- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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A uniquely powerful and moving set of songs.
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A record that is wholly satisfying: not too overwrought and never self-assuredly slick.
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BillboardWeird, and often wonderful. [22 Oct 2005]
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One of his strongest and most focused albums to date.
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FilterTanglewood Numbers probably won't win many new fans, but it will make the cult of David grow fonder. [#17, p.104]
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Soulful, synth-colored Americana.
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SpinTanglewood roars back to life with a massive band, a detailed sound, and a voice that sounds ravaged but right. [Oct 2005, p.142]
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The New York TimesA series of relatively straightforward tunes, the better to show off the relatively crooked lyrics for which he's known. [17 Oct 2005]
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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.
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Tanglewood Numbers, musically at least, is Berman's most fully realized album.
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Musically, he’s ditched the clean, plainly instrumented indie-country schlep of his previous efforts for something brassy, something downright soulful.
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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.
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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.
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Entertainment Weekly10 charming ditties about depression. [28 Oct 2005, p.84]
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Alternative PressThe fullest sounding Silver Jews album to date. [Nov 2005, p.210]
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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.
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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.
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A languid yet invigorating shrine to indie-pop, Americana, and nudie shirt psychedelia that electrifies the blood and squeegees the mind.
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UncutA surreal, tender, revealing record. [Nov 2005, p.104]
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Berman's most accomplished album.
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Tanglewood Numbers' hummable songs and often-arresting lyrics are impressive, but Berman would be nowhere without a little help from his many friends.
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[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.
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New Musical Express (NME)A rhinestone-tipped treat. [22 Oct 2005, p.41]
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MojoA timely reminder of how speculative and exciting American alternative rock was before it discovered Duran Duran and money. [Nov 2005, p.100]
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MagnetWhat's missing most will probably not be missed at all: Berman's tendency to sound slack, sluggish and a bit lackluster. [#69, p.109]
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The more I listened to Tanglewood Numbers, the more I liked it.
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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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 24 out of 27
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Mixed: 1 out of 27
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Negative: 2 out of 27
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romanmcFeb 27, 2006
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KrisBFeb 9, 2006
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timothymJan 29, 2006dc is my hero