You can perfectly hear everything that he’s doing and it allows the other instruments room to breathe and be heard behind the guitar. It’s the cleanest guitar tone I’ve ever heard and it really works. No reverb, no distortion, no echo, no delay, no effects of any kind. Mark Knopfler and his guitar deserve special mention here, for the guitar tone is completely pure. The vocal melody is really nice, especially in the chorus and there are some great low-intensity solos from both guitarist Mark Knopfler and keyboardist Alan Clark. Oddly this slow song works perfectly as the opener. This completely live live album was released in 1983 and has been one of the best representations of the band’s talent ever since.ĭefying all expectations, Dire Straits eschew explosiveness for melody as they open the disc to the light keyboards that are part of “Once Upon A Time In The West”. As promised yesterday we’ll be looking at the very successful Dire Straits live album Alchemy Live today. Photos courtesy of (© MarkKnopfler.Welcome everyone. In an era dominated by manufactured music this is a refreshing approach, and has culminated in one of Knopfler’s best solo albums. In this respect he is reflected in the character in ‘Skydiver’ who sings “I don’t give a damn about a thing”. But now Knopfler, who was always the least fashionable of rock stars, is only interested in producing the kind of music he wants to make (when was the last time you heard some moody saxophone?). You got the feeling that earlier in his solo career, there was record company pressure to produce at least one Straits style single per album. While previous album, Privateering, was a double LP that sprawled a little too far and would have worked better cut to conventional album length, this release feels more focused and satisfying. The sound is crystal clear throughout and the songs are meticulously arranged with a variety of instrumentation. Knopfler’s trademark perfectionism as a producer is once again on display in this album.
Tracker is a relaxing, enjoyable and engaging listen from start to finish. It’s a soft, melancholic tune that is reminiscent of All The Road Running, Knopfler’s collaboration with Emmylou Harris. The album closes in a country-infused duet with Ruth Moody, ‘Wherever I Go’. There are some more upbeat moments offered by the bluesy boxer’s tale, ‘Broken Bones’, and the laidback lead guitar of ‘Beryl’, lamenting how author Beryl Bainbridge died without having won a Booker. It mostly moves along at a measured pace, such as the wistful ‘River Towns’ and the slow waltz of ‘Basil’, a character portrait drawn from Knopfler’s youthful journalism days. This mix is typified by the album opener, which starts out in cool blues mode, before giving way to strains of Celtic folk and a bar-room sing-a-long before resolving to a charming solo section. But the big riffs and the prog rock arrangements of Knopfler’s early eighties output are all gone, replaced by folk, lazy blues and a touch of country. There is also the occasional musical throwback, such as shades of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Wild West End’ in ‘Long Cool Girl’, which also happens to be one of the standout tracks on the LP. He seems content to move on and leave his erstwhile songwriting legacy in the hands of tribute acts, such as The Dire Straits Experience, who played a very impressive gig here last year.Īnd yet, there remains something reassuringly familiar to Tracker: the sprawling, distinctive sound of the guitar, the laconic vocal delivery. This should hardly be a surprise considering that Knopfler has now made two more studio albums as a solo artist than he ever did with his previous band (more if you include his film soundtrack work). In terms of songwriting and sound, we are also a fair distance from Dire Straits. In this vein, Tracker offers a collection of short stories and character sketches that are evocative of another time. While the opening track, ‘Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes’, does make a passing reference to his former outfit (those early days in London when he “left to start a band”), this is a song that celebrates the humble freedoms of pre-stardom.
There is no yearning, however, for the stadium rocking days of Dire Straits here, but a reflection on earlier, simpler days. A strong sense of nostalgia runs through Mark Knopfler’s eighth solo album, Tracker, continuing a trajectory that the guitarist/songwriter has been following for a number years.