• Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Jun 26, 2012
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
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  1. Jun 26, 2012
    90
    There's a sadness, a backwards-looking air to Tarnished Gold that's new. Once the Sparks' hallucinatory trippery signaled youth's endless possibilities. Now their songs, even the new ones, are filtered through a golden, dust-moted, late afternoon light.
  2. Jun 25, 2012
    90
    The Tarnished Gold sees them return sounding fresh and revitalised, delivering an album that more than matches their earlier output.
  3. Jun 22, 2012
    88
    Cosmically in tune and harmony-rich, they excel in presenting their colorful, kaleidoscopic view of the world.
  4. Jun 26, 2012
    83
    The beauty of the record is a sum of its parts rather than an inventory of its pieces.
  5. Jun 28, 2012
    80
    While all the West Coast blue-skying might seem naive, the laid-back vibe makes you want to focus on the positive, at least for the album's duration.
  6. Jun 27, 2012
    80
    The Tarnished Gold will melt whatever preconceptions you have about the band and leave you basking in the warmth of the summer of Beachwood Sparks' career.
  7. Jun 27, 2012
    80
    'The Tarnished Gold' is a tighter, more familiar album from a band that have always done their own thing, and it's a very well-worked compromise – this is fantastic stuff.
  8. Jun 22, 2012
    80
    Tarnished Gold is of a piece with their first two albums, but never a pale imitation.
  9. 80
    It's a lovely, warm-hearted gem.
  10. Jun 29, 2012
    77
    The Tarnished Gold is an impressively vital showing.
  11. 75
    These 13 songs waft between nostalgia and realism and unfold at a stroll's pace.
  12. Jun 26, 2012
    73
    The stories are brilliantly disconnected but often uninspired, evoking the stunning introspection inspired by sun and sand without ever quite accepting its challenge.
  13. Jul 5, 2012
    70
    The hushed middle tracks make the album sag, but Beachwood Sparks have lost none of their performance or songwriting chops during the long hiatus.
  14. Jun 27, 2012
    70
    The new album jettisons any experimental pretensions to focus on fully inhabiting that good old country rock style. Almost all the songs on the album instantly sound familiar, showcasing the Sparks ability to write classic melodies that truly replicate the modes of the genre.
  15. Uncut
    Jun 22, 2012
    70
    The Tarnished Gold, mature, with a revelatory appreciation for the simple life, might prove to be the true spiritual heir to their auspicious 2000 debut. [Jul 2012, p.81]

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