Released October 1, 1996 Genre Indie rock Label Drag City | Recorded July 1996 Length 35:43 | |
Producer Rian Murphy, Shadwell Cougars and Silver Jews | ||
The Natural Bridge is the second full-length studio album by indie-rock group the Silver Jews. Released in 1996 as an LP and CD on Drag City (DC101) in America and Domino (WIG28) in Europe, The Natural Bridge was engineered and mixed by Michael Deming and Thom Monahan and features cover art by Mike Flood. Featured musicians include: David Berman; Matt Hunter; Rian Murphy; Peyton Pinkerton; and Michael Deming.
Some tracks on the album were originally recorded using members of the Scud Mountain Boys as Berman's backing band, but scrapped. None of these recordings have ever been released, and were rumored to have been destroyed. According to the Scuds' Joe Pernice, the songs sounded "exactly like the Scud Mountain Boys with David Berman singing" and not like previous Silver Jews recordings. An unreleased cover of Echo and the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon" was also recorded with the Scuds.
Another 1995 session, with Pavement members Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, and Steve West, was aborted when Berman stormed out of the recording studio. The remaining musicians used the paid studio time to record Pavement's Pacific Trim EP.
Track listing
All tracks composed by David Berman
- "How to Rent a Room"
- "Pet Politics"
- "Black and Brown Blues"
- "Ballad of Reverend War Character"
- "The Right to Remain Silent"
- "Dallas"
- "Inside the Golden Days of Missing You"
- "Albemarle Station"
- "The Frontier Index"
- "Pretty Eyes"