Clear Spot
by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
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Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band bestography
Clear Spot is ranked 6th best out of 31 albums by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band is Trout Mask Replica which is ranked number 275 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 5,958.
(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 Clear Spot on YouTube
Clear Spot track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Clear Spot rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 97/100 | 0 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 41/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 94/100 | 0 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 10/100 | 5 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 50 Music Albums of 1972 | 45/50 | 1 |
| 2026 | TroutMaskGreg | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s | 4/100 | 19 |
| 2026 | BorderFreeAndrew | Top 100 Music Albums of 1972 | 46/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  paladisiac | top 60r albums (60), #0001-0100* | 14/66 | - |
| 2026 |  DommeDamian | Top 21 Music Albums of 1972 | 19/21 | 1 |
| 2026 | PurpleHazel | Top 51 Music Albums of 1972 | 32/51 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 114 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 494 | |||
Clear Spot collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 66 members
Clear Spot 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 135 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/19/2026 22:23 | Luccaag | 50 | 85/100 |
| ! | 03/15/2026 11:06 | Vulgarplacards | 64 | 94/100 |
| ! | 03/10/2026 11:31 | Leginlists | 3,840 | 83/100 |
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 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.6/100, a mean average of 74.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.2.
Clear Spot favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 12 members
Forum mentions
pedro1976 01/25/2023 00:18 in What album are you listening to right now?
EyeKanFly 07/17/2021 20:24 in What album are you listening to right now?Clear Spot comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Jboy56 04/25/2023 14:11 | #296371 | TOP COMMENT
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An easy and palatable album from Captain, nice stuff.
teague 06/28/2020 00:40 | #254648 | TOP COMMENT
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Clear Spot sees Captain Beefheart pursuing his blues rock career he restarted with Mirror Man. This album is the clear peak of said blues career. Subsequent releases are seriously lacking in any sort of personality, which Don Van Vliet had become known for. Clear Spot has some instances of him yowling like a hurt dog, but also contains some of his most nuanced performances, such can be found on songs like Too Much Time and My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains. The balance of the two vocal styles is nice and he maintains it throughout. This is easily one of his best albums. (Edited)
A fantastic album, possibly my favourite of his. His voice is fantastic throughout and such a funky album! Stand outs are Low Yo Yo stuff, Too Much Time, My Head is My Only House (those lyrics!!) and of course one of his greatest songs ‘Big Eyes Beans From Venus’
Not the Captain's most consistent effort but in Too Much Time it has a definite career peak, maybe the best soul song of the 70's.
Great album
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