Joy Of A Toy
by Kevin Ayers

Joy Of A Toy by Kevin Ayers
Year: 1969
Release date: 1969-11-00
Overall rank: 4,185th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 97 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1969 (85th)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (343rd)
Award Best albums of all time (4,185th)

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Kevin Ayers bestography

Joy Of A Toy is ranked as the best album by Kevin Ayers.

Kevin Ayers album bestography « Higher ranked
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This album (4,185th)
Joy Of A Toy
Lower ranked (6,614th) »
Whatevershebringswesing

(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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Joy Of A Toy rankings

Joy Of A Toy rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,185th | 1960s rank: 343rd | 1969 rank: 85th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)

Joy Of A Toy collection

Joy Of A Toy ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 97 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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 97 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !
07/25/2026 00:49 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,69570/100
 
80/100
 !
04/28/2026 12:01 classicjoe  Ratings distribution  50778/100
 
15/100
 !
03/31/2026 10:34 Leginlists  Ratings distribution  3,84283/100

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 is rated in the top 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.6/100, a mean average of 74.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.8.


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Joy Of A Toy favourites

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Joy Of A Toy forum mentions

This album has been referenced 17 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (4 mentions) →

“Albums You Added To Your Collection Today”
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“(1) Kevin Ayers is a multi-instrumentalist and one of the key figures of the Cantenbury scene. I've heard some of the Cantenbury scene classics, but the sound (in many of its forms) has never been that appealing to me, with a few exceptions. Until now. Joy of a Toy is a top tier pop album. It's…”
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Joy Of A Toy comments

Showing all 5 comments |
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Rating:  
85/100
Not an easy voice to like, but the variety of instrumentation on this record makes it stand out from the crowd. Great cover too.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
Rating:  
85/100
Great quirky album from the ex-soft machine man. Joy of a toy, is a unique and lovely album, with Kevin Ayers delivering excellent songs in his wonderfully deadpan way. Girl on a swing, lady Rachael, and, Eleanor's cake, are just three great tracks from an often underrated and overlooked album. This is probably the best of Ayers' early seventies records.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Rating:  
80/100
What an amazingly fun album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
Yeah, so much fun.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Hommage a Beatles.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
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