Umbrella (studio album) by The Innocence Mission
The Innocence Mission bestography
Umbrella is ranked 9th best out of 15 albums by The Innocence Mission on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by The Innocence Mission is Glow which is ranked number 8113 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 153.
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Umbrella track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Umbrella rankings
All 6 charts that this album appears in:
Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
---|---|---|---|---|
2025 | ![]() | Top 92 Music Albums of 1991 | 60/92 | 2 |
2024 | ![]() | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 34/100 | 3 |
2023 | ![]() | Top 100 Music Albums of 1991 | 100/100 | 0 |
2023 | ![]() | Top 67 Music Albums of the 1990s | 64/67 | 1 |
2022 | ![]() | Top 20 Music Albums of 1991 | 7/20 | 4 |
2020 | ![]() | Top 78 Music Albums of 1991 | 19/78 | 4 |
Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 6 | |||
Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 14 |
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!
Umbrella collection
Showing all 4 members who have this album in their collection
Umbrella ratings

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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 13 ratings for this album.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
75/100 ![]() | 12/10/2021 00:39 | Moondance | ![]() | 72/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 10/26/2021 20:30 | ![]() | ![]() | 83/100 |
75/100 ![]() | 12/20/2020 03:36 | ![]() | ![]() | 81/100 |
70/100 ![]() | 04/30/2020 18:48 | ![]() | ![]() | 67/100 |
75/100 ![]() | 01/24/2020 06:39 | LosWochos | ![]() | 75/100 |
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 76.3/100, a mean average of 79.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 10.2.
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Umbrella comments
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'91:13 Merchant Ivory Rock That Actually Like, You Know, Rocks!
(Repo AOTD#4)
I normally hate this genre. Adult alternative. Stuff like 10,000 Maniacs & The Sundays. They always seemed to lack a certain bite. A certain grounding . A risk of floating off into the ether on lightweight balls of cotton fluff. The aural equivalent of kissing your sister. And I knew it well. I pretty much knew I'd typically hit off with a girl if she likes this stuff on the condition that she didn't take her politics (and her self) too seriously.. No this was my niche. Girls who dug NPR & The New Yorker. Girls who were smarter than me. Plus, I love short hair on a girl. Throw a cute beret in there, & I'm pretty much done for. Yup. Slightly artsy, literary types who curl up with the Sunday Times and listen to NPR are my kryptonite in a sense.
Anyways, but this style of music I always found kind of boring or self-satisfied or, the worse - self righteous & weary.
So imagine my surprise when I absolutely fell in love with this little gem that's clearly been influenced by both Natalie Merchant & The Sundays. The vocalist positively channels these song and sings them with so much down home, earnest but tasteful passion & genuine love. While you can't help but be reminded of Natalie Merchant and The Sundays, I like it far better. Translation: I can actually make it through the entire album. Anyways, if you are a fan of Lilith Fair Adult Alternative feather rock, you should really check this out. For me to like it - stuff I normally hate & make fun of- means it must be AMAZING!
Grade: Essential. (A)
Absolutely my favorite album by The Innocence Mission. Just sublime from beginning to end. I recently obtained this album on vinyl. I probably paid too much, but wow, the difference in quality over the CD is incredible. Surprised to see this one as low as it is in the rankings. I've heard all of Innocence Mission's albums, but none are up there with this one IMHO. Glow is great, but this underrated gem is #1.
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