The Milk-Eyed Mender
by Joanna Newsom
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Joanna Newsom bestography
The Milk-Eyed Mender is ranked 3rd best out of 7 albums by Joanna Newsom on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Joanna Newsom is Ys which is ranked number 178 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 8,410.
(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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Listen to The Milk-Eyed Mender on YouTube
The Milk-Eyed Mender track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Milk-Eyed Mender rankings
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imimesisThe Milk-Eyed Mender collection
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The Milk-Eyed Mender 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 376 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/11/2026 18:17 | brent13 | 1,892 | 69/100 | |
| 01/01/2026 02:42 | Scrabbler | 256 | 78/100 | |
| 12/29/2025 17:47 | mutant | 1,671 | 56/100 | |
| 12/21/2025 06:20 |  zags7000 | 20,410 | 64/100 | |
| 11/30/2025 00:34 | Skerns | 5,080 | 80/100 |
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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.8/100, a mean average of 78.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.
The Milk-Eyed Mender favourites
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The Milk-Eyed Mender comments
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A beautifully crafted debut album by Joanna Newsom that demonstrates so much potential and promise which makes me extremely excited to explore future releases. The harp is at the centre of this album with it softly guiding us from song to song with immense delicacy and beauty. The way she plays it is absolutely stunning and it elevates every track to the next level. This also makes it such a unique listen and quite a personal album which allows us to connect to her so easily and feel involved with the music. Lyrically, it is great as well with there being a lot to explore for us as she goes into the themes of love and heartbreak with the use of intelligent wordplay. The vocal might not be for everyone but to me it sounds beautiful and it adds an extra edge and punch to the delivery of her words. Overall, this is such an emotional and powerful record that is packed full of quality and musical brilliance which makes me extremely excited to revisit this album and discover more of her discography.
TheDude85 07/15/2021 17:58 | #271641
An unusual debut for the Nevada born harpist/multi-instrumentalist. Not often does one hear "pop harp." This is a groundbreaking exploration of music and Newsom gives her audience plenty to appreciate through her music and lyrics.
Lately I've been making some baby steps towards Ys. Sadly, no luck with this one yet.
Joanna Newsom's debut album. The milk eyed mender, is a fascinating and quirky acoustic record, with some stunning songs. Newsom is obviously a huge talent, a Joni Mitchell for the millennium, and like Mitchell, Newsom is totally unique, she's both knowing and playful and innocent sounding all at the same time. Bridges and balloons, gets things of to a great start and the record switches from one superb moment to another. This side of the blue, sprout and the bean, and, the book of right on, are all excellent, but best track is closing cut, clam,crab,cockle,cowrie, it's absolutely beautiful. A brilliant album. I'm in love.
I'm completely blown away! Where has Joanna Newsom been hiding all my life!
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MCOTho 07/10/2013 03:00 | #80868
Joanna Newsom is the best thing to happen to me since Bob Dylan.
eclab 01/02/2013 01:02 | #59720
Getting used to her voice takes a lot of time, but when you do, it's well worth it. (Don't play her in front of your friends unless you want to cop a lot of grief...)
It's a toss up between this album and Kid A for my favorite album of the the 2000s. It's harder to explain why I love this one in particular--it's not as impressive in some ways as Ys, but I'm completely in love with every song on this album. Something about it is just magical.
Jimmy Dread 12/19/2011 22:09 | #33321
There's far more comedy and joyful abandon with MEM than in her other two albums. But let that not detract from the fact that, whilst her vocals here are her rawest, the songs are just as beautiful. It doesn't take you on a journey like Ys does, but nevertheless you can't deny this is a work of fine art. Well, you can... but you'd be wrong.
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