The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion
by The Incredible String Band
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
The Incredible String Band bestography
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion is ranked 2nd best out of 20 albums by The Incredible String Band on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Incredible String Band is The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter which is ranked number 1571 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,091.
(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 The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion on YouTube
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion 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 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1967 | 21/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | pjerske | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 54/100 | 46 |
| 2026 |  Glitterboiii | Top 45 Music Albums of 1967 | 35/45 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Wasinski | Top 50 Music Albums of 1967 | 43/50 | 1 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 29 Music Albums of 1967 | 27/29 | 1 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Early Psychedelic Rock #201-300 | 6/100 | - |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 60 Music Albums of 1967 | 32/60 | 2 |
| 2026 | pjerske | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 11/100 | 18 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1967 | 13/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 58 Music Albums of 1967 | 58/58 | 0 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 108 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 469 | |||
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 58 members
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion 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 122 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/15/2026 23:08 | PapaShiz86 | 11,731 | 79/100 |
| ! | 04/27/2026 20:42 | Hyggevinyl | 4,466 | 72/100 |
| ! | 11/20/2025 07:15 | plasmicmist | 1,988 | 76/100 |
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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.2/100, a mean average of 75.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 14 members
The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/29/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5388): By pjerskeThe 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Anti TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/06/2021 19:39 | #275931 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The name of the band checks out. This is such a whimsical, colorful psychedelic folk record. So much going on, but it's never distracting. I don't feel overwhelmed at all. This album is a must-listen for anyone interested in the 60s psychedelic scene.
Excellent folk/psychedelic album which I find has an almost soperiphic effect, well that may have been the three or four beers I consumed the first evening I played it from end to end but I have a sense this is one of those albums which will open up more with each listen. The first three tracks are particularly noteworthy. I like the fact that so many instruments are used, particularly Sitar.
mdbaxter TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/19/2020 16:14 | #257211 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Very interesting and impressive. Much different than what most other people were doing at the time simply in the fact that they didn't employ a regular percussionist. The guitar playing is superb on the part of both leads. The album contains influences from all over the world and because of that the songs jump around at times and lack focus. I enjoy Williamson's compositions compared to Heron's partly because of the lack of focus previously mentioned, particularly "First Girl I Loved".
I think they are trying so hard to sound like Bob Dylan.
Not as epic or ambitious as, hangman's beautiful daughter, but it's still a fine record full of brilliantly unique songs from one of Britain's greatest ever folk bands. Still sounds like nobody else. Genius.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
