The Rhumb Line
by Ra Ra Riot

The Rhumb Line by Ra Ra Riot
Year: 2008
Release date: 2008-08-19
Overall rank: 26,838th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 26 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2008 (511th)
Award Top albums of of the 2000s (4,946th)
Award Best albums of all time (26,838th)

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Ra Ra Riot bestography

The Rhumb Line is ranked as the best album by Ra Ra Riot.

Ra Ra Riot album bestography « Higher ranked
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The Rhumb Line
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(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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The Rhumb Line rankings

The Rhumb Line rankings summary
Overall rank: 26,838th | 2000s rank: 4,946th | 2008 rank: 511th  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: 7 hours ago)

The Rhumb Line collection

The Rhumb Line ratings

Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 26 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 26 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !
04/13/2026 02:15 imacgill  Ratings distribution  2,88879/100
 
75/100
 !
02/03/2025 22:47 jnmayles  Ratings distribution  2,41173/100
 
70/100
 !
10/20/2024 14:08 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  14,28073/100

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 25% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.4/100, a mean average of 73.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 8.7.


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The Rhumb Line favourites

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The Rhumb Line forum mentions

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The Rhumb Line comments

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Rating:  
70/100
From 06/28/2012 14:15 | #45512
These guys can pump out new wave, 80s inspired pop/rock tunes like michael hutchence never left. Like Duran Duran if they had the more serious focus of the Police. "Ghost Under Rocks" is one of my fav tunes, with a chorus of "Here you are, you are breathing like little ghosts under rocks / That don’t sound in pockets / Folks found your problem / its lost and forgotten". The female harmony is a simple yet hauntingly gorgeous compliment to the urgent lead delivery. It's the almost-solemn catchiness that places Ra Ra Riot at #12 as in "dying is fine" with lines like "No more of this living dying / Just scientific analyzing / Forgive us oh life / The sin of" and a chorus of "Death oh baby / You know that dying is fine but maybe / I wouldn't like death if death were good / Not even if death were good" delivered with such a casual off-handedness it's almost lost in the hook. This, and songs like "Oh La", is the type of effortless pop that SHOULD be on the radio.
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Rating:  
50/100
From 09/02/2011 12:36 | #26978
There are a few good songs on here like St. Peter's Day Festival and Suspended in Gaffa, but all told this is a pretty boring album. It's like listening to Vampire Weekend's dull cousin. Or eating plain oatmeal.
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From 09/02/2011 17:35 | #26987
A BAND HAS COVERED SUSPENDED IN GAFFA!!!!!?????
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