Mark Knopfler, Get Lucky (Reprise, 2009)

After going through a long stretch of time where his album releases were few and far between, Mark Knopfler has had a very productive decade. Including his duet with Emmylou Harris called All the Roadrunning, Get Lucky is his sixth album over the last ten years. While he has shied away from his guitar hero past, Knopfler remains one of the best musical storytellers around.

As usual, Knopfler sings about life in working class England and Scotland, with references to his own childhood. The title song, for example, is about a transient worker that Knopfler met when he was fifteen; the man sang in bands in the winter then headed south to France to pick fruit or find truffles when the weather got warm, always looking forward to the next stroke of good fortune. "Border Reiver" tells of a Scottish truck driver making deliveries in to England in the late sixties. "Cleaning My Gun" is about an ex-soldier turned bartender who plans to be ready the next time mob goons come into the pub and try to smash the place. "Piper to the End" is dedicated to an uncle that Knopfler never met, who carried his pipes with him into his final battle in France in 1940. Knopfler's stories can be poignant or they can be humorous, but either way the songs succeed because even the fictional characters are palpably real.

Musically, Get Lucky continues the blend of laid back rock, folk, Celtic, and country that has characterized all of Knopfler's recent work. His core backing band, consisting of Richard Bennett (rhythm guitar), Danny Cummings (drums), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Matt Rollings (piano and keyboards), and Glenn Worf (bass), has remained constant since his first solo CD Golden Heart in 1996 -- a remarkable feat, given the instability of the Dire Straits lineups. The band is augmented this time around by renowned Scottish folk musician John McCusker, who plays fiddle, cittern, and whistle. I've complained in the past that Knopfler has gotten a bit too mellow for his own good, but after adjusting my expectations I can still say his music is worth a few listens.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

Mark Knopfler plugs his new record on the BBC.

Mark Knopfler, Kill To Get Crimson (Warner Brothers, 2007)

A struggling tattoo artist reflects on how his true love entered his life. An actor returns to his hometown, only to meet with disappointment and a lot of gossip. An aspiring rock star makes big promises to his lady. A boxer recalls learning how to dance in secondary school. A man has his passion for painting stymied at every corner. A woman falls for a gypsy tinker and accepts the lifestyle that comes with him.

These are the quirky characters which populate the songs of Kill to Get Crimson, the new album from Mark Knopfler. Knopfler has always been a storyteller at heart. In most of his best songs, from "Sultans of Swing" off the first Dire Straits album nearly thirty years ago to the present, Knopfler sings from the perspectives of people quite different from himself. Sometimes he sings with a lot of sentimentality, other times he sings with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Kill to Get Crimson leans a bit more in the latter direction than most of his work.

Musically, Knopfler has more or less abandoned the harder rock and extended guitar solos of his now distant past for a more rustic and folksy approach that suits this batch of songs well. Kill to Get Crimson does sound different from Knopfler's recent solo work, though, in the sense that he breaks from his usual set of chord progressions. The melodies and structure of the songs on the album have a strong Celtic feel to them, to a greater degree even than on a number of songs off of his previous albums that have featured Irish instrumentation. As a result, the new album is refreshingly less predictable than its immediate predecessors.

I've often made the criticism, when discussing Mark Knopfler's solo work, that he's gotten too laid back for his own good. And yes, that still applies to Kill to Get Crimson. This album features some of Knopfler's best songwriting in a while, though, particularly on "True Love Will Never Fade" and "Secondary Waltz." The fans who've stuck around will certainly be pleased with it.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris, All The Roadrunning (Nonesuch, 2006)

Mark Knopfler had originally asked Emmylou Harris to sing on a song for one of his solo albums, but upon hearing the results the two of them decided to collaborate on a full album of duets. After seven years spent fitting each other into their tight schedules whenever possible, Knopfler and Harris have released All The Roadrunning. Consisting of ten songs written by Knopfler and two by Harris, All The Roadrunning explores couples at different stages of their relationships. The pair keep the tone of the album mostly positive and happy, especially in the album's standout track "This Is Us," an upbeat song about a married couple looking back on old photos. Musically the album follows the same ultra-laid back, country/rock pattern that has characterized all of Knopfler's work since the last Dire Straits album On Every Street. Indeed, if any criticism can be made of All The Roadrunning, it's that it is a little too laid back for its own good, and it wouldn't have hurt for Knopfler to cut loose on his guitar more than he does. All The Roadrunning instead remains focused on the paired vocals, which to be fair work beautifully throughout the album. Emmylou Harris has had an enviable career not just for her own solo recordings, but also for her ability to bring out the best in the male partners she has sung with -- including people like Bob Dylan, Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett, and now Mark Knopfler who have built their reputations in spite of, more than because of, their singing voices. Knopfler's vocal range hasn't gotten any less limited on this record, but his voice just seems to have new life breathed into it when it blends with Emmylou's.

All The Roadrunning showcases two of music's venerable performers harmonizing to songs about the building and sustaining of romances in good times and bad. There might not be anything groundbreaking on this album, but the songs are well crafted and sung, and like most of the relationships Knopfler and Harris sing about, the album holds up well to scrutiny.

Overall grade: B