Noble Beast

Last updated
Noble Beast
Noble Beast (Front Cover).png
Studio album by
Andrew Bird
ReleasedJanuary 20, 2009
Genre Baroque pop
Length54:17
Label Fat Possum (US)
Bella Union (UK)
Andrew Bird chronology
Soldier On EP
(2007)		Noble Beast
(2009)		 Fingerlings 4
(2010)

Noble Beast is the fifth solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter Andrew Bird, and his eighth overall. It was released on January 20, 2009. [1] Two songs from this album were previewed on his webpage; "Oh No" and "Carrion Suite", while the entire album was made available by NPR [2] as a streaming feed. Noble Beast was made available as a standard CD release, a special limited-edition deluxe two-CD package and a double-LP package.

Contents

The track "Tenuousness" appears in the closing credits for the 2011 movie Crazy, Stupid, Love .

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 79/100 [3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The A.V. Club (B+) [5]
Drowned in Sound (9/10) [6]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [7]
LA Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Paste (6.7/10) [9]
Tiny Mix Tapes Disc Plain red.svgDisc Plain red.svgDisc Plain red.svgCercle rouge 100%25.svgPlain Disc 40%25 grey or 20%25 black.svg [10]
Pitchfork Media (7.5/10) [11]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [12]
The Skinny Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [13]
Spin (7/10) [14]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]

The album received a Metacritic score of 79 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. [3]

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 12, and No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums Albums chart, [16] selling 26,000 copies in the first week. [17] The album has sold 150,000 copies in the United States as of December 2011. [18]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Andrew Bird, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Oh No" 4:20
2."Masterswarm" 6:35
3."Fitz and the Dizzyspells" 3:36
4."Effigy" 5:06
5."Tenuousness" 3:51
6."Nomenclature" 2:54
7."Ouo" 0:20
8."Not a Robot, but a Ghost"Bird, Martin Dosh 5:37
9."Unfolding Fans"Bird, Jeremy Ylvisaker 0:57
10."Anonanimal" 4:47
11."Natural Disaster" 4:18
12."The Privateers" 3:24
13."Souverian" 7:18
14."On Ho" 1:08
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
15."Section 8 City" (iTunes only bonus track)7:41
16."10-you-us" (iTunes pre-order only bonus track) 
17."Take Courage" (eMusic only bonus track)6:51

Other appearances

Useless Creatures (Deluxe edition bonus disc)

Deluxe Edition album art, used for the Noble Beast/Useless Creatures 2-CD set Noblebeast deluxe cover.jpg
Deluxe Edition album art, used for the Noble Beast/Useless Creatures 2-CD set

The limited edition of Noble Beast shipped with a companion disc of instrumental songs, entitled Useless Creatures. [19] This collection was made available on Bird's website in early January, before the album's release. Noble Beast / Useless Creatures was deleted after a single run, both in the US and the UK, exclusively.

No.TitleLength
1."Master Sigh"2:17
2."You Woke Me Up!"7:24
3."Nyatiti"4:01
4."The Barn Tapes"10:12
5."Carrion Suite"9:39
6."Spinney"0:45
7."Dissent"3:54
8."Hot Math"7:18
9."Sigh Master"5:32

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2009)Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [20] 77
French Albums (SNEP) [21] 62
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [22] 64
US Billboard 200 [23] 12
US Digital Albums (Billboard) [24] 2
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [25] 1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [26] 3
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) [27] 2

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References

  1. ↑ Paul Thompson, "Andrew Bird to Unleash Noble Beast on New Album" Archived October 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , pitchforkmedia.com, October 3, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Exclusive First Listen: Andrew Bird's 'Noble Beast'". NPR .
  3. 1 2 "Noble Beast by Andrew Bird". Metacritic.
  4. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1468944/review
  5. ↑ "Andrew Bird: Noble Beast". AV Club. 27 January 2009.
  6. ↑ Skinner, James (2009-02-02). "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  7. ↑ Costa, Maddy (30 January 2009). "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". The Guardian. London. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  8. ↑ Brown, August (January 20, 2009). "Album review: Andrew Bird's 'Noble Beast'". Los Angeles Times.
  9. ↑ "Andrew Bird: Noble Beast". Past Magazine.
  10. ↑ "Music Review: Andrew Bird – Noble Beast".
  11. ↑ Tangari, Joe (January 22, 2009). "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Pitchfork.
  12. ↑ Hermes, Will (January 20, 2009). "Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009.
  13. ↑ Watson, Gillian. "Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". The Skinny.
  14. ↑ Suarez, Jessica (27 December 2008). "Andrew Bird, 'Noble Beast' (Fat Possum)". SPIN.
  15. ↑ McKay, Alastair. "Album Review: Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Uncut. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010.
  16. ↑ "Top Rock Albums". Billboard. February 7, 2009.
  17. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (March 14, 2012). "Bruce Springsteen Squeaks By Adele, Earns Tenth No. 1 Album". Billboard.
  18. ↑ "ANDREW BIRD to release 'Break It Yourself' in March 2012". Bella Union. December 8, 2011.
  19. ↑ "Andrew Bird new album release moved up". NME. 26 November 2008.
  20. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  21. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast". Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Andrew Bird – Noble Beast" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Andrew Bird Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  24. ↑ "Andrew Bird Chart History (Digital Albums)".[ dead link ] Billboard.
  25. ↑ "Andrew Bird Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
  26. ↑ "Andrew Bird Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
  27. ↑ "Andrew Bird Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard.
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