Playing With Fire
by Spacemen 3
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Spacemen 3 bestography
Playing With Fire is ranked 2nd best out of 13 albums by Spacemen 3 on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Spacemen 3 is The Perfect Prescription which is ranked number 1819 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 938.
(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 Playing With Fire on YouTube
Playing With Fire track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Playing With Fire rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 86/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 29/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 43/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 52/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 89 Music Albums of 1989 | 9/89 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 86 Music Albums of 1989 | 22/86 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Top 40 Music Albums of 1989 | 6/40 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Glitterboiii | Top 50 Music Albums of 1988 | 33/50 | - |
| 2026 | TastyandTemptin | Top 47 Music Albums of 1989 | 4/47 | 5 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 | 38/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 130 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 573 | |||
Playing With Fire collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 42 members
Playing With Fire 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/08/2026 12:56 |  ssteve | 2,628 | 76/100 |
| ! | 09/13/2026 20:40 | Tamthebam | 23,330 | 69/100 |
| ! | 03/25/2026 12:23 |  sssvnnn | 8,489 | 67/100 |
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 76.9/100, a mean average of 76.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.6.
Playing With Fire favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 11 members
Playing With Fire forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 10/01/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5452): By LittleM1971View latest topic →
neilgee 02/25/2026 08:07 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)View all forum mentions
Playing With Fire comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
There's really something beautiful about these albums, about everything J Spaceman and Sonic Boom do. An existential longing for meaning, comfort, home. They don't seek concrete answers, just disparate feelings and emotions. Like a last gasp, trying to find one small reason to live, with failed escapism and convictions left behind. It's all tenuous, nothing certain, but there's vitality. It's living music, music to be alive by. I know I can always find empathy in Spacemen 3, in Spiritualized, in Spectrum, really it's my go to music for whatever crisis I may have, existential or identity, etc.. Not entirely sure why I'm leaving this comment aside from just putting this album at #1 on my chart and being unable to listen to anything but Spacemen related stuff lately, but god do I love it.
Honeeeeey won't you take me home tonight?
johnner TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/05/2012 13:08 | #47841 | TOP COMMENT
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Spacemen's best album, highlight's include Honey, Revolution, Let Me Down Gently, & Suicide.
Cymro2011 06/10/2013 13:40 | #78508 | TOP COMMENT
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Pretty solid. Not as good as The Perfect Prescription but it still great. I really dislike "How Does It Feel?" though.
HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/19/2015 08:54 | #144176 | TOP COMMENT
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Gorgeous stuff. Reminds me of Suicide, but with a real soul.
Jboy56 02/20/2022 10:24 | #281570 | TOP COMMENT
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Sounds like desperation. Sonically dark and unforgiving.
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