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Tanglewood Numbers
Universal acclaim
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Drag City
Release Date: 18 October 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Will Oldham and members of the Jesus Lizard and Lambchop guest on David Berman's country-tinged fifth Silver Jews disc, which also sees the return of on-again, off-again band member Stephen Malkmus.
Also By This Artist: Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Also On The Web: SJ @ Drag City
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Spin
Tanglewood roars back to life with a massive band, a detailed sound, and a voice that sounds ravaged but right. [Oct 2005, p.142]
Amazon.com
A record that is wholly satisfying: not too overwrought and never self-assuredly slick.
Read Full Review >Uncut
A surreal, tender, revealing record. [Nov 2005, p.104]
Prefix Magazine
[It] turns out to be a proper Silver Jews rock album, which is to say it has the feel of a drunk snapping into his second wind long enough to belt out a few.
Read Full Review >Trouser Press
What may be the most confident and cohesive Silver Jews album yet is shot through with urgency and gravitas, but tempered, of course, with liberal doses of dark humor.
Read Full Review >Filter
Tanglewood Numbers probably won't win many new fans, but it will make the cult of David grow fonder. [#17, p.104]
Entertainment Weekly
10 charming ditties about depression. [28 Oct 2005, p.84]
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
David Berman joins a pickup band that includes his close personal friend Stephen Malkmus to explore realms of vocal inexpressiveness undreamt by Stephin Merritt or the Handsome Family.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
The fullest sounding Silver Jews album to date. [Nov 2005, p.210]
PopMatters
Even if it's not their finest work, it certainly feels like it is. There is a visceral vitality to Tanglewood Numbers that has never inhabited any album prior.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
If there are any complaints, it’s that the arrangements are so elaborate they distract from Berman’s droll verse, but for anyone who’s wondered what Berman might sound like working with a full sonic palette, Tanglewood Numbers provides a definitive, satisfying answer.
Read Full Review >Junkmedia
Tanglewood Numbers, musically at least, is Berman's most fully realized album.
Read Full Review >Magnet
What's missing most will probably not be missed at all: Berman's tendency to sound slack, sluggish and a bit lackluster. [#69, p.109]
Delusions of Adequacy
The more I listened to Tanglewood Numbers, the more I liked it.
Read Full Review >Mojo
A timely reminder of how speculative and exciting American alternative rock was before it discovered Duran Duran and money. [Nov 2005, p.100]
Splendid
Tanglewood Numbers' hummable songs and often-arresting lyrics are impressive, but Berman would be nowhere without a little help from his many friends.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Where 2001's Bright Flight leaned into full-bore country, emphasizing Berman's voice and lyrical content, Tanglewood Numbers is a band-oriented rock record-- crashing, amped-up, aggressively ramshackle.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
A languid yet invigorating shrine to indie-pop, Americana, and nudie shirt psychedelia that electrifies the blood and squeegees the mind.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Musically, he’s ditched the clean, plainly instrumented indie-country schlep of his previous efforts for something brassy, something downright soulful.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
A series of relatively straightforward tunes, the better to show off the relatively crooked lyrics for which he's known. [17 Oct 2005]
Billboard
Weird, and often wonderful. [22 Oct 2005]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Tanglewood Numbers isn't the front-to-back triumph it might've been... but it's a welcome return nonetheless for a straight face that looks unlike any other.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
A rhinestone-tipped treat. [22 Oct 2005, p.41]
Tiny Mix Tapes
Ultimately, Tanglewood Numbers is a pretty good record for the Silver Jews and a very good record if you like chimey, talky, uncool indie rock.
Read Full Review >Blender
The first and less snarky half of Tanglewood Numbers... is some of the liveliest music Berman has recorded. [Nov 2005, p.140]
ShakingThrough.net
Sadly, Tanglewood Numbers just doesn’t sport enough memorable Bermanisms to make it a truly satisfying Silver Jews album.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
The songs don't have much teeth in the way of hooks or vigor. [#11, p.108]
Dusted Magazine
If another band were to serve up the fiddling strings and lollygagging vocal harmonies of “Animal Shapes,” the wanky guitar breakdowns of “The Poor, The Fair, and the Good,” perhaps Tanglewood Numbers wouldn’t feel like such a disappointment. But Berman’s a brilliant lyricist with 30 or 40 minutes to spare every couple of years, and his voice seems oddly absent from this record.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
roman mc gave it a10:
You will not be dissapointed. Berman flat-out embarrasses anyone else out there trying to compete with him in lyrical craft. The music is varied on this outing as well. A much fuller pallete than other albums.
Kris B gave it an8:
It's no American Water, but it'll do. Something is missing this time around, and i think it's probably because of the absence of Steven Malkmus.
timothy m gave it a10:
dc is my hero
Brain Z gave it a10:
He's back, niggers.
marbles gave it an8:
I have read a lot of harsh reviews and that's too bad. granted the silver jews do not jump out at you and assault you with super sonic rifs. they require a more mature, patient taste. few bands out there today bother to make their music mean somthing, and that is why the silver jews are still refreshing. my biggest complaint is that it isn't very long.
John A gave it a10:
"Pony is ailing and needs to be shot." Raul Julia needs to be shot for writing that! Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed is the best track on a record full of brilliance. When Berman writes, "Grass from a pasture is sharper than a bayonet," you either get or you don't...and I don't think RJ gets it. It's too early to know if this effort from the Jews will hold up to the sheer genuis of American Water, but it's a great attempt nonetheless. Every time DC Berman and crew release a record it's an event and moment in time worth noting where your life was at at that moment.
Raul Julia gave it a7:
After several listens it is obvious this is a decent Silver Jews album, and not a great outing. I love Punks in the Beerlight to the max. Pony is ailing and needs to be shot. K-hole sounds like a Mike Watt throw-off. Animal shapes sounds like a Smile track. I could go on, but I'd rather listen to some earlier Jews. Perhaps American Water. Ahh, that's better. blah blahh blah
