Keep It Like A Secret
by Built To Spill
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Built To Spill bestography
Keep It Like A Secret is ranked 2nd best out of 13 albums by Built To Spill on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Built To Spill is Perfect From Now On which is ranked number 279 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,768.
(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 Keep It Like A Secret on YouTube
Keep It Like A Secret track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 85 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Keep It Like A Secret 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 |  Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1999 | 42/50 | 1 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 90 Music Albums of 1999 | 13/90 | 4 |
| 2026 | ShutUpKen | Top 40 Greatest Music Albums | 38/40 | 7 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 54 Music Albums of 1999 | 5/54 | 5 |
| 2026 | adbrack1988 | Top 13 Music Albums of 1999 | 6/13 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Dingerbell | Top 10 Music Albums of 1999 | 5/10 | 3 |
| 2026 | leniad | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 60/100 | 8 |
| 2026 | Untitled | Top 25 Music Albums of 1999 | 20/25 | 1 |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 53 Music Albums of 1999 | 22/53 | 3 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 11/100 | 18 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 478 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,739 | |||
Keep It Like A Secret collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 193 members
Keep It Like A Secret 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 527 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/01/2026 15:15 | AndyLish79 | 505 | 81/100 |
| ! | 08/05/2026 01:30 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/15/2026 02:38 |  imacgill | 2,860 | 79/100 |
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 82.1/100, a mean average of 80.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 82.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.8.
Keep It Like A Secret favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 80 members
Keep It Like A Secret forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/22/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5443): By javicho07 BestEverAlbums 09/20/2026 20:00 in Album of the day (#7458): Keep It Like A Secret by Built To Spill BestEverAlbums 08/01/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5391): By SomethingSpecialKeep It Like A Secret comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/27/2016 01:50 | #167005 | TOP COMMENT
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Some years ago a friend and I spent several summers climbing all seventeen county highpoints in Nevada. To reach all these, we had to do a lot of driving on bumpy dirt roads through the desert. Fortunately for us, we had two artists we both liked listening to: Neil Young and Built to Spill. Riding in my old Nissan Pathfinder, this was the album we listened to more than any other. These tight, intensity-building songs, which never seem to end up anywhere near the place they started, were the perfect soundtrack to hikes that followed a similar trajectory. Opening tracks, and the opening to opening tracks, don't get much better than "The Plan."
I've remarked elsewhere about my UAW bias, but how this album and PFNO aren't universally recognized as two of the greatest guitar rock albums of all time is so far beyond me. It has to be a conspiracy. I can still remember hearing Carry the Zero live the first time, long before the album was released. It absolutely floored me. And the studio version is every bit as good! Could be, possibly, maybe, my favorite song ever.
My favorite Built to Spill album. Perfect From Now On is great but it’s a little harder to digest. These songs are a little more punchy and less dense, but in a great way. A really great record. (Edited)
WaitAndSeer 02/25/2019 21:45 | #232629 | TOP COMMENT
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For me, this album takes the expansive, adventurous sound of Perfect From Now On and compresses it into its most compact, perfect form. Brimming with melodic invention and some of Doug Martsch’s tightest songwriting, every track on Keep It Like a Secret is a knockout in its own way. It hooked me from my very first listen, years ago, and I’m still playing it today. Easily one of my all-time favorites! (Edited)
meccalecca TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/07/2014 22:28 | #111109 | TOP COMMENT
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When Randy got done describing eternity, he moved on to a general astronomy, which seemed far more straight forward.
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