The Charity of Night

Bruce Cockburn | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 4, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B0000009QT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,674 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Night Train

2. Get Up Jonah

3. Pacing The Cage

4. Mistress Of Storms

5. The Whole Night Sky

6. The Coming Rains

7. Birmingham Shadows

8. The Mines Of Mozambique

9. Live On My Mind

10. The Charity Of Night

11. Strange Waters

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Why doesn't Toronto's Bruce Cockburn have the same high-level critical reputation and midlevel cult following as Richard Thompson? After all, they're both dazzling, Celtic-Islamic rock guitar pickers and the writers of vivid if gloomy songs which they deliver in foggy baritones. The big difference is Cockburn's left-wing Christianity, which can be as unrelentingly earnest as Bono's. Cockburn lightens up a little bit on The Charity of Night; he adds Laurie Anderson-like, film noir monologs to four songs and allows nakedly romantic feelings to emerge in two quietly pretty love songs. The prominent presence of bassist Rob Wasserman and vibist Gary Burton give a jazzy elasticity to Cockburn's usual folk rock. Cockburn's reputation among his fellow musicians is reflected in guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Bob Weir, Patty Larkin, Ani DiFranco, and Jonatha Brooke--maybe the public will catch up this time around. --Geoffrey Himes

From the Label

Imagery of night and darkness, shadow and storm pervades Bruce Cockburn’s twenty-third album (and first on Rykodisc), The Charity of Night. Held in high regard for his “poetic, innovative, often provocative songwriting,” Cockburn’s lyrical introspection sometimes leads him to the more secret corridors of the heart and soul. He also believes that, on this album, he is at something of a turning point. For a man with thirteen gold and three platinum records in Canada, as well as ten Juno Awards (the Canadian counterpart to the Grammy), that’s quite an assertion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is going on here?, June 2, 2000

By 

Teri Dunn (Gloucester, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Charity of Night (Audio CD)

I thought I'd stop by and read a few reviews of one of the most remarkable documents/CDs I have ever listened to, and I find comments about Bruce Cockburn's musicianship (no debate there) and mixed reactions to the song's contents.Listen again, intently. "The Charity of Night" is intense and ambitious. It's got vivid pictures of far-off places and uncertain times. It tells stories. It captures pain, regret, doubt, loneliness, fear ... and hope, lust, redemption, humor, compassion. This guy is so loaded with emotion and passion and sincerity and integrity and dedication to detail that no wonder sometimes "there's a pounding in my head, I'm swollen up with unshed tears." Thank God he's got his guitar and the songs come out of him. Listen again, intently, ride along, and feel, feel and see.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Very Best from Ottawa's Masterful Writer, March 11, 2003

By 

o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Charity of Night (Audio CD)

Bruce is from Ottawa, although a major part of the early days and his management company are focused on Toronto. Celtic-Islamic? What?!!?
Cockburn's guitar sryle is blues-jazz based with a strong roots element to it, but I've never thought of him as Celtic, and certainly where Islamic came from, Allah only knows. Can he please be called quintessentially Canadian, which should mystify the great labelizers of the music world enough to give Cockburn the room he needs to create extraordinary music.
Those quibbles aside, this is rightly one of BC's absolute gems, particularly this far into his career. There is a wild range of emotions running through these songs, and Bruce's fretwork (I still can't believe celtic-islamic) is dazzling, Allah and Ossian be praised. The chugging train rhythm of the opening track sets an authentic roots tone to a deeply personal statement, and back up vocals from Jonatha Brooke and Ani De Franco give this CD an urgency.
"Pacing the Cage," written in the dismal environs of Philadelphia, is as dire an assessment of fate as I have ever heard. It absolutely breaks your heart. "Coming Rains" rejoycefully rebounds the spirit, and "Birmingham Shadows" is one of those brilliant Cockburn epics, part poem, part lyric that hint at a love, perhaps illicit, at least dangerous, yet determined to flourish and become consummated regardless of the potential for oppression. "Mines of Mozambique" returns Cockburn to the political arena. Throughout these 9 songs, Cockburn presents intoxicating landscapes and passionate human dramas. He is far and away one of the very greatest of North American writers and a crafter of melodies that live with the listener a very, very long time.
Cockburn is his own man, certainly an exitentialist and christian kind of hero, and as he addresses his topics, he very willingly breaks the bonds that any label might impose upon him. You would be better served taking the man on his own merits. These merits are extraordinary. This is one of his very best collections.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bruce makes up lost ground with this one, December 8, 1999

By 

Christopher Meier (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Charity of Night (Audio CD)

Several of Bruce's previous efforts have fallen flat, but this CD brings him back to the forefront. The songs are well crafted, and the production is excellent. The instrumentation is fabulous. The guitar/vibrophone duet on "Mistress of Storms" is such a good blend of sound, I often replay this track two or three times in a row. The sparcity of the playing on "Pacing the Cage" helps to accentuate the lyrics. Overall, the tracks are very rich and buttery. You won't regret picking this CD up.