Ballad Of A Thin Line Man
by Giant Sand
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Giant Sand bestography
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man is ranked 6th best out of 27 albums by Giant Sand on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Giant Sand is Chore Of Enchantment which is ranked number 11859 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 100.
(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 Ballad Of A Thin Line Man on YouTube
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1986 | 36/50 | 2 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 70/100 | 6 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Fire Records: The First 40 Years | 64/80 | - |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Howe Gelb | 1/30 | - |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 51 Music Albums of 1986 | 45/51 | 1 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1986 | 60/100 | 2 |
| 2025 | Moondance | Dylan covers 4d: US (Minor Artists) | 93/100 | - |
| 2025 |  Repo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1986 | 26/100 | 4 |
| 2025 | Johnnyo | Top 100 Music Albums of 1986 | 5/100 | 5 |
| 2025 | Johnnyo | Guitar Greats | 11/94 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 15 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 22 | |||
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man collection
Showing all 7 members who have this album in their collection
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man 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 14 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/19/2026 18:43 | Johnnyo | 9,850 | 77/100 |
| ! | 02/02/2025 21:41 | dihansse | 6,407 | 75/100 |
| ! | 10/11/2024 15:39 | cicadelic | 14,302 | 73/100 |
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 14% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.2/100, a mean average of 75.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.8.
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man favourites
Showing all 3 members who have added this album as a favourite
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man forum mentions
dihansse 02/03/2025 20:22 in My discoveries per year
jackup 06/20/2021 10:34 in What album are you listening to right now?View all forum mentions
Ballad Of A Thin Line Man comments
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For me, its the perfect Giant Sand album. Its got that lo-fi alt-country (before there was such a thing) bluesy rock thing going on. Howe Gelb's voice sounds drenched in alcohol and the desert. But mostly, it's got fabulous songs: Thin Line Man,Graveyard, Body of Water plus possibly the greatest ever version of All Along the Watchtower!!
Love their sound. If all the songs kicked as much ass as Body of Water this would be perfect.
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