Noble Beast
Studio album by
Andrew Bird
ReleasedJanuary 20, 2009
GenreBaroque pop
Length54:17
LabelFat Possum (US)
Bella Union (UK)
Andrew Bird chronology
Soldier On EP
(2007)		 Noble Beast
(2009)		 Fingerlings 4
(2010)

Noble Beast is American singer-songwriter Andrew Bird's fifth solo studio album, 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.

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

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic79/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
The A.V. Club(B+)[5]
Drowned in Sound(9/10)[6]
The Guardian[7]
LA Times[8]
Paste(6.7/10)[9]
Tiny Mix Tapes[10]
Pitchfork Media(7.5/10)[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
The Skinny[13]
Spin(7/10)[14]
Uncut[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 Dosh5:37
9."Unfolding Fans"Bird, Jeremy Ylvisaker0:57
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

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

  • Andrew Bird - violin, vocals, whistling, guitar
  • Martin Dosh - percussion, looping, keys
  • Jeremy Ylvislaker - guitar, bass, organ, shortwave
  • Kelly Hogan - background vocals
  • Mike Lewis - clarinet
  • Todd Sickafoose - double bass
  • Ben Martin - cardboard box drums
  • Tony Crow - juno

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

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)". 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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