An American Prayer
by The Doors

An American Prayer by The Doors
Year: 1978
Overall rank: 4,777th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
67/100 (from 164 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1978 (84th)
Award Top albums of the 1970s (786th)
Award Best albums of all time (4,777th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY

The Doors bestography

An American Prayer is ranked 8th best out of 48 albums by The Doors on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by The Doors is The Doors which is ranked number 28 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 26,450.

The Doors album bestography « Higher ranked (4,317th)
Absolutely Live
This album (4,777th)
An American Prayer
Lower ranked (8,663rd) »
The Best Of The Doors

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Apr
04
Sat
DEMOLA LIVE!
Birchmere, Alexandria, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Apr
03
Fri
DEVO: Mutate Don't Stagnate
Hard Rock Live Sacramento, Wheatland, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Mar
28
Sat
Gene Watson
Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast, Bay St Louis, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 

Listen to An American Prayer on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

An American Prayer track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by

An American Prayer rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,777th | 1970s rank: 786th | 1978 rank: 84th

An American Prayer collection

An American Prayer ratings

Average Rating: 
67/100 (from 164 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 164 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 
01/18/2026 09:56 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  7,85370/100
 
95/100
 
01/11/2026 12:10 Liedzeit  Ratings distribution  2,35474/100
 
75/100
 
12/25/2025 18:24 Filipe  Ratings distribution  16778/100
 
75/100
 
12/12/2025 20:31 Tony58  Ratings distribution  73572/100
 
60/100
 
10/12/2025 19:50 Superunknown  Ratings distribution  28771/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 66.8/100, a mean average of 65.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 66.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 20.2.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

An American Prayer favourites

Showing all 10 members who have added this album as a favourite

An American Prayer comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 13 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)

Rating:  
10/100
From 02/22/2023 04:36 | #294325
Cheesy porno music over embarrassing spoken word poetry
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 02/06/2022 04:09 | #280824
WOW! I love this album! This revived my love for The Doors. I was a big fan a few years ago and I’m getting back into them. I decided to give this album a listen. It sounds like an album version of The Doors movie. Jim’s voice, poetry and story telling are fascinating. It’s a shame the legacy of The Doors seems to be dying. Jim is an American treasure
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 02/27/2016 12:48 | #160844
Jim's speaking voice is just as compelling as his singing voice. Unique & great album and nicely packaged.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/31/2015 20:18 | #146817
Unique album ,the only album of its kind.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 05/28/2015 11:29 | #142547
A poetic musical it is. Not a very fine one nor is it polished but the poetry alone is very good, not such a easy listener.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 11/02/2014 21:31 | #126044
Not a fan of most posthumos releases. This one is a good idea: Morrison's poetry mixed with the Door's music. It just doesn't seem cohesive.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 10/28/2014 20:29 | #125662
Interesting album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/18/2014 07:25 | #114661
Always liked this album despite the insistence by some who should know that Jim would never have sanctioned such a recording. His use of imagery remains compelling.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 03/12/2014 23:13 | #106108
I love jim morrison's poetries, I would appreciate this album even without music
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 12/16/2013 21:59 | #97812
Love this album. One of my favourites from The Doors. Ive been quoting from it for over 20 years. Its unlike anything else I've ever listened to. Hard to believe it was put together after he was dead.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for An American Prayer

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!
Log in or register to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.
Best Albums of 1978
1. Darkness On The Edge Of Town by Bruce Springsteen
2. Parallel Lines by Blondie
3. The Cars by The Cars
4. This Year's Model by Elvis Costello
5. Van Halen by Van Halen
6. Die Mensch·Maschine by Kraftwerk
7. Music For 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
8. Some Girls by The Rolling Stones
9. The Kick Inside by Kate Bush
10. More Songs About Buildings And Food by Talking Heads
11. Dire Straits by Dire Straits
12. Hemispheres by Rush
13. Outlandos D'Amour by The Police
14. All Mod Cons by The Jam
15. 3rd by Big Star
16. Chairs Missing by Wire
17. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! by Devo
18. The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu
19. Real Life by Magazine
20. Powerage by AC/DC
Back to Top