Our Endless Numbered Days | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 23, 2004 | |||
Recorded | Summer 2003, Engine Studios, Chicago, Illinois | |||
Genre | Indie Folk | |||
Length | 44:47 | |||
Label | Sub Pop | |||
Producer | Brian Deck | |||
Iron & Wine chronology | ||||
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Our Endless Numbered Days is the second full-length album from Iron & Wine. Released on March 23, 2004 on Sub Pop, it was the first non-solo effort by Sam Beam under his Iron & Wine moniker. Limited edition copies of the vinyl LP came with a bonus 7" vinyl single. Limited edition copies of the CD came with a bonus CD single. On January 29, 2019, Sub Pop announced that a deluxe edition of the album commemorating its 15th anniversary would be released on March 22, 2019, featuring previously unreleased demos of eight of the tracks from the original album. [1]
The album's title comes from the lyrics of the song "Passing Afternoon": "There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days."
The album marked a change in Iron & Wine's sound, as it was his first produced in a professional studio. Beam's only previous album, The Creek Drank the Cradle , was recorded entirely on a four-track tape recorder at his home. [2]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 84/100 [3] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Alternative Press | 4/5 [5] |
Blender | [6] |
Entertainment Weekly | C+ [7] |
Mojo | [8] |
NME | 8/10 [9] |
Pitchfork | 8.6/10 [10] |
Q | [11] |
Spin | A [12] |
Uncut | [13] |
Our Endless Numbered Days has received widespread critical acclaim since its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". [3]
All tracks are written by Sam Beam.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "On Your Wings" | 3:53 |
2. | "Naked as We Came" | 2:33 |
3. | "Cinder and Smoke" | 5:44 |
4. | "Sunset Soon Forgotten" | 3:20 |
5. | "Teeth in the Grass" | 2:22 |
6. | "Love and Some Verses" | 3:40 |
7. | "Radio War" | 1:56 |
8. | "Each Coming Night" | 3:28 |
9. | "Free Until They Cut Me Down" | 4:35 |
10. | "Fever Dream" | 4:16 |
11. | "Sodom, South Georgia" | 4:59 |
12. | "Passing Afternoon" | 4:01 |
Total length: | 44:47 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
13. | "Belated Promise Ring" | 3:45 |
14. | "Homeward, These Shoes" | 1:34 |
Total length: | 50:06 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "No Moon" | 4:15 |
2. | "Sinning Hands" | 5:31 |
Total length: | 9:46 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Cinder and Smoke" (demo) | 4:21 |
2. | "Swans and the Swimming" | 3:24 |
3. | "Free Until They Cut Me Down" (demo) | 3:25 |
4. | "Hickory" | 4:35 |
Total length: | 15:45 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Naked as We Came" (demo) | |
2. | "Cinder and Smoke" (demo) | |
3. | "Teeth in the Grass" (demo) | |
4. | "Love and Some Verses" (demo) | |
5. | "Free Until They Cut Me Down" (demo) | |
6. | "Fever Dream" (demo) | |
7. | "Sodom, South Georgia" (demo) | |
8. | "Passing Afternoon" (demo) |
Musicians
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [14] | Gold | 500,000 |
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Passing Afternoon" was played at the end of "Wilson's Heart," the finale of the fourth season of House . "Naked as We Came," "Trapeze Swinger" (a song not in this album) and "Sunset Soon Forgotten" were featured in the 2004 dramedy In Good Company . "Each Coming Night" is featured in Miley Cyrus's 2010 film The Last Song . [15] "Naked As We Came" is featured at the end of the 4th episode of the 2nd season of The L Word , when Jenny has her hair cut by Shane. "Naked As We Came" is also featured in the 9th episode of the first season of Grey's Anatomy , when Cristina and Izzie plan a secret autopsy of a patient's sudden death. Claire Fuller's 2015 debut novel, Our Endless Numbered Days , is named after the album. [16]
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