diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 74069fbd9..6bc065ac0 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 * Fix a "broken pipe" error when piping beets' standard output.
 * A better error message is given when the database file is unopenable.
 * Suppress errors due to timeouts and bad responses from MusicBrainz.
+* Fix a crash on album queries with item-only field names.
 
 1.0b8
 -----
diff --git a/beets/library.py b/beets/library.py
index 15ea605f5..30e514046 100644
--- a/beets/library.py
+++ b/beets/library.py
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ class CollectionQuery(Query):
         return out
 
     @classmethod
-    def from_string(cls, query_string, default_fields=None):
+    def from_string(cls, query_string, default_fields=None, all_keys=ITEM_KEYS):
         """Creates a query from a string in the format used by
         _parse_query. If default_fields are specified, they are the
         fields to be searched by unqualified search terms. Otherwise,
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ class CollectionQuery(Query):
                 subqueries.append(AnySubstringQuery(pattern, default_fields))
             elif key.lower() == 'comp': # a boolean field
                 subqueries.append(BooleanQuery(key.lower(), pattern))
-            elif key.lower() in ITEM_KEYS: # ignore unrecognized keys
+            elif key.lower() in all_keys: # ignore unrecognized keys
                 subqueries.append(SubstringQuery(key.lower(), pattern))
             elif key.lower() == 'singleton':
                 subqueries.append(SingletonQuery(util.str2bool(pattern)))
@@ -522,16 +522,22 @@ class BaseLibrary(object):
     # Helpers.
 
     @classmethod
-    def _get_query(cls, val=None, default_fields=None):
+    def _get_query(cls, val=None, album=False):
         """Takes a value which may be None, a query string, or a Query
-        object, and returns a suitable Query object. If default_fields
-        is specified, then it restricts the list of fields to search
-        for unqualified terms in query strings.
+        object, and returns a suitable Query object. album determines
+        whether the query is to match items or albums.
         """
+        if album:
+            default_fields = ALBUM_DEFAULT_FIELDS
+            all_keys = ALBUM_KEYS
+        else:
+            default_fields = ITEM_DEFAULT_FIELDS
+            all_keys = ITEM_KEYS
+
         if val is None:
             return TrueQuery()
         elif isinstance(val, basestring):
-            return AndQuery.from_string(val, default_fields)
+            return AndQuery.from_string(val, default_fields, all_keys)
         elif isinstance(val, Query):
             return val
         elif not isinstance(val, Query):
@@ -919,7 +925,7 @@ class Library(BaseLibrary):
     # Querying.
 
     def albums(self, query=None, artist=None):
-        query = self._get_query(query, ALBUM_DEFAULT_FIELDS)
+        query = self._get_query(query, True)
         if artist is not None:
             # "Add" the artist to the query.
             query = AndQuery((query, MatchQuery('albumartist', artist)))
@@ -931,7 +937,7 @@ class Library(BaseLibrary):
         return [Album(self, dict(res)) for res in c.fetchall()]
 
     def items(self, query=None, artist=None, album=None, title=None):
-        queries = [self._get_query(query, ITEM_DEFAULT_FIELDS)]
+        queries = [self._get_query(query, False)]
         if artist is not None:
             queries.append(MatchQuery('artist', artist))
         if album is not None:
diff --git a/test/test_query.py b/test/test_query.py
index 7f158c19b..7a4f94f24 100644
--- a/test/test_query.py
+++ b/test/test_query.py
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ class MemoryGetTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
 
         self.lib = beets.library.Library(':memory:')
         self.lib.add(self.single_item)
-        self.lib.add_album([self.album_item])
+        self.album = self.lib.add_album([self.album_item])
 
     def test_singleton_true(self):
         q = 'singleton:true'
@@ -206,6 +206,26 @@ class MemoryGetTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
         self.assert_matched(results, 'singleton item')
         self.assert_done(results)
 
+    def test_unknown_field_name_ignored(self):
+        q = 'xyzzy:nonsense'
+        results = self.lib.items(q)
+        titles = [i.title for i in results]
+        self.assertTrue('singleton item' in titles)
+        self.assertTrue('album item' in titles)
+        self.assertEqual(len(titles), 2)
+
+    def test_unknown_field_name_ignored_in_album_query(self):
+        q = 'xyzzy:nonsense'
+        results = self.lib.albums(q)
+        names = [a.album for a in results]
+        self.assertEqual(names, ['the album'])
+
+    def test_item_field_name_ignored_in_album_query(self):
+        q = 'format:nonsense'
+        results = self.lib.albums(q)
+        names = [a.album for a in results]
+        self.assertEqual(names, ['the album'])
+
 class BrowseTest(unittest.TestCase, AssertsMixin):
     def setUp(self):
         self.lib = beets.library.Library(