''Noble Beast'' is the fifth solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter
Andrew Bird
Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...
, and his eighth overall. It was released on January 20, 2009. Two songs from this album were previewed on his webpage; "Oh No" and "Carrion Suite", while the entire album was made available by NPR 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
''Crazy, Stupid, Love.'' is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, written by Dan Fogelman and starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei and Kev ...
''.
Reception
The album received a
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
score of 79 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.
The album debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart at No. 12, and No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums Albums chart, selling 26,000 copies in the first week. The album has sold 150,000 copies in the United States .
Track listing
Other appearances
* "Not a Robot, But a Ghost" samples from the song "First Impossible," which appears on
Dosh's album ''
Wolves and Wishes''.
* "The Privateers" uses the same lyrics as "The Confession," a song appearing on ''
Oh! The Grandeur
''Oh! The Grandeur'' is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter Andrew Bird, and his second with the band Bowl of Fire. The first track, "Candy Shop", was recorded as a demo track for the then-upcoming Tim Robbins film, ''Cradle ...
'' by
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire was an American band fronted by musician Andrew Bird. After releasing his first solo album, '' Music of Hair'', Bird appeared on three albums by Squirrel Nut Zippers before becoming the bandleader for Andrew Bird's Bow ...
.
* A different version of "Section 8 City" appears on ''
Fingerlings 4''.
Useless Creatures (Deluxe edition bonus disc)
The limited edition of ''Noble Beast'' shipped with a companion disc of instrumental songs, entitled ''Useless Creatures''.
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.
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
References
{{Authority control
Andrew Bird albums
2009 albums