Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Friday, October 22, 2004

Mark Knopfler

Here we are back on this again but since buying Shangri-La I've been listening to a lot of Knopfler's music. So much so, in fact, that I had to go out and buy Saling to Philadelpia. Just a few comments about what I think after listening to music from these two albums and the music from Knopler's solo debut, Golden Heart.

Like many people my age the first I heard of Knopler was with Dire Straits and Sultans of Swing. I remember the first time I heard the album and though what a cool tune it was. I mean it just captured what it must have been like to play in small English pubs and clubs as a sort of eclectic, folky band. The guitar work was great but the thing that really drove the tune was this laid back rhythm that made the song sound so totally effortless. So of like Steeley Dan but British and quirky.

The next thing I heard was "Money for Nothing" which was, of course, an MTV rock anthem back when they actually played music. I remember the uproar the lyriccs caused with the homosexual community and I remember Sting's killer background vocals. I listened to the whole album and I remember thinking that the best track was the haunting "Brothers in Arms".

Fast forward to the 90's and grad school. The band sort of broke up so the label released the greatest hit disc which I decided that I needed to have. It was OK but I wasn't too impressed with a lot of the stuff other than Twisting by the Pool. Then the On Every Street album came out and I was floored. What a cool album it was. From Calling Elvis to How Long every tune had a story to tell and a point to make. Ticket to Heaven was especially good but the best was the seven minute Planet of New Orleans with its simering blueish thing going on.

After that I didn't hear anything until I was managing the radio station in Kansas and we got Knopler's first solo disc, Golden Heart, sent to us and I gave it a listen. We were a contemporary hits radio format station and I pretty quickly figured out that this album wouldn't ever get played because it was just too darn good to appeal to 18 year old rural college kids. I'd play tunes from it on my evening radio show and the students would call asking me what this **** was and why didn't I play the pop flavor of the day that they'd already heard about 10 times that day. I'd suggest that if they liked the song so much they might want to consider buying the album and they could think of my show as something to broaden their horizons. Their response usually involved either questioning my parentage or suggesting various aerobic activites I might consider engaging in. I usually thanked them for their kindness and ended our conversation with a hearty cheerio...but I digress.

Anyway, Golden Heart was just about the best album I'd heard in years with Celtic and Acadian and folk and blues flavored mixed into what I kind of thought of as a musical gumbo. Great stuff with history thrown in and great characters with great stories. Gone was the rock hero side of Knopler. What replaced it was this sort of restrained virtuosity that was just effortless and threaten to break out and overflow but instead added just the right spice to the stew. The title track and "Darling Pretty" sounded like they'd been inspired when Knopfler wrote the Princess Bride soundtrack and several other tunes had to have been written on a tour through the bayous of lower Louisianna.

Then I lost him again. Golden Heart was one of the first albums on my iPod and was a piece that I'd return to like a sort of musical touchstone; especially when I became curmudgeonly about the state of music in America. Then out at the iTunes music store they had Shangri-La on the first day of its release. I looked at it for a few minutes and decided to buy it unheard and I found Knopler's other solo albums. Big risk for me as I'm still a poor kid at heart and I can't just go buy a bunch of music without at least hearing a song or two. I'm so completely pleased I did. I've listened to the album a couple of dozen times now and it just keeps getting better. I have to make myself choose other music so that I don't wear out the sound, if you know what I mean. Songs about Ray Kroc and McDonalds, Bush the Elder talking to Bush the Younger, a blues tune for Sonny Liston, a Trawlerman's Tale, Elvis and Clambake and so much more. What a great musical landscape it is. So back out to the iTunes music store and Sailing to Philadelphia is purchased. The title track is tune of almost heartbraking beauty, a duet with James Taylor about Jeremiah Dixon and Charlie Mason and their line. The rest of the album is more of the same, great laid back, low key storytelling populated with eccentric characters in amusing situations. As the lovely wife says, Knopfler has the most amazing way of spinning lyrics that you wouldn't think would work that really do. To compare him to another musician might not be quite right but lyrically he has that same ability to create gold from seeming disparate pieces like Paul Simon did on Rhythm of the Saints.

So, after all this, I hope you'll give mark Knopler a listen. Great music if you like it intelligent, low key and really, really smooth.

Thanks for reading.

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