Absent Friends (studio album)
by The Divine Comedy
eBay
Condition: Like New
The Divine Comedy bestography
Absent Friends is ranked 2nd best out of 16 albums by The Divine Comedy on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Divine Comedy is Casanova which is ranked number 2591 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 604.
(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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Absent Friends track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Absent Friends rankings
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Absent Friends 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 75 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/05/2025 23:44 | daCritic | 4,382 | 73/100 |
| ! | 11/28/2025 00:46 | Proto | 3,807 | 33/100 |
| ! | 08/27/2025 14:17 | Joehhh | 1,676 | 78/100 |
| ! | 08/14/2025 03:04 | Banner | 4,906 | 80/100 |
| ! | 09/17/2024 05:49 | RemainInLight | 3,152 | 36/100 |
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 18% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.0/100, a mean average of 73.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.
Absent Friends favourites
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Absent Friends comments
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Lovely orchestral pop, but it's one step behind Casanova.
JoaoMoreira 07/02/2013 18:07 | #80259
Great sounding album and amazing lyrics. Refined Pop at its best.
I recently became acquainted with the Neil Hannon project "The Duckworth Lewis Method" and was very impressed by the album. British music tradition in the vein of great songwriters like Ray Davies and Pete Townsend.
I subsequently wanted to listen more closely to some of the recent The Divine Comedy, and the choice fell on the album "Absent Friends" from 2004. Perhaps it was not quite what I had hoped for although there without question are many beautiful songs on the album.
Some of the tracks are a little too heavily arranged for my taste - a little too grandiose. However, there are fine exceptions, where a simpler band-sound is predominant.
Tracks like "Come Home Billy Bird", "The Happy Goth" and the title track are melodic Brit-pop at its best.
Moreover, one must admit that songs like "Sticks and Stones," "Our Mutual Friend" and "Charmed Life" is very fine compositions.
Lyrically Hannon is a great storyteller. Good examples are "Our Mutual Friend" and "Come Home Billy Bird".
the whole album is a delight and was my first DC purchase... it prompted me to try more of DC's stuff.
Come Home Billy Bird is one of the greatest songs this guy has created.
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