Desperate Straights
by Slapp Happy / Henry Cow
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Slapp Happy / Henry Cow bestography
(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 Desperate Straights on YouTube
Desperate Straights track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 75 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Desperate Straights rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1975 | 17/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 100 Music Albums of 1975 | 29/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 100 Music Albums of 1975 | 90/100 | 1 |
| 2025 |  drstuey | Top 34 Music Albums of 1975 | 13/34 | 3 |
| 2025 |  Wasinski | Top 75 Music Albums of 1975 | 57/75 | 1 |
| 2025 | amirmishali | Top 99 Music Albums of 1975 | 96/99 | 0 |
| 2024 |  DommeDamian | Scaruffi Best Albums of 1974 | 23/55 | - |
| 2023 | sonicdiscourse | Woebot's 100 Lost Rock Albums of the 1970s | 50/90 | - |
| 2022 |  Jameth | Top 35 Music Albums of 1975 | 10/35 | 4 |
| 2022 |  NoisyBeast | 1960's / 70's ~ Wish List | 79/91 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 19 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 27 | |||
Desperate Straights collection
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Desperate Straights 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 23 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/28/2025 09:53 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,152 | 70/100 |
| ! | 12/31/2023 02:42 | BorderFreeAndrew | 15,743 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/12/2023 15:02 | replacementlevel | 7,830 | 70/100 |
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 70.7/100, a mean average of 67.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.9.
Desperate Straights favourites
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Desperate Straights forum mentions
Komorebi-D 08/13/2018 11:10 in What album are you listening to right now?
SuedeSwede 03/03/2016 21:08 in Swede, Crackle 'n' Pop!Desperate Straights comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Jameth 01/01/2022 02:26 | #278300
I was already in love with Henry Cow after listening to their first two albums. But here, I'm then introduced to the voice of Dagmar Krause, which is a world unto itself. Then to cap it off, I get treated to "Caucasian Lullaby", which I'm certain is a spiritual descendant of perhaps my favorite classical piece, Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question".
I can't wait to dive into Slapp Happy and Art Bears. (Edited)
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