Tangled Up in Jews: The Genius of the Silver Jews' Tanglewood Numbers, Part 1

OK, so frequent visitors to SD know that I tend to get extremely worked up about new releases from my favorite bands, usually followed by me talking about how worked up I get about new releases from my favorite bands. The first time it happened this year was with Celebration Castle, then with The World and Everything In It. Now be assured, I’m still very devoted to those albums. They are fucking righteous and they make me feel alive, damn it. I was listening to both of them with the windows down earlier this week, and I remained entirely convinced of their greatness.

But folks, those records can’t compare to the majesty that is Tanglewood Numbers, the sixth (or fifth, depending on how you like to count The Arizona Record) album from the Silver Jews. If there was ever an album worth the wait, this is it right here. This is the best record of the year. This is the best record of the Silver Jews career. All you Natural Bridge devotees will scoff at that, but it’s the truth. This is the record that cements DCB as one of the great songwriters of our time. Let’s see, what more ridiculous hype can I throw out there … best record of the decade so far? Um … yeah, I think so! Not even close, actually! It can be the latest to take the “best since In the Aeroplane” title, but I think this is the album that might hold on to it for a while. Like the best work of you know who, it has all the ingredients of a perfect album: it makes you think, it makes you laugh, it makes you want to jump up and down sometimes, it makes you just want to sit there and listen, man sometimes. It’s a Silver Jews record, so it obviously has incomparable lyrics, but it’s also a fleshed out rock ‘n’ roll record. You could argue that past Joos records were one-dimensional. That’s not the case here. Ultimately, it’s just one of those records that makes you want to stay up late listening to it, then wake up early and listen to it some more. So think of this post (and it’s second part) as sort of the anti-Fuck You Believer!. I’ve only got love to share. MZ’s got plenty of hate to spare.

The record begins with “Punks in the Beerlight,” and let’s just say that if I were to re-do this (which I won’t do for a year or so, just to let things settle – check back in late 2006!), this song right here would be the new #1. Its perfection cannot be understated. It is the anthem to end all anthems. SM (I assume) announces the re-arrival of the Jews with a tasteful little riff that leads us to … “Where’s a paper bag that holds a liquor?/Just in case I feel the need to puke.” After four years away, this is how DCB returns, in all of his insightful/hilarious glory. My all-time favorites straddle that line between insightful and hilarious (those being Bobby and MES, obviously) and DCB is the same. This line will be stuck in your head for days – more likely weeks – once you start listening to it. And it will make you laugh, and that’s good. This song is structurally perfect in that it doesn’t ever repeat itself. It’s a constantly shifting, progressing organism. SM shifts from wanky (which works rather brilliantly these days as long as he’s not writing the songs) to chugging in the second verse which concludes with the instant Jews classic and future ubiquitous sig file, “Ain’t ya heard the news?/Adam and Eve were Jews.” Just as the song is about to reach a boiling point, Cassie comes in and cools it down. Perfect placement. And it’s even better when they team up for “It gets really, really bad.” Then we get the extended breakdown, which admittedly threw me off at first since there’s never been anything like it in another Jews song. But the slow build is perfect, a slow simmer until it finally explodes. I have found it nigh impossible to listen to DCB chant “Punks in the beerlight, burnouts in love!” without raising my fist into the air. When I’m driving and listening to this, I thrust my arm out the window whilst shouting at the top of my lungs. It’s an involuntary reaction. To-louse La-trec! I didn’t believe MZ when she told me that’s what he was saying (I’ll usually just shout along whatever I feel like for a while before trying to find out what’s actually being said), but that’s definitely what it is, and I love it. The impassioned “I love you to the max!” is great, especially when he leaves off the last “max,” as if he’s given everything he’s got, there’s nothing left inside … oh but there is … “Max!” Three and a half minutes of perfection. The perfect example of a song that is meant to be listened to over and over and over and over. And then a little more.

But the first one on this record that did that for me was the next track, “Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed.” This was mainly because those keyboards on “Punks” freaked me out a bit. But this here is a mighty, mighty song in its own right. You barely have time to catch your breath and to relax whichever arm you use for fist pumping before you are hit with the multi-layered assault of “Pony.” Malkmus again starts things off with a great little lick before a barrage of instruments crash in. DCB’s voice is shaky, wobbly but authoritative and he delivers another first line winner – “Where does an animal sleep when the ground is wet?/Cows in the ballroom, chickens in the farmer’s Corvette.” Lots of questions being posed in these first two songs. Musically, this song reminds me of “Let’s Not and Say We Did,” with it’s prominent, indie-ragtime (?) piano. Of course, this song is much, much better. The vocal delivery here isn’t as much fist-pumping as it is … glass-hoisting? Does that make sense? It’s kind of harsh, hitting those last syllables very hard … “Sometimes a pony gets dePRESSED!” Unlike the first song, there’s no breakdown where you can relax for a little bit, and there’s no Cassie to offer a soothing alternative to DCB’s gruffness. It’s just an insistent pounding that keeps building throughout. “Get a load of this FUCKin’ view, it’s the beST in the weSTTT!” More guitar heroics at the end of the song combined with some intense mandolin bring it to a dizzying conclusion. This is one of the many songs on the album that brings to mind Bob Dylan. Although I suppose you could argue that since I basically only listen to Jews and Dylan, I force myself to make the connection. But I’m specifically talking about 1975 Rolling Thunder Dylan. That tour showed a new side of Dylan. He was singing with purpose, enunciating like never before, really delivering every line with intense zeal. He also had a really full band on that tour – mandolin, violin, lots of guitars, and Joan Baez was there (for better or worse) to serve as a vocal foil. See the similarities?

Next we’ve got “K-Hole.” A Silver Jews song called “K-Hole,” good thing this wasn’t around back when I was in college! If I justified my use of ecstasy based on a tossed off lyric at the end of “Silent Kit,” imagine what I would have done had their been a Joos song actually called “K-Hole.” I mean, I might’ve done truly stupid shit like come back to the dorm after class and instead of smoking pot and watching The Simpsons, getting in a k-hole and watching The Simpsons. Er, wait a second… But enough of the DM-generate era and back to the Joos. This song is a much-needed break form the heaviness of the first two. It’s not nearly as claustrophobic, just a spacious guitar and unobtrusive drums to start things off. It’s a calm song, not nearly as good as the first two, but it’s one of those perfectly placed album tracks. The laidback drawl of comparable songs from Bright Flight (“Room Games,” “Horseleg Swastikas”) is gone in favor of a sort of clenched-teeth intensity. (“I’d rather live in a trash can/Than see you happy with another man.”) The spacey guitar/violin outro is a perfect way to end it. It’s just a refreshing, relaxing song, sort of the opposite of a k-hole, if I remember correctly. Which I probably don’t. Because of the k. Full circle, man.

The first real showcase of Cassie comes next in the delightful little romp that is “Animal Shapes.” She’s one of the main reasons that Tanglewood is my favorite Joos record. DCB has a truly great voice, I think we can all agree on that. I mean, non-traditional, obviously, but tradition sucks. He’s lacking in range, however, so it helps to have a vocal counterpart. SM was obviously there a bunch, and there were some great moments, specifically the songs that clocked in at #2 and #3 on my rankings. One of my main problems with Natural Bridge (besides the incredibly flat production) is that DCB’s voice is basically the only one to be heard. I don’t want to say it gets tedious after a while, but compared to Tanglewood … yeah, it gets a little tedious. Back to “Animal Shapes,” which has another delightful intro, this time a guitar/fiddle combo. A lot of these small details are what make the album as great as it is. There’s just a lot more depth to everything compared to the past records, especially Bright Flight. Anyway, this is a light, airy, feel-good song highlighted by the chorus, where Cassie and DCB both try to hit a note that’s just a bit out of their respective ranges (“shaaaaaaaaapes), but when they both go for it unison, it’s beyond charming. We got a taste of this with “Tennessee” last time out, but it’s nice to see that it works outside such a gimmicky song. I mean, I love “Tennessee,” it was the #3 song of the year on that year’s SD countdown (I remember what the top two were, but I’m not telling – in retrospect, “The Bad Arts” is easily the best song of that year), but it doesn’t really have all that much staying power, if that makes any sense. There’s a weird innocence to the lyrics in this one, or maybe it’s just weird since I know far too much about DCB’s personal life thanks to Fader and Pitchfork. That Pitchfork interview was interesting, sure, but that was really a case of TMI. On the other hand, the Fader story managed to successfully distill all the important details from that interview to a solid 25-30 inches. So yeah, “We’ve no good will/No good will to give/to those who try to take away the things we need to live” seems a bit chipper after in the wake of those articles, but I guess that’s the point. Also, “I know everybody’s on a first name basis with the king” is the single line from this album that gets stuck in my head the most, for some reason. Well, besides “Just in case I feel the need the puke,” of course.

“I’m Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You” is the first one on the album that I’m not too crazy about, but it’s a perfectly fine “album track.” They can’t all be mind-blowers, then you wouldn’t be able to tell which ones actually were the mind-blowers. Right? This is the spot where you might expect to find an instrumental, but that practice thankfully came to an end on Bright Flight. The tokenism of a song like “Transylvania Blues” was apparent. TN is about … if not re-inventing the Silver Jews, then at least shattering any preconceived notions. So, goodbye needless instrumental. Bobby Bare Jr. delivers some very Jim James-esque backing vocals here, the only vocal appearing by a non-Berman on the record. How do I feel about SM being on here, but his voice not appearing at all? Just fine, actually. Maybe then when they tour (positive thinking, folks), and get written up as the feature in every Weekend section across the country, it will seem like he plays a lesser role in the band and idiot writers won’t feel compelled to call them a Pavement side project, which is the most absolutely cringe-worthy descriptor imaginable. In case you couldn’t tell, I don’t have too much to say about this tune.

The electrifying conclusion will come later this week, as we take a look at the second half of the album, featuring: the best Magnetic Fields song in six years, the sleeper best song on the album, and the two best minutes in Silver Jews history.

--DM--

Comments

[hackmuth]

i hope they tour on this record. would love to hear dcb growl out 'bandit in the white house limited civilian unrest' at the black cat. this IS the record of the year.

[DM]

how has he been hiding that growl from us all these years? that's what i wanna know. and yes, i would love to catch them at the black cat. and cat's cradle. and bowery ballroom. and trocadero? (where are the good shows in philly these days?) and echo lounge. and so on.

[alex _______]

I can only conclude that that growl is the result of the last 5 years of living. There's a glimpse of it on Time Will Break the World and then on that No More Workhorse Blues cut on the palace-redux alb. But they still didn't ready me for this. It's amazing how the the first few times I listened to the alb it was really hard to get my head around all the departures, but now everything sounds natural; all the songs are the way they should be.

I hear you on the Desire comparison. At least side 1 of Desire.
I don't know how your heart doesn't melt when DC tells you that he's been working at an airport bar and that it's like x-mas on a submarine. But then, I'm still waiting for a revelation at the Farmer's Hotel.

Does anyone know when we're and how we're gonna hear brian's song, freezing in the shadow of your knee, or region ten? I assume they'll be ep tracks for some "single".

[hackmuth]

Exactly, if there's a tour, ive got a vacation.

[mngjfg]

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[mngjfg]

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