A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: dustyvalentino on January 16, 2024, 10:01:54 AM
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What are your thoughts of when MK tries to do blues?
I should make it clear that I'm not talking about his guitar playing really, more about the songs themselves.
Personally I don't think it's his strong point, particularly on the latter solo albums where he tries to go more "traditional".
I Think I Love You Too Much - More of a "modern" (for the time) blues in the vein of Clapton/Robert Cray etc. Some nice playing and interesting (non 12 bar) chords. 4/5
Millionaire Blues - One of MK's "joke" songs which I generally disapprove of but it's a b-side so that's OK. Production and guitar playing are nice and a couple of funny lines. 3/5
Song For Sonny Liston - I know we all got fed up of him playing it live and it is a bit repetitive, but it has a cool groove, good lyrics and some nice guitar playing. 4/5
You Can't Beat The House - Cheesy opening. Production and playing is ok but pretty forgettable overall. 2/5
Pulling Down The Ride - Wasn't sure to include this, more of a country blues. Some interesting chord changes and a great groove. 4/5
Don't Forget Your Hat - Similar vibe to YCBTH. Don't forget this song. Oh wait, I just did. 2/5
Hot or What - Another mid-tempo blues shuffle, virtually indistinguishable from the last two tracks. Lyrics are OK but MK sounds kind of ridiculous singing them. Would likley sound better with a real blues man singing. 2/5
Got to Have Something - MK's not the first person to rewrite Rolling and Tumbling and won't be the last. At least it's a bit more upbeat than the last few. 3/5
I Used to Could - Now you're talking. More upbeat with a great groove. Amazing what you can do with just two chords. Drumming is fantastic. 4.5/5
Gator Blood - Well, at least they are trying something different with the production. Sounds like it was recorded in a barn. 3/5
Today is OK - Another mid-tempo shuffle. Yawn. 2/5
What are your thoughts?!
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You forgot Fare Thee Well Northumberland which I like very much. But he started to sing with this strange voice from TRD on until today.
I agree with most of your list apart from Today is OK which from my point of view really is strong and the the choice of blues really fits with lyrics, era and theme.
And of course Fade To Black which I think he nails perfectly well.
LE
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Song For Sonny Liston is a masterpiece, personally I don't consider it in the "MK Blues" category at all, with this logic Junkie Doll is also MK blues, also Marbletown.
What is a blues is when MK tries to play the 12-bar thing, or 8-bar thing, so in other words, stick to tradition. In this case I must admit, it's lame.
You can imagine if I want to be this Knopfler historian breaking down his songs, at some point I need to discuss songs like Hot or What.
Okay, it's just a simple blues played by virtuoso players, with few prolonged bars to make it not exactly standard 12 bars.
Cool. In the words of the songwriter himself, have you got something else? I'm definitely not a fan of MK Blues.
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MK Blues numbers should've ended up in a separate project akin to The Notting Hillbillies, Guy's BluesClub band, Steve Phillips' blues band, and things like that.
I think it was too much for our "slow" Mark to lead yet another side gig, and he decided to throw every egg he's got in one basket at some point.
With this said though, I really do like blues numbers where the band, especially the rhythm section, shines. You Can't Beat The House swings like crazy, and the unreleased Playtime Deluxe also swings like a dream towards the end. For this raw physical enjoyment, this is a great thing to listen to (and I'm sure to play too).
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Last week I got Metroland (on vinyl) and listened three times in a row to it, and it made me think how strong the 96ers were sounding at that time on tracks like Down Day and She's Gone and the final Metroland track. And it struck me that at this time (starting with Vic and Ray, Don't You Get It and maybe ending with El Macho and Speedway) as a Band they were really on to something. Never reached that level of an unique own sound again.
And trying to play the Blues seems like a somewhat try to find a new sound because of lack of Inspiration. I never felt so much his lack of inspiration than on Privateering, Miss You Blues being the icing of the cake.
Funny enough I nevertheless like that album pretty much and listen much more to it compared with others (or used to, if listening to MK at all as explained earlier. )
LE
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Responding to both LE and Quizzy, we could have a philosophical/musicology discussion for weeks about what constitutes the blues and what doesn't. A large proportion of pop/rock music from the last 100 years has had an influence from the blues, I just included what I considered to be the most overt examples of it in MK's oeuvre. You could just as easily argue that Calling Elvis is a blues. To me Fade to Black is dipping more into some sort of jazz thing, and Marbletown more into folk/Americana, but that's just my opinion :)
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Responding to both LE and Quizzy, we could have a philosophical/musicology discussion for weeks about what constitutes the blues and what doesn't.
Well, that would be something, but why not, it's a Discussion forum after all and we wasted hundred of pages with less interesting stuff than about music.
LE
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True!
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Mark's straight-ahead blues songs often come across as pastiche, an imitation. Sometimes a pale one at that (pun intended ...). They lack rawness and directness. Mark is a sophisticated and intellectual guy, so his songs that reflect that I feel ring truer. His blues-ish songs, like Your Own Sweet Way, Behind WIth the Rent, etc. I like a lot more. Even songs that express the blues, but are not blues in style, like Go Love. I like when Mark plays the blues, though, for instance with the NHB, but on his own albums I feel the blues songs stick out too much.
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Responding to both LE and Quizzy, we could have a philosophical/musicology discussion for weeks about what constitutes the blues and what doesn't.
Well, that would be something, but why not, it's a Discussion forum after all and we wasted hundred of pages with less interesting stuff than about music.
LE
Couldn't agree more... Blues is the mother of all modern Western music. There is a popular question, what is your Desert Island song/music/album? As in what is the one music you can listen to or play forever? Turns out blues is this music, and you can spend all your life living in the blues world like the famous Kings of Blues or Joe Bonamassa. Ironically, it's the same kind of music some of us get bored with after a couple of minutes of listening to it. I'm in this camp, at least with instrumental blues. I can't stand instrumental jazz either, as long as there is a story and a good singer, I'm in. Using the jazz or blues purely as a music competition... Not my thing.
P.S. I love the word "oeuvre".
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And of course Fade To Black which I think he nails perfectly well.
LE
I was going to say that. It is a kind of sophisticated blues structure and I think it is great.
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Mark's straight-ahead blues songs often come across as pastiche, an imitation. Sometimes a pale one at that (pun intended ...). They lack rawness and directness. Mark is a sophisticated and intellectual guy, so his songs that reflect that I feel ring truer. His blues-ish songs, like Your Own Sweet Way, Behind WIth the Rent, etc. I like a lot more. Even songs that express the blues, but are not blues in style, like Go Love. I like when Mark plays the blues, though, for instance with the NHB, but on his own albums I feel the blues songs stick out too much.
Yup, Mark's Blues is exactly this, a homage to the music he grew up with, same stuff in a different package. But it will never sound like something B.B. would do, nor it will sound like a "genuine" MK song we all went to love, so it's this strange deformed Frankenstein monster of music. I know it's a cliché, but it's strange to hear songs like "Today is OK" coming from somebody who created "Brothers In Arms" and "Sailing To Philadelphia". But at least it's not yet another cover song!
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And of course Fade To Black which I think he nails perfectly well.
LE
I was going to say that. It is a kind of sophisticated blues structure and I think it is great.
I think Mark said in interviews that Fade To Black was originally a more upbeat folky piece but transitioned to a blues somehow or something. To me, it sounds like Mark's take on Gershwin and good old jazz standards. Sounds a bit like "The Man I Love".
You can imagine it performed in a jazz club, dark room with people smoking, and letting cool air through opened windows, and this feeling was captured perfectly both live and on the record. This song is the definition of the word "cool".
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If I remember correctly he said it was a usual Rock 'n Roll standard and they weren't satisfied and tried something and changed it the way it turned out. And I think I read that it was one of the first takes on the album.
LE
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The Blues is characterised by a certain chord structure and most often by a 12 bar phrase, rather than 8 or 16.
Over time the chords have been modified and often made more sophisticated.
There are faster Blues records and even somewhat upbeat Blues records, it's really about the underlying phrase and chord structure.
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My last favorite MK blues is Bluebird.
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It is said that a blues should start with a sentence like "Wake up this morning..." LOL
I once had a fun text with things like that related to blues that was quite hilarious.
I think only "Millionaie blues" starts with that sentence :think :lol
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Got to Have Something - MK's not the first person to rewrite Rolling and Tumbling and won't be the last. At least it's a bit more upbeat than the last few. 3/5
I always though that "Rolling and Tumbling" came from Robert Johnson's "If I had a possesion over judgement day"
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It is said that a blues should start with a sentence like "Wake up this morning..." LOL
I once had a fun text with things like that related to blues that was quite hilarious.
I think only "Millionaie blues" starts with that sentence :think :lol
FOUND IT:
Rules for the Blues:
1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."
2. "I got a good woman," is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like "I got a good woman with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch: You stuck in a ditch, ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, adulthood means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City, but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St.Louis, and Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You
cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues.
9. Breaking your leg cuz a' alligator be chomping on it is.
10. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
11. Good places for the Blues: a) highway b) jailhouse c) empty bed
Bad places: a) Ashrams b) gallery openings c) Ivy League institutions d) golf courses
12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a' old black man, and you slept in it.
13. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if: a) you're older than dirt b) you're blind c) you shot a man in Memphis d) you can't be satisfied.
No, if: a) you have all your teeth b) you were once blind but now can see c) the man in Memphis lived. d) you have a retirement plan or trust fund.
14. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.
15. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are: a) bad wine b) bad whiskey or bad bourbon c) muddy water d) black coffee.
The following are NOT Blues beverages: a) mixed drinks b) kosher wine c) Snapple d) sparkling water
16. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.
17. Some Blues names for women: a) Sadie b) Big Mama c) Bessie d) Fat River Dumpling
Some Blues names for men: a) Joe b) Willie c) Little Willie d) Big Willie
Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
18. Make yer own Blues name (starter kit): name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.) last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.
19. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it - with fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sat on it. I don't care.
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Ironically, it's the same kind of music some of us get bored with after a couple of minutes of listening to it. I'm in this camp, at least with instrumental blues. I can't stand instrumental jazz either, as long as there is a story and a good singer, I'm in. Using the jazz or blues purely as a music competition... Not my thing.
You guys that get bored listeing to Blues and Instrumental Jazz are really listening to good stuff?
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Ironically, it's the same kind of music some of us get bored with after a couple of minutes of listening to it. I'm in this camp, at least with instrumental blues. I can't stand instrumental jazz either, as long as there is a story and a good singer, I'm in. Using the jazz or blues purely as a music competition... Not my thing.
You guys that get bored listeing to Blues and Instrumental Jazz are really listening to good stuff?
Absolutely! Just as an example, you can take arguably the best jazz guitar player to ever pick up the instrument, Joe Pass... And to a desert island 10 out of 10 times, I'd take something he did with singers merely accompanying them rather than an instrumental record showcasing his flashy, and not arguably, genius chops. I guess I'm just wired this way, and fast instrumental jazz in particular gives me headache seconds as soon as I hear it. I know many people care about chops, I'm just not one of them.
But it's not the rule. There are no rules. Miles Davis played instrumental jazz, and he's cool, although you can argue that John Coltrane went a bit over the top with chops, especially in contrast with Davids' sparse and vocal playing. This is what I'm looking for in instrumental players, somebody who uses their instrument like a human voice. Or better yet, accompany the actual voice. Or... the best part, their own voice! Big band music is also great... Again, especially with a great singer.
But what I know for a fact is that a lot of jazz musicians really do have this deep connection with their instruments, and they can actually sing all the fast lines they are playing. It's just the lines they hear in their head are fast lines, so they play fast. So it's obviously extremely personal, but luckily, we can pick what we like.
THIS is the kind of jazz I can listen to all my life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jvhiLvNGgc
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But then again you can say my taste is too old-school and too traditional, but I just can't stand all the modern fusion and electronic jazz. I mean I stumble across some interesting findings here and there, I'm not living under a rock, but my heart is definitely living somewhere between the lines of majestic arrangements like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Z49liUn-c
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Absolutely!
Good.
You listen to the "right stuff".
Forget the smooth-jazz or the shredder blues players.
Jazz Singers like Ella, Sinatra, Nina... are not of this world.
Jazz players like Coltrane, Miles, Parker, Monk are PLAYERS!
Guitar, in my opinion, is the less important instrument in jazz.
Guitar music is another world in general.
Clapton said on his book: The music still the same. 5% of good stuff and 95% is garbage.
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Got to Have Something - MK's not the first person to rewrite Rolling and Tumbling and won't be the last. At least it's a bit more upbeat than the last few. 3/5
I always though that "Rolling and Tumbling" came from Robert Johnson's "If I had a possesion over judgement day"
I recommend this book.
Basically, it doesn't matter who actually wrote something, it's who copyrights it first. :)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-One-Money-Clinton-Heylin/dp/1472111907
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Clapton said on his book: The music still the same. 5% of good stuff and 95% is garbage.
Which part is Clapton in?
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I'm more interested in why Mark used the Deep Blue Sea melody in Miss You Blues.
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And why was it so important to have Miss You Blues on the album? A filler track if there ever was one.
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I like Miss You Blues but I wonder why Mark would do something so rare. He wrote the words not to his own melody.
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Maybe he was inspired by Bob doing so. Keep in mind that recordings for Privateering were interrupted by the Dylan Tour.
LE
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Maybe he was inspired by Bob doing so. Keep in mind that recordings for Privateering were interrupted by the Dylan Tour.
LE
It's possible.
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He kept doing so since then in a way. Playtime Deluxe for example, and much of the material on Down The Road Wherever is copied or recycled stuff. Again, lack of inspiration? The Studio is there, the habit of writing Songs, the guitars, only thing missing .. original ideas, inspiration, music where to put the written words over.
LE
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I think I love you too much: 3/5
Fade To Black : 4.5/5
Millonaire Blues : cringe in its purest form.
Privateering blues stuff: Good but nothing super memorable.
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Miss You Blues has blues in the title but is not blues, see also Occupation Blues :)
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"on Down The Road Wherever is copied or recycled stuff"
?
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Miss You Blues has blues in the title but is not blues, see also Occupation Blues :)
I touched on another topic:) but actually Miss You Blues is blues for me :)
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Oklahoma Ponies too is recycled.
But yeah, Millionaire Blues is pretty awful lol
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Miss You Blues has blues in the title but is not blues, see also Occupation Blues :)
I touched on another topic:) but actually Miss You Blues is blues for me :)
Doesn't sound like any blues I've ever heard. :)
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Which part is Clapton in?
LOL! ;D
His late 70's until the From de Cradle album for sure ;D
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"on Down The Road Wherever is copied or recycled stuff"
?
A few off the top of my head:
The bridge of Back on the Dancefloor is the bridge of The Letter by The Boxtops
Just a Boy Away From Home is Junkie Doll
There's another song where the bridge is the same bridge as Heart Full of Holes (can't actually remember of this song is on DTRW, I haven't listened to DTRW very much).
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Which part is Clapton in?
LOL! ;D
His late 70's until the From de Cradle album for sure ;D
Bob Marley, Don Williams and Michael Jackson covers, ok, got you.
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Bob Marley, Don Williams and Michael Jackson covers, ok, got you.
HAHAHA!
I think Clapton is more a Concert Guy than an Great Album Artist.
Of course he has great albums (most of them are from Cream, Blind Faith, Derek Dominoes and his Blues albums)
But he have awful albums like Backless, August, Behind The Sun, Journeyman, After Hours... his solo catalogue (studio albums), in my opinion, is weak.
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Maybe he was inspired by Bob doing so. Keep in mind that recordings for Privateering were interrupted by the Dylan Tour.
LE
I think that way too.
Bob concerts have a lot of blues. Mainly after his Love and Theft, Modern Life, Together Through Life albums. With are, essentially Blues Albums.
MK was inspired after that 2011 tour, for sure.
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"Just a Boy Away From Home is Junkie Doll"
I expected Gerry And The Peacemakers :)
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Got to Have Something - MK's not the first person to rewrite Rolling and Tumbling and won't be the last. At least it's a bit more upbeat than the last few. 3/5
I always though that "Rolling and Tumbling" came from Robert Johnson's "If I had a possesion over judgement day"
I recommend this book.
Basically, it doesn't matter who actually wrote something, it's who copyrights it first. :)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-One-Money-Clinton-Heylin/dp/1472111907
In economical terms yes, but if someone wrote it first, wrote it first. I don't care who registered it, as far as I know Robert Johnson one is earlier, but I can be wrong.
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Got to Have Something - MK's not the first person to rewrite Rolling and Tumbling and won't be the last. At least it's a bit more upbeat than the last few. 3/5
I always though that "Rolling and Tumbling" came from Robert Johnson's "If I had a possesion over judgement day"
I recommend this book.
Basically, it doesn't matter who actually wrote something, it's who copyrights it first. :)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-One-Money-Clinton-Heylin/dp/1472111907
In economical terms yes, but if someone wrote it first, wrote it first. I don't care who registered it, as far as I know Robert Johnson one is earlier, but I can be wrong.
According to that book Robert Johnson stole a lot of songs and copyrighted them as his own as well, can't remember if this is one one of them and I gave the book ot a friend so can't check.
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Just checked and according to wiki the original was 1929 with Johnson doing his in 1936.
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I tried to summ up all "bluesy" MK's songs in this article :
https://textes-blog-rock-n-roll.fr/mark-knopfler-et-le-blues/
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Just checked and according to wiki the original was 1929 with Johnson doing his in 1936.
With the "if I had a possession" title or the "R&T" one?
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Fare Thee Well Northumberland is a blues(y) tune, and described as such by MK at the time. I love it! The long, slow, spoken/sung intro is odd, but the rest is killer. Why they never did this one live is beyond me.
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Mark's straight-ahead blues songs often come across as pastiche, an imitation. Sometimes a pale one at that (pun intended ...). They lack rawness and directness. Mark is a sophisticated and intellectual guy, so his songs that reflect that I feel ring truer. His blues-ish songs, like Your Own Sweet Way, Behind WIth the Rent, etc. I like a lot more.
You put this exrremely well, I agree wholeheartedly!
Millionaire Blues may be forgettable, but God he really played some sweet guitar on that one. That sort of attitude and attack is missing in the Privateering blues songs.
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Just checked and according to wiki the original was 1929 with Johnson doing his in 1936.
With the "if I had a possession" title or the "R&T" one?
R & T was first in 1929.
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Anyway, Mark does jazz way better than blues, even though he's not a jazz player by any means, and jazz is a more mature and individual version of blues. Or as some jazz musicians put it, jazz is blues that graduated from university. Mark's jazzy songs are simply marvellous, and "Slow Learner" is almost pure jazz one could expect from the record coming from the Blue Note label. Besides, the rhythm section of Mark's band consists of jazz cats of the highest calibre.
Richard Bennett, who recorded an entire jazz album which KICKS BUTT, also Jim Cox who's a jazz piano magician with a solo album which is impossible to find online, Glenn Worf swings on upright bass like nobody else, and Ian Thomas knows a thing or two about jazz drums. Overall, it's a miracle these guys are kept so simple with their instruments and barely get used to their full potential, the musicianship and the song service are outstanding.
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Anyway, Mark does jazz way better than blues, even though he's not a jazz player by any means, and jazz is a more mature and individual version of blues. Or as some jazz musicians put it, jazz is blues that graduated from university. Mark's jazzy songs are simply marvellous, and "Slow Learner" is almost pure jazz one could expect from the record coming from the Blue Note label. Besides, the rhythm section of Mark's band consists of jazz cats of the highest calibre.
Richard Bennett, who recorded an entire jazz album which KICKS BUTT, also Jim Cox who's a jazz piano magician with a solo album which is impossible to find online, Glenn Worf swings on upright bass like nobody else, and Ian Thomas knows a thing or two about jazz drums. Overall, it's a miracle these guys are kept so simple with their instruments and barely get used to their full potential, the musicianship and the song service are outstanding.
Ironically because all the record companies have eaten each other DTRW ended up being released by Blue Note.
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I can't really get into what is real Blues, it just doesn't do it for me, but, I do like the "MK Blues" which could be it's own genre. Chris Rea got into the Blues in a big way, with his Blue Guitars project, which was a history of the Blues with 137 songs over 11 CD's, and it was originally going to be 16 CD's. I have not listened to it, but, I am sure it must be good.
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Fare Thee Well Northumberland is a blues(y) tune, and described as such by MK at the time. I love it! The long, slow, spoken/sung intro is odd, but the rest is killer. Why they never did this one live is beyond me.
I really love Fare Thee Well but it's kind of folky as well and that's why I didn't include it in my original list.
I feel like this is MK's strength - taking elements of different genres, making into a big old goulash, writing a good song around it and putting some cool guitar on the top. I feel like he's less successful when he makes a straight up attempt at one of these genres.
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I really love Fare Thee Well but it's kind of folky as well and that's why I didn't include it in my original list.
I feel like this is MK's strength - taking elements of different genres, making into a big old goulash, writing a good song around it and putting some cool guitar on the top. I feel like he's less successful when he makes a straight up attempt at one of these genres.
Yep.
MK is one kind of artist that created his own language.
I've read an YT comment many years ago when i was watching a live footage of I Think I Love... with the Hillbillies.
The comment was: - This is not blues or rock. It's Mark Knopfler.
I think that MK is not a Blues Afficionado. I think that he is very sucessfull when he tries some traditional country stuff.
The Blues, in my opinion, is a state of spirit. Its a mantra. Its not about harmony, scales or technique. Is much more about sing a tale or a interpretation over that same progression.
When i listen to Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Junior Wells, BB or even modern stuff like SRV, Robert Cray, Kirk Fletcher or McKinley James, both have passion and spirit enoght to deliver 3 hours of music without being bored.
Mark, in my opinion, don't have that 'Blues Feeling' to bring a 12 bar blues without being loose at some point. So, he deliver his vision about the blues.
Clapton, Stevie, Cray, the Kings, Bonamassa, Beck, Collins... all great blues artists have his own visions and styles about the Blues. But also they have the Blues spirit. With, in my opinion, MK doesn't have.
And this what makes MK's music so special.
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Yes, his music is very special.
I don't really care if he plays blues or country 100% the way it should be played. He plays it the way he likes it and it always sounds great. He created his own style that makes him very special.
For me Mark is a master at mixing all sorts of genres into his music and the cocktail that comes out is what we all love. ;)
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Yes, his music is very special.
I don't really care if he plays blues or country 100% the way it should be played. He plays it the way he likes it and it always sounds great. He created his own style that makes him very special.
For me Mark is a master at mixing all sorts of genres into his music and the cocktail that comes out is what we all love. ;)
:thumbsup
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So with Hill Farmer's Blues and Silvertown Blues in mind (and Occupation Blues, Miss You Blues and Millionaire Blues already mentioned) I guess it's safe to say that if the title contains the word Blues, it is definitely not one. :lol
LE
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So with Hill Farmer's Blues and Silvertown Blues in mind (and Occupation Blues, Miss You Blues and Millionaire Blues already mentioned) I guess it's safe to say that if the title contains the word Blues, it is definitely not one. :lol
LE
Also funny that the initial version of Secondary Waltz is not an actual waltz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Mog_3eFDA
And I guess you can insert an obligatory joke here that if a country has anything to do with the word People in its official name, it's either communism or dictatorship.
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Anyway, Mark does jazz way better than blues, even though he's not a jazz player by any means, and jazz is a more mature and individual version of blues. Or as some jazz musicians put it, jazz is blues that graduated from university. Mark's jazzy songs are simply marvellous, and "Slow Learner" is almost pure jazz one could expect from the record coming from the Blue Note label. Besides, the rhythm section of Mark's band consists of jazz cats of the highest calibre.
Richard Bennett, who recorded an entire jazz album which KICKS BUTT, also Jim Cox who's a jazz piano magician with a solo album which is impossible to find online, Glenn Worf swings on upright bass like nobody else, and Ian Thomas knows a thing or two about jazz drums. Overall, it's a miracle these guys are kept so simple with their instruments and barely get used to their full potential, the musicianship and the song service are outstanding.
my two cents about Mark and jazz : https://textes-blog-rock-n-roll.fr/mark-knopfler-et-le-jazz/
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Fare Thee Well Northumberland is a blues(y) tune, and described as such by MK at the time. I love it! The long, slow, spoken/sung intro is odd, but the rest is killer. Why they never did this one live is beyond me.
I really love Fare Thee Well but it's kind of folky as well and that's why I didn't include it in my original list.
I feel like this is MK's strength - taking elements of different genres, making into a big old goulash, writing a good song around it and putting some cool guitar on the top. I feel like he's less successful when he makes a straight up attempt at one of these genres.
I'd rather put Fare thee well Northumberland in blues territory than folk
the only folkish ingredient in this song is Richard's bouzouki... but the tempo, the leitmotiv, the guitar, the piano, the voice, the mood, the lyrics, the theme... all sound more blues than folk imho
I think it's the song which illustrates the most Mark's quote "my idea of heaven is where the Tyne jojns the delta"
so indeed, kind of folk-blues so to say
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"the only folkish ingredient in this song is Richard's bouzouki... but the tempo, the leitmotiv, the guitar, the piano, the voice, the mood, the lyrics, the theme... all sound more blues than folk imho
And Mike Henderson - harmonica:)
Yes, one of the most important i my favorite:
My idea of heaven is somewhere where the Mississippi Delta meets the Tyne
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Fare Thee Well Northumberland is a blues(y) tune, and described as such by MK at the time. I love it! The long, slow, spoken/sung intro is odd, but the rest is killer. Why they never did this one live is beyond me.
I really love Fare Thee Well but it's kind of folky as well and that's why I didn't include it in my original list.
I feel like this is MK's strength - taking elements of different genres, making into a big old goulash, writing a good song around it and putting some cool guitar on the top. I feel like he's less successful when he makes a straight up attempt at one of these genres.
I'd rather put Fare thee well Northumberland in blues territory than folk
the only folkish ingredient in this song is Richard's bouzouki... but the tempo, the leitmotiv, the guitar, the piano, the voice, the mood, the lyrics, the theme... all sound more blues than folk imho
I think it's the song which illustrates the most Mark's quote "my idea of heaven is where the Tyne jojns the delta"
so indeed, kind of folk-blues so to say
I think you maybe argued against yourself there?!
The melody is more folky than bluesy than me - I'm not some musical expert about intervals and stuff, it's just the feeling the song evokes in me.
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Fare Thee Well Northumberland is a blues(y) tune, and described as such by MK at the time. I love it! The long, slow, spoken/sung intro is odd, but the rest is killer. Why they never did this one live is beyond me.
I really love Fare Thee Well but it's kind of folky as well and that's why I didn't include it in my original list.
I feel like this is MK's strength - taking elements of different genres, making into a big old goulash, writing a good song around it and putting some cool guitar on the top. I feel like he's less successful when he makes a straight up attempt at one of these genres.
I'd rather put Fare thee well Northumberland in blues territory than folk
the only folkish ingredient in this song is Richard's bouzouki... but the tempo, the leitmotiv, the guitar, the piano, the voice, the mood, the lyrics, the theme... all sound more blues than folk imho
I think it's the song which illustrates the most Mark's quote "my idea of heaven is where the Tyne jojns the delta"
so indeed, kind of folk-blues so to say
I think you maybe argued against yourself there?!
The melody is more folky than bluesy than me - I'm not some musical expert about intervals and stuff, it's just the feeling the song evokes in me.
It is a bit of a mix, but the harmonica is certainly bluesy, and in this song, like some others, Mark starts on the I chord, and later moves up to the IV chord. He also uses a IV-V progression. So, the chords are from a standard 12-bar blues, but the order is changed. There is also no V-IV-I resolution, which is true of many of Dylan's bluesy tunes as well.
I'm with JF on this one, the song screams blues. (Chord tension, harmonica, piano, mood.) Mark described it as blues upon release, so that was clearly the intention. And some folk thrown in - is not the quote about the Delta and the Tyne actually about this tune?
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So with Hill Farmer's Blues and Silvertown Blues in mind (and Occupation Blues, Miss You Blues and Millionaire Blues already mentioned) I guess it's safe to say that if the title contains the word Blues, it is definitely not one. :lol
LE
Hehe! Well, Millionaire Blues is actually very bluesy. For some of the other songs, the "blues" refers to the lamentation of a character in the song, HFB being a case in point. The song expresses his blues, being low, down, troubled.
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Also plenty of folk songs that are I/IV/V with harmonica. :)
As I say, for me it leans more to the folky side, but either way it’s the MK mix again and not the blues pastiche that tends to be less successful.
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"Millionaire Blues is actually very bluesy. For some of the other songs, the "blues" refers to the lamentation of a character in the song, HFB being a case in point. The song expresses his blues, being low, down, troubled"
:thumbsup Very good point. And that's what I was thinking about when I mentioned "Miss You Blues"
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Also plenty of folk songs that are I/IV/V with harmonica. :)
As I say, for me it leans more to the folky side, but either way it’s the MK mix again and not the blues pastiche that tends to be less successful.
Yes, it is great! Should have been played live.
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I like MK's blues. It's one of the things that turned me on to his solo work: While I generally liked hearing his singles on the radio ("What It Is" and "Punish the Monkey" in particular), the folky stuff didn't really speak to me like Dire Straits did. I felt that Privateering was shaping up to be another record in that vein until I heard "Don't Forget Your Hat". That made me take notice and listen.
Now, I'm someone who grew up on "the real thing" - Big Bill Broonzy, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Milton were some of the guys I heard as a kid, then I was a BB King fanboy for a while (I think I actually first noticed the name Mark Knopfler on BB's 80 album!), and then started to explore rock music. So hearing someone from the rock world channel blues with such a degree of authenticity isn't something I'm used to; I don't require it - Gary Moore usually wouldn't be mistaken for someone from Chicago or Memphis, yet I love him - but it does appeal to me and in the case of that album felt like I was coming full circle a bit. Though when I listen to "Blood and Water" now, I also hear a lot of Peter Green (same goes for "Don't Suck Me In", which I didn't hear at the time).
As a result, Privateering was the first Mark Knopfler solo album I got (I already had some Dire Straits), and I still have a soft spot for it. And the fact that it's roughly 50% blues (love Kim Wilson's harmonica as well) really helped me to get into the other of his solo styles that are also present on the album, which then led to me reconsidering my view on his solo career as a whole. I guess this background (while I was a blues nut as a kid, most of my family is into jazz) also is a reason why I latched onto Down the Road Wherever. Speaking of which, when I played the track "Just a Boy Away from Home" to my jazz playing father who also knows quite a bit about blues, he was quite impressed at how authentic Mark's slide playing sounded.
If there was something that would bring Mark back to a gutsy style of electric guitar music that wasn't the DS sound, it's blues. "Gator Blood" with its slide attacks is a good example. "Hot Dog" as well (still puzzled at that track's non-inclusion on the 2009-2018 box set).
For the same reason, I'm also so happy that "I Think I Love You Too Much" was added to the new version of On The Night. That version is killer and better than the Knebworth one with Eric Clapton!
I think Clapton is more a Concert Guy than an Great Album Artist.
Of course he has great albums (most of them are from Cream, Blind Faith, Derek Dominoes and his Blues albums)
But he have awful albums like Backless, August, Behind The Sun, Journeyman, After Hours... his solo catalogue (studio albums), in my opinion, is weak.
After Hours? ??? And Journeyman is a great record. "Hard Times" sounds like it's five years too early for From the Cradle.