude of the stars involved. Waylon Jennings also provides backing vocals to several songs and eventually gets a duet in Bound for Glory.
VictorVale 12/23/2020 15:48 | #263116
Já viveu momentos melhores na carreira.
teague 06/14/2020 02:04 | #253498 | TOP COMMENT
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Neil Young dabbles further than he ever has into country, and I have to say Old Ways is just fine. It's a perfectly good country album. He's not breaking any new ground, and the production is very 80s country, but there are actually a couple highlights on this thing (The Wayward Wind, Once an Angel, Misfits). If you have a very strong distaste for country, steer clear of this one, but if you're a longtime fan of Neil Young, you know he has a sort of affinity for the genre. He pulls it off well enough too.
Tamthebam 02/12/2015 07:41 | #134776 | TOP COMMENT
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He recorded 5 albums for Geffen in the 1980's this IMO is the best. Not a great Young album but better than its current position (40th out of 55) As the title suggests it is a folk/country album. Misfits and Bound for Glory are the best tracks. (Edited)
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