Artist: Knopfler, Mark
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Release: 2004
Mark Knopfler is known in the music world first and foremost as the frontman, guitarist, singer… in short, the alpha and omega of one of the best rock bands of the eighties, Dire Straits. And although he released a few solo records while the band was still going, his solo work only really started getting noticed after ’95, when Dire Straits broke up.
Expectations for Shangri-La were sky-high thanks to the promises and some juicy rumors – the record was supposedly made in the old-school way, with a strong whiff of the sixties and all the charm that comes with the music we like to call “old rock”.
The record definitely delivers a few really interesting moments – The Trawlerman’s Song and Back to Tupelo, which are full of interplay between acoustic and electric guitar, the very colorful, percussion-rich Postcards from Paraguay, and then Stand Up Guy and Donegan’s Gone, which are played in a heavy country style that, in both vocal delivery and musical foundation, mostly recalls the late Johnny Cash.
All the other tracks sound very much alike. Neither Knopfler’s interesting voice nor his excellent guitar playing gets a chance to shine, and the songs are too melancholic and instrumentally pretty pale, with no real edge or dynamics.
Then again – in a flood of heavily produced music, all these songs are still honest and convincing enough to win over plenty of listeners. Still, many will be deeply disappointed that Shangri-La wasn’t made by some talented newcomer, but by a legend and one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Mark Knopfler.
Lineup
Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitar
Richard Bennett – guitar
Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
Guy Fletcher – piano, organ
Glenn Worf – bass guitar
Chad Cromwell – drums
Production
Mark Knopfler & Chuck Ainlay
Track List
1. 5:15 am
2. Boom, Like That
3. Sucker Row
4. The Trawlerman’s Song
5. Back To Tupelo
6. Our Shangri-La
7. Everybody Pays
8. Song For Sonny Liston
9. Whoop De Doo
10. Postcards From Paraguay
11. All That Matters
12. Stand Up Guy
13. Donegan’s Gone
14. Don’t Crash The Ambulance
