Mark Knopfler - Shangri-La

There are a pile of British guitar players who've always struck me as being American. Not just the "White Boy Blues" guys like Clapton, Beck and Page. There's the country-ish chicken-pickin' of Albert Lee, the psychedli-blues of David Gilmour and, maybe the best example of all: the jagged chord-swagger of Keith Richards.

And then there's Mark Knopfler. He's on his own guitar island. With his attackless delivery (no picks involved), Knopfler (and his Dire Straits cohorts) created their own scene with the release of "Sultans Of Swing". I remember hearing that song and thinking of it as the first ray of light peekin' through from the general overcast of the Disco Era (though I've since come to appreciate Disco, partly due to the nostalgia factor).

Dire Straits went on to true rock superstardom before Knopfler went out on his own to record some pretty cool solo albums and soundtracks. For some people, the solo material lacked the energy and 'weight' of the Straits albums. I don't tend to 'rate' one recording against another (as in Love Over Gold is 'better' than Brothers In Arms) as it's always seemed like a meaningless exercise. Maybe it's my anti-competitive nature. Dunno.

The point, though, is that Shangri-La is different than records like Local Hero and Sailing to Philadelphia. Whether it's "better" or not really doesn't matter.

To return to that "American but really British" thing though: on this record, Knopfler takes his love of music Americana (with its rootsy country-isms) and uses it to paint some color onto some very interesting stories (including nasty crime scenarios, McDonald's & Ray Kroc, Sonnie Listen and Skiffle-king Lonnie Donegan). If you're looking for Knopfler guitar-whiplash here, you're going to be disappointed. It's all subtlety and shift.

One of the most interesting uses of music Americana is the Elvis 'tribute' "Back To Tupelo", which uses a very "Ghostriders In The Sky" chord progression underneath its verses. That music puts extra emotional 'umph' into the Elvis-gone-commercial lament:

when you're young and beautiful
your dreams are all ideals
later on it's not the same
lord, everything is real
sixteen hundred miles of highway
roll back to the truth
and a song to give your mother
in your first recording booth

The clever use of the Ghostrider-ish music beneath the lyrics is one in a long list of past Knopfler-isms. Up until this song, my favorite has always been the lyric (and musical) quote of "My Boyfriend's Back" in the middle of "Romeo and Juliet".

Much like the "what's better" question, the matter as to whether I think of Mark Knopfler as Britsh or American is also a non-starter. He takes elements from both cultures and turns out some unique art.

Heck, it doesn't even bother me when he pronounced it "Jag-U-Are". Heh.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)

Article Author: Mark Saleski

Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. He is an editor and writer for Jazz.com. He also writes reviews for Blogcritics.org and produces the weekly feature The Friday Morning Listen. …

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