Islands
by King Crimson
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
King Crimson bestography
Islands is ranked 8th best out of 100 albums by King Crimson on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by King Crimson is In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King Crimson) which is ranked number 26 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 26,605.
(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 Islands on YouTube
Islands track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Islands rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 2 hours ago).
ssteve
RockyRaccoon
Helios
Patman360
imacgill
Sandrof1969
zags7000
jeremy9Islands collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 119 members
Islands 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 316 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/09/2026 12:41 | davidhuret | 2,047 | 76/100 |
| ! | 06/15/2026 17:44 |  DommeDamian | 7,588 | 49/100 |
| ! | 04/25/2026 23:40 |  Robert Anton Wil | 1,149 | 84/100 |
| ! | 04/24/2026 02:39 | martintho | 4,726 | 75/100 |
| ! | 04/23/2026 10:05 | Pavloss | 488 | 50/100 |
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 5% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.9/100, a mean average of 75.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.3.
Islands favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 35 members
Islands comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 12 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)
Jboy56 01/12/2023 12:13 | #292742
Islands did not grab me, and the recording or mixing lacked dynamics on earphones
Please leave jazz instruments to jazzmen..
IlMala 01/23/2022 21:50 | #279948 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Frankly i really fo not understand why that's not considerated as a peak from King Crimson; after "In the Court" and "Red" is definitely my favourite: easier to listen respect others, but so lovely; hundred times prefer this kind of King Crimson respect the Discipline ones, and even respect the "Lark's Tongue" or "Starless" ones (tastes are tastes...)
Few bands know to change their sound as often as King Crimson. This is their 4th album and their 2nd departure from earlier sounds.
The impressive thing is, they pull it off! This is a fantastic Jazz-influenced album. Listening is a journey, an experience.
Highlights: Formentera Lady, Sailor's Tale, The Letters, Islands
The weakest of the first seven albums. However it is an album that still shows a willingness to experiment, and this is what we value in King Crimson.
I like The Letters, a sombre ballad. And Ladies of the Road has a very "Gentle Giant" feel to it.
But the title track "Islands" is probably the strongest on the album. Also nice touches sprinkled throughout from virtuoso Mel Collins.
Grouse 03/03/2019 16:02 | #232948
Might not be their best and it doesn't really take a hold of you like some of their other albums do but it's still a good mellow album.
anandrajan 10/09/2017 00:48 | #199284
Sailor's Tale is my favorite on this album along with Formentera Lady, Prelude: Song of the Gulls and Islands. I don't know why but Radiohead's The National Anthem (from Kid A) keeps reminding me of Sailor's Tale. King Crimson has been playing this on their last two tours.
LedZep 06/08/2017 15:44 | #192236 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
One of the overlooked King Crimson records, it's a perfect background music as well as a great chill album. Beautiful piano in many songs, love it
The mellowest album ever
Really underrated album. While it features one of King Crimson's less memorable lineups, "Islands" is definitely worth the listen.
nitomano 11/24/2016 21:07 | #179081
Favoritas: Prelude: Song Of The Gulls, Islands,Ladies Of The Road
Your feedback for Islands
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
