2nd MK boxset 2009-2018

[Pottel]

Indeed, very nice song and I cannot understand it didn’t make it to the album. I’ll buy the mp3 for now and order the box set in a few months. The CD box set for the first few albums is now available for €23. The second one will drop in price too I guess…

€23 ? Where?
I wait also. Target is €30

interesting times where USD equals EURO.

[jbaent]

I disagree. Obviously,  Precious Voice from Heaven isn't a new classic like Telegraph Road, but it is way, way better than most of DTRW, which I personally think it is the weakest MK or DS album by far. Leaving this song and Pale Imitation out of that record is the single most absurd piece of decision-making since Dylan left Blind Williw McTell out of Infidels

I was underwhelmed with Down The Road Wherever. That being said, I think 'Drover's Road' was a fantastic song, as is 'Sky and Water', how they were bonus tracks while songs like 'My Bacon Roll', and 'Heavy Up',  made the cut Mark only knows. Perhaps he felt he had covered that territory before. I enjoy 'Trapper Man', 'One Song At A Time', and 'Good On You Son' too, but I skip the rest of the album.

There is no album in MK history as bad as DTRW. Half baked ideas, reusing of melodies, way too many fillers, no excitement at all. Like yourself, I like Drovers Road, Floating Away and One Song at a Time, but that's about it from the demented official tracklist. Heavy Up and Nobody Does That are pure, quintaessential, very poor and bland nonsense which go nowhere for way too long time; the Junkie Doll-You'll never Walk Alone mixture is just lazy; Matchstick Man is weak storytelling with a melody fully self-stolen from the amazing, hugely superior Heart of Oak; Back on the dance floor reuses Terminal of Tribute To for the verse and steals the chorus from The Letter, the great Box Tops song. And the rest is forgettable at best. Amazingly, I like very much almost all the excluded material.

For me, DTRW is far better than Tracker, that is full of endless songs where nothing happens during the last 2 or 3 minutes of almost every saong, which are repetitive and boring.

DTRW is very varied and has a lot of interesting new things that are not in previous MK records, also is a record that only features the folkies in two songs, which is rare, and also has women chorus and brass, which also new on MK record.

[herlock]

Those of you who have the early version of the box... What was wrong with it?

Except the cheap packaging as for the first one, nothing.
I got it on time, October 7th, from Amazon France with nothing wrong as far as I can tell.
I don't understand what happened...

[dustyvalentino]

Very harsh statement.
When you leave and slow learner are very moving.
Matchstick man is a bit dry on the record but live it almost brought me to tears.
Dance floor and My bacon roll are great songs.
One song at a time is an absolute masterpiece.
Don't suck me in and precious voice from heaven should have been on the record...

A
Yes, maybe a bit harsh. Sorry if it sounded obnoxious. But music is up to each one's taste. Plus the poverty of kast album's songwriting and all the recycling and reusing in DTRW are things that cannot be deined. MK has quoted himself many times before (WOL becoming Cannibals, MFN becoming Heavy Fuel becoming Imelda, The Mans too strong becoming Iron Hand becoming Je Suis Desolé becoming Privateering, All That Matters becoming Secondary Waltz becoming Monteleone, etc) but that was primarily copying the style, the air of the song. But lately he recycles full segments of songs (in Tracker we could see it, he chorus of Beryl stolen from the chorus of Behind With the Rent, Long Cool Girl based on Romeo and Juliet coda), and in DTRW it's too frequent. Actually, this slowing down of creativity has come very late: it is safe to say that MK has been an astonishing creative force for four decades, a lot more prolific, original, curious and inventive songwriter than any other of his peers (including Springsteen, Dylan, McCartney, Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Elton John and Sting). Unparalelled. But last album is poor, sorry. That's my take on this subject. Let's hope next one regains all the fire and originality

Be as harsh as you like, you are free to speak your mind here!

I enjoyed your post, even if I didn't agree with all of it.

[herlock]

I said the statement was harsh, but I would never say that one is not entitled to make harsh statements. I'm a strong believer in freedom of speech.

[dustyvalentino]

I said the statement was harsh, but I would never say that one is not entitled to make harsh statements. I'm a strong believer in freedom of speech.

It's all good, wasn't directing anything at you my friend

[rmarques821]

I disagree. Obviously,  Precious Voice from Heaven isn't a new classic like Telegraph Road, but it is way, way better than most of DTRW, which I personally think it is the weakest MK or DS album by far. Leaving this song and Pale Imitation out of that record is the single most absurd piece of decision-making since Dylan left Blind Williw McTell out of Infidels

I was underwhelmed with Down The Road Wherever. That being said, I think 'Drover's Road' was a fantastic song, as is 'Sky and Water', how they were bonus tracks while songs like 'My Bacon Roll', and 'Heavy Up',  made the cut Mark only knows. Perhaps he felt he had covered that territory before. I enjoy 'Trapper Man', 'One Song At A Time', and 'Good On You Son' too, but I skip the rest of the album.

There is no album in MK history as bad as DTRW. Half baked ideas, reusing of melodies, way too many fillers, no excitement at all. Like yourself, I like Drovers Road, Floating Away and One Song at a Time, but that's about it from the demented official tracklist. Heavy Up and Nobody Does That are pure, quintaessential, very poor and bland nonsense which go nowhere for way too long time; the Junkie Doll-You'll never Walk Alone mixture is just lazy; Matchstick Man is weak storytelling with a melody fully self-stolen from the amazing, hugely superior Heart of Oak; Back on the dance floor reuses Terminal of Tribute To for the verse and steals the chorus from The Letter, the great Box Tops song. And the rest is forgettable at best. Amazingly, I like very much almost all the excluded material.

For me, DTRW is far better than Tracker, that is full of endless songs where nothing happens during the last 2 or 3 minutes of almost every saong, which are repetitive and boring.

DTRW is very varied and has a lot of interesting new things that are not in previous MK records, also is a record that only features the folkies in two songs, which is rare, and also has women chorus and brass, which also new on MK record.

I keep reading this argument from you about Tracker... I understand what you mean, but I think you completely missed the point of the album.
Tracker was special because it was the first album where Mark started reflecting about time, his life and his past. Probably because he was 65 back then.
But you can feel that theme, if you like, througout the album, of dealing with the passage of time and tracking himself back in both space and time, as he himself said. That's why songs like Long Cool Girl or Silver Eagle have long repetitive outros, it's him thinking about his life and past through the melody. And it's why I also love these songs so much, they would lose the magic if they had a random solo in them.

[superval99]

I disagree. Obviously,  Precious Voice from Heaven isn't a new classic like Telegraph Road, but it is way, way better than most of DTRW, which I personally think it is the weakest MK or DS album by far. Leaving this song and Pale Imitation out of that record is the single most absurd piece of decision-making since Dylan left Blind Williw McTell out of Infidels

I was underwhelmed with Down The Road Wherever. That being said, I think 'Drover's Road' was a fantastic song, as is 'Sky and Water', how they were bonus tracks while songs like 'My Bacon Roll', and 'Heavy Up',  made the cut Mark only knows. Perhaps he felt he had covered that territory before. I enjoy 'Trapper Man', 'One Song At A Time', and 'Good On You Son' too, but I skip the rest of the album.

There is no album in MK history as bad as DTRW. Half baked ideas, reusing of melodies, way too many fillers, no excitement at all. Like yourself, I like Drovers Road, Floating Away and One Song at a Time, but that's about it from the demented official tracklist. Heavy Up and Nobody Does That are pure, quintaessential, very poor and bland nonsense which go nowhere for way too long time; the Junkie Doll-You'll never Walk Alone mixture is just lazy; Matchstick Man is weak storytelling with a melody fully self-stolen from the amazing, hugely superior Heart of Oak; Back on the dance floor reuses Terminal of Tribute To for the verse and steals the chorus from The Letter, the great Box Tops song. And the rest is forgettable at best. Amazingly, I like very much almost all the excluded material.

For me, DTRW is far better than Tracker, that is full of endless songs where nothing happens during the last 2 or 3 minutes of almost every saong, which are repetitive and boring.

DTRW is very varied and has a lot of interesting new things that are not in previous MK records, also is a record that only features the folkies in two songs, which is rare, and also has women chorus and brass, which also new on MK record.

I keep reading this argument from you about Tracker... I understand what you mean, but I think you completely missed the point of the album.
Tracker was special because it was the first album where Mark started reflecting about time, his life and his past. Probably because he was 65 back then.
But you can feel that theme, if you like, througout the album, of dealing with the passage of time and tracking himself back in both space and time, as he himself said. That's why songs like Long Cool Girl or Silver Eagle have long repetitive outros, it's him thinking about his life and past through the melody. And it's why I also love these songs so much, they would lose the magic if they had a random solo in them.

Tracker is one of my favourite three albums - Shangri-La, KTGC and Tracker and it is impossible for me to put them in order of preference.  When I listen to Tracker I feel that I am on a long journey with MK and it feels wonderful.

[dustyvalentino]

I disagree. Obviously,  Precious Voice from Heaven isn't a new classic like Telegraph Road, but it is way, way better than most of DTRW, which I personally think it is the weakest MK or DS album by far. Leaving this song and Pale Imitation out of that record is the single most absurd piece of decision-making since Dylan left Blind Williw McTell out of Infidels

I was underwhelmed with Down The Road Wherever. That being said, I think 'Drover's Road' was a fantastic song, as is 'Sky and Water', how they were bonus tracks while songs like 'My Bacon Roll', and 'Heavy Up',  made the cut Mark only knows. Perhaps he felt he had covered that territory before. I enjoy 'Trapper Man', 'One Song At A Time', and 'Good On You Son' too, but I skip the rest of the album.

There is no album in MK history as bad as DTRW. Half baked ideas, reusing of melodies, way too many fillers, no excitement at all. Like yourself, I like Drovers Road, Floating Away and One Song at a Time, but that's about it from the demented official tracklist. Heavy Up and Nobody Does That are pure, quintaessential, very poor and bland nonsense which go nowhere for way too long time; the Junkie Doll-You'll never Walk Alone mixture is just lazy; Matchstick Man is weak storytelling with a melody fully self-stolen from the amazing, hugely superior Heart of Oak; Back on the dance floor reuses Terminal of Tribute To for the verse and steals the chorus from The Letter, the great Box Tops song. And the rest is forgettable at best. Amazingly, I like very much almost all the excluded material.

For me, DTRW is far better than Tracker, that is full of endless songs where nothing happens during the last 2 or 3 minutes of almost every saong, which are repetitive and boring.

DTRW is very varied and has a lot of interesting new things that are not in previous MK records, also is a record that only features the folkies in two songs, which is rare, and also has women chorus and brass, which also new on MK record.

I keep reading this argument from you about Tracker... I understand what you mean, but I think you completely missed the point of the album.
Tracker was special because it was the first album where Mark started reflecting about time, his life and his past. Probably because he was 65 back then.
But you can feel that theme, if you like, througout the album, of dealing with the passage of time and tracking himself back in both space and time, as he himself said. That's why songs like Long Cool Girl or Silver Eagle have long repetitive outros, it's him thinking about his life and past through the melody. And it's why I also love these songs so much, they would lose the magic if they had a random solo in them.

Great post, thank you.

[KnopfleRick]

I disagree. Obviously,  Precious Voice from Heaven isn't a new classic like Telegraph Road, but it is way, way better than most of DTRW, which I personally think it is the weakest MK or DS album by far. Leaving this song and Pale Imitation out of that record is the single most absurd piece of decision-making since Dylan left Blind Williw McTell out of Infidels

I was underwhelmed with Down The Road Wherever. That being said, I think 'Drover's Road' was a fantastic song, as is 'Sky and Water', how they were bonus tracks while songs like 'My Bacon Roll', and 'Heavy Up',  made the cut Mark only knows. Perhaps he felt he had covered that territory before. I enjoy 'Trapper Man', 'One Song At A Time', and 'Good On You Son' too, but I skip the rest of the album.

There is no album in MK history as bad as DTRW. Half baked ideas, reusing of melodies, way too many fillers, no excitement at all. Like yourself, I like Drovers Road, Floating Away and One Song at a Time, but that's about it from the demented official tracklist. Heavy Up and Nobody Does That are pure, quintaessential, very poor and bland nonsense which go nowhere for way too long time; the Junkie Doll-You'll never Walk Alone mixture is just lazy; Matchstick Man is weak storytelling with a melody fully self-stolen from the amazing, hugely superior Heart of Oak; Back on the dance floor reuses Terminal of Tribute To for the verse and steals the chorus from The Letter, the great Box Tops song. And the rest is forgettable at best. Amazingly, I like very much almost all the excluded material.

For me, DTRW is far better than Tracker, that is full of endless songs where nothing happens during the last 2 or 3 minutes of almost every saong, which are repetitive and boring.

DTRW is very varied and has a lot of interesting new things that are not in previous MK records, also is a record that only features the folkies in two songs, which is rare, and also has women chorus and brass, which also new on MK record.

I keep reading this argument from you about Tracker... I understand what you mean, but I think you completely missed the point of the album.
Tracker was special because it was the first album where Mark started reflecting about time, his life and his past. Probably because he was 65 back then.
But you can feel that theme, if you like, througout the album, of dealing with the passage of time and tracking himself back in both space and time, as he himself said. That's why songs like Long Cool Girl or Silver Eagle have long repetitive outros, it's him thinking about his life and past through the melody. And it's why I also love these songs so much, they would lose the magic if they had a random solo in them.

Very well said and I totally agree with you.  Tracker is a very intimate musical journey and one of my favourite solo work by our master.

[Robson]

After four years, I noticed that Down The Road Wherever is the most criticized on the forum for its horns. I will always defend the songs Slow Learner and When You Leave. Heavy Up is a different category, but I agree with jbaent. Mark wanted something new and it's a beautiful album for me. Tracker too

[Banjo99uk]

I disagree. Obviously,  Precious Voice from Heaven isn't a new classic like Telegraph Road, but it is way, way better than most of DTRW, which I personally think it is the weakest MK or DS album by far. Leaving this song and Pale Imitation out of that record is the single most absurd piece of decision-making since Dylan left Blind Williw McTell out of Infidels

I was underwhelmed with Down The Road Wherever. That being said, I think 'Drover's Road' was a fantastic song, as is 'Sky and Water', how they were bonus tracks while songs like 'My Bacon Roll', and 'Heavy Up',  made the cut Mark only knows. Perhaps he felt he had covered that territory before. I enjoy 'Trapper Man', 'One Song At A Time', and 'Good On You Son' too, but I skip the rest of the album.

There is no album in MK history as bad as DTRW. Half baked ideas, reusing of melodies, way too many fillers, no excitement at all. Like yourself, I like Drovers Road, Floating Away and One Song at a Time, but that's about it from the demented official tracklist. Heavy Up and Nobody Does That are pure, quintaessential, very poor and bland nonsense which go nowhere for way too long time; the Junkie Doll-You'll never Walk Alone mixture is just lazy; Matchstick Man is weak storytelling with a melody fully self-stolen from the amazing, hugely superior Heart of Oak; Back on the dance floor reuses Terminal of Tribute To for the verse and steals the chorus from The Letter, the great Box Tops song. And the rest is forgettable at best. Amazingly, I like very much almost all the excluded material.

For me, DTRW is far better than Tracker, that is full of endless songs where nothing happens during the last 2 or 3 minutes of almost every saong, which are repetitive and boring.

DTRW is very varied and has a lot of interesting new things that are not in previous MK records, also is a record that only features the folkies in two songs, which is rare, and also has women chorus and brass, which also new on MK record.

I keep reading this argument from you about Tracker... I understand what you mean, but I think you completely missed the point of the album.
Tracker was special because it was the first album where Mark started reflecting about time, his life and his past. Probably because he was 65 back then.
But you can feel that theme, if you like, througout the album, of dealing with the passage of time and tracking himself back in both space and time, as he himself said. That's why songs like Long Cool Girl or Silver Eagle have long repetitive outros, it's him thinking about his life and past through the melody. And it's why I also love these songs so much, they would lose the magic if they had a random solo in them.

Don’t know why but Silver Eagle is one of my favourite MK songs ever. I also agree it felt like he started being retrospective with his writing. We all do it as we get older. It’s easier to look back than forward when more of your years are sadly behind you.

[Robson]

My CD Box has arrived 

[Knopflerfan]

My CD Box has arrived 

And.....Any good?

[Robson]

Everything looks great and sounds phenomenal