Mark Knopfler: A Not-So-Timely Update

Nearly two years ago, I wrote a lengthy article about my ten favorite Mark Knopfler songs. The body of work I had to choose from ran from the first Dire Straits albums, up to his collaboration with Emmylou Harris, All the Roadrunning (which still might be the best single album I have purchased so far this millennium).

Since then, I have had occasion to hear the two albums he put out after his collaboration with Harris. I have, as they like to say at the start of so many jokes, good news and bad news. Even so, it may be useful news for those of you on a limited budget that can afford only so much Knopfler.

First, let's talk about the good news. His 2007 album, Kill to Get Crimson is a fine piece of work. I would not put it ahead of Shangri-La in terms of his solo albums, but it is pretty good stuff nonetheless.

There are no weak numbers in Crimson, and some of them are excellent. Among my favorites are "Let it All Go" (a line from which is where the album's title comes from), "Heart Full of Holes" and "The Scaffolder's Wife." In addition there is an intriguing song titled Punish the Monkey . It is well worth a listen, even if, to an extent, it reminds me a lot of his earlier song, "Don't Crash the Ambulance." Also, like another fine song on this album, "Behind With the Rent," "Monkey" has a pronounced reggae beat. Don't worry, Knopfler sung the songs in his own voice with no attempt at a hokey Jamaican accent.

All that said, my absolute favorite song on Kill to Get Crimson is "Secondary Waltz." As brilliant as Mark Knopfler is as a composer, he generally excels as a storyteller too. In this number, he is a twelve-year-old boy, scared witless in a mandatory dance class, taught by an ex-military martinet named MacIntyre. The chorus tells the tale eloquently:

And it's one, two, three, two two-
we're all a disgrace.
MacIntyre tore us apart.
And we danced with ourselves
when we'd all found a space,
waltzing with fear in our hearts;
waltzing with fear in our hearts.

If you want it put to music, here is Secondary Waltz . I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I first heard it.

I mentioned in regard to one of the songs on that album that it reminded me of another of Knopfler's songs, even if it was excellent in its own right. Unfortunately, with his next solo album, Get Lucky, there is way too much of that. With a few exceptions, I found the album to be sadly derivative.

On the positive side, the first cut on the album, Border Reiver , is lively and adventurous with excellent scoring and instrumentation. The closing number, Piper To The End , is a touching tribute to the composer's uncle, who got killed in World War II, so Knopfler never got to meet him.

Although they doubtlessly killed a number of Scottish pipers during the two world wars, the Germans still feared and hated the sound of the pipes accompanying an attack, much as Union soldiers in the Civil War feared the rebel yell. During the First World War, when the Scots still served in kilts, the German soldiers used to call them Damen von der Hölle: Ladies from Hell. It is good that someone came up with a fitting tribute to their undeniable valor.

Sad to say, you have just head about everything that is worthwhile in Get Lucky. Even the title song, which is usually one of the best in a Knopfler/Dire Straits album (such as "The Ragpicker's Dream" and "Shangri-La" from those respective albums) is a dud. Although the notes and the words are technically different from Knopfler's previous stuff, they sound as though they are not. To put it bluntly, everything from the second cut through the tenth will be a waste of your valuable time and not quite as enjoyable as washing your dishes.

Overall, I'd suggest you give this one a pass, even as I make clear, you would do well to buy Kill to Get Crimson.

There is one other bit of news, not so much about Mark Knopfler as Dire Straits. Remember their hit song (which Knopfler co-wrote and co-performed with Sting), "Money for Nothing?" In my earlier article on the subject (see above), I happened to list the lyrics to part of that song. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council determined they were too offensive to be played on the air. I'm referring to the verse where the singer, in the persona of a jealous observer, refers to the performer on stage as an offensive term for a homosexual (which is odd, because the repeated refrain is "Money for nothing and your chicks for free.").

At first I felt outraged about that news, since, in general, I find censorship to be despicable. But then I considered, in the exchange of ideas among adults, anything should be allowed and the marketplace, not only of ideas, but of dollars, will determine what is and is not worthwhile. Still, we need to keep in mind, we live in a society that also features children of all ages, and some censorship may be a good thing for their sakes.

Note that the Canadian officials did not bar the sale of the CDs on which that song appears, since, nominally, a CD is something that is purchased with the proactive consent of the buyer. The individual adult or child has some control over whether or not the song gets listened to. Over the radio, though, there is no such control unless it is superimposed on the station.

Yes, I am quite sure that every child in the English-speaking world has heard the term by the time he or she is fourteen, but it makes a big difference whether the child hears it from Lennie the Creep on the playground or on the publicly-sanctioned airways. I'm with the Hoser brass on this one, even if I do consider "Money for Nothing" one of Dire Straits' best songs.

I will have more to say about people named Mark and censorship at a later date. For now, consider yourselves caught up.

Sources

http://www.markknopfler.com/music/discography/cd/mk_SoloDetails.aspx?AlbumId=a105dc42-cab1-4f8e-a687-09c0640fa901

http://www.tvguide.com/news/dire-straits-money-1027642.aspx

http://everything2.com/title/Ladies+From+Hell

Wikipedia

YouTube

The albums themselves