Playing The Fool
by Gentle Giant
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Gentle Giant bestography
Playing The Fool is ranked 9th best out of 18 albums by Gentle Giant on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Gentle Giant is Octopus which is ranked number 1944 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 870.
(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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Playing The Fool track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Playing The Fool rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | stevengnz | Top 95 Music Albums of 1977 | 77/95 | 1 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 | 53/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 | 43/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 48 Music Albums of 1977 | 21/48 | 3 |
| 2026 |  slatsheit | Top 51 Music Albums of 1977 | 19/51 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Fischman | Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 | 64/100 | 2 |
| 2025 |  NickVolos | Favorite Live Albums | 38/99 | - |
| 2025 |  Igtonumama | Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 | 66/100 | 2 |
| 2024 | LosWochos | Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 | 21/100 | 4 |
| 2023 | glynspsa | Top 100 Music Albums of 1977 | 80/100 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 22 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 65 | |||
Playing The Fool collection
Showing all 17 members who have this album in their collection
Playing The Fool 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 34 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/07/2026 07:54 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,612 | 70/100 |
| ! | 01/10/2025 10:05 | Fullsized | 163 | 85/100 |
| ! | 11/27/2024 04:13 | slatsheit | 2,058 | 81/100 |
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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.8/100, a mean average of 76.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.5.
Playing The Fool favourites
Showing all 8 members who have added this album as a favourite
Forum mentions
neilgee 03/28/2019 18:33 in What album are you listening to right now?
bobbyb5 03/03/2018 22:08 in Greatest Hits or Best Of BandsPlaying The Fool comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Lachapelle 12/14/2017 18:28 | #203103
Such a great live album.
Includes the legendary recorder quartet during 'Excerpts from Octopus'. (Edited)
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