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In Violet Light
 
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In Violet Light

Tragically Hip (Artist) | Format: Audio CD
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 9.35 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
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In Violet Light + In Between Evolution + Phantom Power
Price For All Three: CDN$ 39.09

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  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
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  • In Between Evolution ~ The Tragically Hip Audio CD CDN$ 19.68

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  • Phantom Power ~ Tragically Hip Audio CD CDN$ 10.06

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Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Details
1. Are You Ready
2. Use It Up
3. The Darkest One
4. It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken
5. Silver Jet
6. Throwing Off Glass
7. All Tore Up
8. Leave
9. A Beautiful Thing
10. The Dire Wolf
11. The Dark Canuck

Product Description

Amazon.ca

After the under-whelming Music @ Work, the Tragically Hip get the retooling they need on In Violet Light. The band's lean, powerful ninth studio album boasts a series of compact rockers and more languidly paced tracks that bear all the hallmarks of the Hip's style--the churning guitars, the penchant for wide-open soundscapes and, of course, the ever-cryptic utterances of singer Gord Downie. Yet the new songs also benefit from greater focus and a renewed sense of purpose. A change of scenery and personnel has helped considerably. To record In Violet Light, the Hip decamped to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, an unusually exotic spot for guys who cut their teeth in the bars of Kingston (Ontario, not Jamaica). Moreover, long-time producer Steve Berlin was replaced by Hugh Padgham, a studio veteran who favours a careful, economical approach on discs like the Police's Synchronicity, XTC's English Settlement, and Phil Collins's Face Value. Padgham's influence is discernible in the trio of punchy songs at the beginning of In Violet Light, an opening salvo that suggests the band has recaptured some of the brio of Fully Completely. The best of the three, "Use It Up," combines a raunchy, Stones-y riff with Downie's command to "use it up, use it all up, don't save a thing for later," playing off a beloved line by writer Raymond Carver. "Silver Jet" is equally tough, gradually building a sort of burly menace. Of the uptempo songs, only "All Tore Up" fails to impress, largely because Downie's wordplay chases so far ahead of the music that the song threatens to collapse. The mellower, more epic-minded Hip tracks are also well served by the effort to give the songs a better sense of structure and clarity. "Leave" and "A Beautiful Thing" open like creepy folk-rock numbers, but flourish into two of the disc's most jubilant songs, with the former's instruction to "change yourself into something you can love" functioning as a mission statement for the album as a whole. Dominated by references to beauty and perseverance, Downie's lyrics have rarely seemed so optimistic. Then again, In Violet Light's closing songs are as bewildering as any long-time fan could hope for. Stormy "The Dire Wolf" contains a daunting barrage of images and references, including nods to Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 thriller Lifeboat, an extinct species of wolf, and the Grateful Dead song of the same name. Besides having the most inevitable song title in the Hip's career, the two-part "The Dark Canuck" is also one of the most mesmerizing. With the band's sometimes off-putting idiosyncrasies still firmly in place, In Violet Light might not restore the Hip to the commercial predominance they had in the '90s. But it's strong enough to prove that the group's unlikely marriage of arty eccentricity and arena-ready rock has still got some life. -- Jason Anderson

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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars great stuff, Aug 10 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: In Violet Light (Audio CD)
The tragically hip return after the dense, overproduced Music at Work with a tight yet progressive rock album. Although M@W containded many exellent pieces(most of them in the album's latter half)it was easily the Hip's least focused album to date.

Nowadays, Gord Downie's lyrics are at peak form and he's singing better than he has in years, thanks to help from producer Hugh Padgam. Guitarists Paul Langois and Rob Baker have always penned distinctive, stadium-ready compositions, but these are especially exellent. The rythm section, on the other hand, takes a more precise, lighter approach than on the Hip's previous albums. All the same, Gord Sinclair's energetic bass remains the dominant instrument. Hugh Padgam's production makes this the best sounding Hip album ever, with clearly audible vocal harmonies and a mix that allows the subtle guitar interplay to breathe.

The album is almost an even split between rockers and gentler songs, with six of the former and five of the latter. The most unique songs on the album bookend it. Are You Ready is a startling challenge whose chorus (are you ready, are you ready to love?) came to Gord D in dream. The album coser The Dark Canuck is an 8 minute epic. It begins with an unsettling, subversive first half, possibly written from the point of view of a scared suburbanite. Then at the three and a half minute mark, the band kicks into gear out of nowhere as only the Hip can. With Jonny Fay's huge, joyfull drums at a head, the guitarists pump out nuanced riffs and eastern soloing. Gord D ends on the scared note of an audience at a drive in theatre, watching Jaws. The song seems to be about the effects of war and terrorism on the fabric of our everyday lives, but then that's just my interpretation. Other highlights include The Dire Wolf, a powerfull maritime story, the gorgeous A Beautiful Thing, taken from a children's story, the mile-a-minute drinking song All Tore Up and the boyant, optimistic and ballsy Use It Up.

Truth be told, I've omitted a few favourites here, and that's the whole point. In Violet Light's greatest virtue is it's consistent exellence. It's a deffinite yes for Hip fans, but also a great introduction for the uninitiated to a band head and shoulders above anything else out there.

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2.0 out of 5 stars So-so by Hip standards, Dec 22 2004
By 
Clarence S. (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In Violet Light (Audio CD)
The Hip have a certain percentage of uncritical fans who go ga-ga over whatever they do; and some folks just do dig this CD. But the fact is, In Violet Light combines with their previous effort, Music@Work, to mark the low ebb in the career of this remarkable band. Yes, it improves on M@W in that it actually features coherently-written songs with actual, discernable melodies and hooks (including the devastating rumination on Canada's role in an age of teror, 'The Dark Canuck'). But Gordon Downie's lyrics---which are spectacularly revitalized on the subsequest disc, 'In Between Evolution'---remain too scholarly and abstract here, the vocals lack conviction, and the production values sap the band of all the energy and menace that define it. An album to buy if you are already a convinced fan. Otherwise, skip this, and go directly to 'In Between Evolution,' which shows the band snapping back into form and kicking ass on all levels.
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5.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 STARS -- JUST WHEN I WAS LOOSING HOPE..., Dec 6 2004
By 
B. Keith (Windsor, Ontario) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: In Violet Light (Audio CD)
An excellent new disc by the TH, after a decidely mediocre, "Music at Work". Lots of great songwriting with tight music arrangement and Downy sings quite well... Like all Hip discs (except their first few, less complex, ones) it takes some listens to truly appreciate.

The TH manages to cover new ground without losing their foundation... words cannot describe the transcendent moments on several songs (even though I think Downie's voice is, unfortunately, starting to decline... more support is needed).

Great Canadian music?... NO, just amazing music with a distinct Canadian flavour.
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