Mark Knopfler - Shangri-La
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CD Details
Artist: Mark KnopflerBrand: KNOPFLER,MARK
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Music Label: WEA/Reprise
Soundtracks:
- 5.15 A.M.
- Boom, Like That
- Sucker Row
- The Trawlerman's Song
- Back To Tupelo
- Our Shangri-La
- Everybody Pays
- Song For Sonny Liston
- Whoop De Doo
- Postcards From Paraguay
- All That Matters
- Stand Up Guy
- Donegan's Gone
- Don't Crash The Ambulance
Music reviews of Shangri-La
Music Review: Very average and not enough variation
Rating: 3 Stars
This is the latest album from "the voice and guitar of Dire Straits". While Knopfler's style is different to that of Dire Straits, it's not completely detached. There are certainly some similarities (besides the obvious!).
The album's opener, "5.15a.m.", is a great start. It features a strong vocal with a gentle guitar accompaniment at the beginning, which soon gives way to bass guitar and percussion. Then comes a bit of piano - very effective I must say - and some harmonies, followed by lead guitar. It's a well-written song, and very pleasing to the ear.
Next up is "Boom, Like That". This is mostly lead guitar and drums, with a fairly slow but solid rhythm. If you're a fan of Dire Straits, you'll like this - although it is distinctly lacking in variation.
Despite being rather too predictable, "Sucker Row" is moderately catchy. The chorus is better, but after that it's more of the same. Not a bad track, but not exactly groundbreaking.
"The Trawlerman's Song" is average at best. Not much to write home about really. It's another fairly predictable track, apart from a couple of nice chords at the end of the middle section, but then it goes back into the verse. I keep wanting this track to end so I can hear the rest of the album.
"Back to Tupelo" has an introduction that's like a slow version of the intro to "Sultans of Swing", albeit without the drums. It's a bit of a loose comparison, but that's what it felt like to me! There's very little going on here apart from the vocals, particularly for the first minute and a bit. Not very exciting.
Next is "Our Shangri-La", which is all very nice but suffers badly from some particularly dreary chords in the verse. The middle has some brief guitar work, but this is otherwise a very uninspired track.
Track 7, "Everybody Pays", starts out with the same chord as the previous track. Not a good start. The organ is particularly dodgy, and the vocals aren't great either. There are a few nice chords in the middle, but again, this is pretty bad. That's half the album done already!
Despite its use of the same chord through almost the entire track, "Song for Sonny Liston" is much more catchy than most of what came before. It does begin to drag though, as there are an awful lot of verses.
Then it's "Whoop de doo", which feels a bit like "Fade to Black", but in a major key. Generally OK, but it becomes a bit of a plod once you get to know it. An average vocal melody, with mostly uninteresting intstrumentation.
Ah, now this is better! "Postcards from Paraguay" is faster than the rest of the album, and it has a really catchy melody. The main theme is varied enough to escape relatively unscathed from the "lack of variation" comments I've made about other tracks. Good stuff.
"All that matters" feels very much like a lullaby. It's a gentle waltz with a simple but pleasing melody. Ironically it's probably this that has the freshest guitar solo on the whole album. The lyrics are very bland, though.
Track 12, "Stand up guy", is very much driven by the vocals. The instruments do little more than accompany Knopfler's singing. That's not to say they're bad - they do a good job, particularly when the piano comes in for the chorus. Because it's so focused on the lyrics, the lack of variation (again) is less of a problem here. A solid track and a rare gem on this album.
Simple but effective, "Donegan's Gone" is lacking in decent lyrics, but that's not really the point. It's just a straightforward toe-tapper that wouldn't be out of place in the repertoire of a band who plays in pubs at the weekend. Not much to it really.
With its haunting guitar riff, storytelling lyrics and long verses, "Don't crash the ambulance" is a bit out of place on this album. It's an odd number, but it's a very interesting song.
As you can probably tell, this is an album that's very difficult to sum up in a few words! Too many of the tracks are seriously lacking in depth, but there are still a handful of tracks that make this worth a listen.
Description of Shangri-La
The fourth solo excursion from acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist Mark Knopfler, Shangri-La is perhaps his most rocking album since his halcyon days in Dire Straits. A four- time Grammy winner who has sold some 110 million albums worldwide with that group and solo ? and whose signature guitar sound, instantly recognizable vocals and smart lyrics have made him one of rock's most admired artists ? Knopfler offers an idyllic earthly refuge for the sophisticated rock fan with Shangri-La.Mark Knopfler isn't afraid to drop names. The heavyweight Cassius Clay laid low, the man who made burgers and fries into big business, the kings of rock & roll and skiffle are among the motley assortment who pass through Knopfler's fourth solo album. Recorded in Malibu with a tight crew of steadfast Knopfler sidemen, Shangri-La (the title comes from the studio where the entire set was recorded) chronicles the foibles of the acclaimed and the adrift, all delivered with the nonchalant grace that has marked Knopfler's music since Dire Straits emerged in the late '70s. Seven of album's 14 originals clock in at between five and seven minutes. That's Knopfler in a nutshell--don't rush things, but don't loose the thread, either. As a songwriter, Knopfler has a storyteller's eye for minutiae, which he delivers with practiced nuance. He overreaches here and there ("Song for Sonny Liston" fails to capture the pathos of the menacing fighter), but also pulls off a few career highlights (the understated crime-drama opener "5.15 a.m."). --Steve Stolder
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