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High Violet

The NationalAudio CD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)

Price: $9.99 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Trouble Will Find Me is the National's highly anticipated sixth album. Learn more

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Trouble Will Find Me, The National’s new album will be released on 4AD on May 20th & 21st. This is the sixth studio album for the Brooklyn band, and follows 2010’s critical and commercial success High Violet. The album is the most self-assured collection of songs produced by The National in its 14-year career. In an interview with UK’s UNCUT Magazine, front man Matt ... Read more in Amazon's The National Store

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High Violet + Trouble Will Find Me + Modern Vampires of the City
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Product Details

  • Audio CD (May 11, 2010)
  • Original Release Date: 2010
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: 4ad Records
  • ASIN: B003BKF696
  • Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

1. Terrible Love
2. Sorrow
3. Anyone's Ghost
4. Little Faith
5. Afraid Of Everyone
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio
7. Lemonworld
8. Runaway
9. Conversation 16
10. England
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

Editorial Reviews

High Violet, the new full-length record by the National, is a nervy, melodic, explosive and beautiful set of songs that find the band at the height of their collaborative powers. The music is wide-ranging in its moods, by turns intimate and rough, expansive and spare, full of stark angles and atmosphere. Berninger's singing wild, half-broken, sly evokes a feeling of being haunted, by love, by paranoia, by something just out of reach. High Violet may be The National's most thematically twisted record to date but it somehow also manages to be their most infectious and immediate.

Customer Reviews

Every song is different, well crafted, often quite beautiful. Jordan Dallas  |  26 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
77 of 85 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Songs vs Album May 25, 2010
By MDF
Format:Audio CD
This album is one that I find myself only putting on when I am able to listen to the whole thing. I'm not going to say I didn't love Boxer or Alligator, but both of those albums have tracks that outshine the overall sound. High Violet is the exact opposite to me. The songs present work better together than broken apart. That's not to say that the songs can't stand on their own, but the overall effect that the album has as a single cohesive unit is absolutely jaw dropping.
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101 of 125 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars National Ambitions May 11, 2010
Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase
"High Violet" finds The National at a high point, poised to either find their way at last into the hearts and minds and stereos of Middle America, or to fall back--either into hipster obscurity in the bars and art galleries of Brooklyn, or hipster exile in the suburbs--and be mourned by their dedicated fans but unremembered by the public-at-large.

Ever since 2005's "Alligator" (or better yet, 2004's "Cherry Tree EP"), it's been clear to everyone who was actually paying attention that this is a band with the ambition, and more importantly, the skills to be the Next Big Thing. And yet they also have the canny hipster sense that it's unwise to look like you're actually trying. So this album finds them both writing anthemic choruses and mumbling them, crafting sharp tunes and sludging them up, and generally continuing to be infuriatingly fascinating.

The New York Times' recent glowing profile of the band--one could call it a puff piece, but this is a band that deserves puffing--alluded to the general critical sense that this is a band poised to make the musical equivalent of the Great American Novel. And while that's an accurate picture of their potential, it's still somewhat misleading. Their previous two works were like Bukowski set to music--they're edgy and darkly funny tales of urban alienation and angst and alcoholism, tremendously enjoyable, but still somewhat out of the mainstream. Whereas "High Violet" is more like Updike, with married-with-child lead singer Matt Berninger as Rabbit Angstrom, and a little extra angst on the side. He's settling uneasily into domesticity and starting to care about the things most people care about, but he's also trembling with fear, seeing danger around every corner. He promises us it isn't "Rabbit, Run.
... Read more ›
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55 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Before I decided to buy this cd, I'd never heard of the National. Indeed, at first, I thought that I had read that there were only two band members. The National is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band formed in Cincinnati [hence "Ohio Blood Buzz"] in 1999. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a very low-key, but precise baritone. The rest of the band is composed of two pairs of brothers: Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf. Aaron plays guitar, bass and piano, Bryce plays guitar, Scott plays bass and guitar, and Bryan is the drummer - and a very fine drummer he is, indeed. Padma Newsome, from another band often adds strings, keyboards, and other instrumental layering. The National has an acclaimed indy history, though, after listening to High Violet, I found nothing of its caliber in the older albums, though they are good. Nothing to indicate the radical departure the group has taken.
The debut album, the eponymous The National was released in 2001 on Brassland Records, a label founded by band members Aaron and Bryce Dessner, among others. The 12 songs were an array of country/bar room/pop. I particularly liked "Beautiful Head", for its delicate roots orientation.
The National's second album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, was released in 2003, and, like the previous album, was received favorably, though impact was not widespread.
In 2004, the band released an EP, Cherry Tree, which included the live favorite "About Today," as well as "All the Wine". The EP evoked further positive reaction, and its success landed them a successful tour.
Their 2005 album, Alligator, was met with much critical acclaim and featured highly in "Album of the Year" charts. Some reviews hailed it as one of the top records of the decade.
... Read more ›
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Best CD I've Ever Had (Over 30 Years) January 17, 2011
Format:Audio CD
Just a phenomenal CD, I have never listened to a CD over and over like this one, and is the only CD I have (out of more than 100) where I don't hit the "skip" button. His rich baritone voice, the drums, the guitar, the arc of each song, the sequence of songs on the CD, the wonderfully metaphoric and melancholy lyrics, not a cliche to be found. By the time he sings "The storm will suck the pretty girls into the sky" on track 4, your ears, soul, and mind will be near orgasm. If you are in your car, just try not to miss your turns and exits while listening to this CD.

If you are looking for an upbeat CD this isn't for you (for instance, "Sorrow found me when I was young, sorrow waited, sorrow won"). Or if you want literal, cliched lyrics. For instance, someone here criticized "I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees, I never married, But Ohio don't remember me" as nonsense. Only if you don't know what a metaphor is. He returns to Ohio, dazed (head buzzing) by the weight of life and of trying to make a living, and even though he never settled down anywhere else, when he returns home to Ohio to earn a living (which you get from other lyrics) finds that Ohio isn't home any more. I haven't figured out all the lyrics, but I'm enjoying the experience of trying to figure them out.

If all artists took albums as seriously as this one, where every song is excellent, purposeful, and well placed, maybe the making of albums (as opposed to making appr. 10 songs and sticking them together on a CD) wouldn't be such a dying art. Those of you 35 and over probably know what I mean.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I love them!
This album is, for me, the best of The National and with the Violet color is something very special. I can listen to it for hours and hours. I love it.
Published 8 days ago by Rod85
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Album!
The album and the added b-sides are all great, especially Wake-Up Your Saints. Highly recommended for any fan of The National!
Published 9 days ago by Saul Ulloa
5.0 out of 5 stars Put Album on Repeat
I've listened to it dozens and dozens of times, but it's still compelling. Fine work, The National. Looking forward to more.
Published 10 days ago by John
5.0 out of 5 stars the greatest album ever1
this album makes the hair on my tender places stand on end and simultaneously fulfills my sexiest of fantasies! Woo! I Need A Mint!
Published 24 days ago by pop daddy
5.0 out of 5 stars The Beautiful Art of Drowning
The first time I listened to High Violet I didn't really get it. The epic build of "Bloodbuzz Ohio" thrilled me but the rest of it felt bloated and slow, a mix of melancholy lyrics... Read more
Published 27 days ago by Lunar Boulevard
5.0 out of 5 stars killer album!
besides the quck shipping and good price this album is a real winner! A killer band with a killer release here. Read more
Published 4 months ago by kenneth Hoback
5.0 out of 5 stars Album of the year
I've only discovered The National this year... but they are now one of my fave bands. This is my favourite album - with Conversation 16 being my favourite song. Read more
Published 7 months ago by mattensky
5.0 out of 5 stars <3
I've never been so touch by an album as I am with High Violet. It moves me. It makes me smile and cry at the same time. Amazing.
Published 7 months ago by ernedavis33
5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, how I love this music...
You honestly can't get better than The National's latest release. Heartfelt swooning mixed with a healthy dose of indie rock, and you've got a masterpiece. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Janelle Keaner
5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't matter what I think or feel.
If you like it you'll like it, if you don't like it you won't. People spin an arbitrary review however they want about everything and anything. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Barak
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Topic From this Discussion
The National songs in the movie "Warrior"
"Start a War" plays during the film's opening. That and the live version of "About Today" at the end are the only National songs in the movie.
Sep 25, 2011 by Nickolas P. Hoffmann |  See all 3 posts
What is the difference between the "Special Edition" of 'High Violet'...
purple foil slip in case plus poster
Jun 14, 2010 by Dogville |  See all 4 posts
How Great is BloodbuzzOhio?
Totally awesome! Made my day, can't wait for the release date!
Apr 7, 2010 by K. Lance |  See all 5 posts
Vista PC Won't Recognize Disc
I have had the same problem with my macbook pro. My son's newer macbook recognizes it though. I even bought a 2nd disc from Amazon thinking the one I had was defective, but it also has the same problem. Plays in my car, but have had 2 cases where I even had to eject it from the car cd player... Read more
Jun 19, 2010 by Superabounder |  See all 4 posts
NPR is streaming High Violet for free
Just picked this record up last night. Really digging it, sounds great on vinyl. Double LP... here's a pic. http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c383/agt144/IMGP3716.jpg
May 8, 2010 by Cass |  See all 2 posts
OK Computer comparison warranted? Be the first to reply
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