A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: Tobben on June 07, 2020, 09:46:50 AM
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Hi all :)
Here is something rare! Another version of So Far Away from The OES tour! Only other version we know of is from Birmingham 1991. Filmed in Halifax, Canada 10.03.1992:
https://youtu.be/3LhlrJuMQd0
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Great find! Very interesting that they should play it again once after deciding to drop it 6 months earlier! Great to have a video on one of only two versions so we can see he used the Pensa-Suhr on it, probably as we would've expected.
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Agreed. Luckily someone was there with a video camera and decided almost 20 years later to put it out for everyone to see 😄👍
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I wish someone would do the same for Béziers 1996 remembering that they had taped the whole thing...
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Agreed. Luckily someone was there with a video camera and decided almost 20 years later to put it out for everyone to see 😄👍
Almost 30 years later :D
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Its not immediately clear from this track, but the OES era esp. with the Pensa-Suhr, the guitar playing in terms of speed, detail (in the main) and improvisation was pretty impressive...there didnt seem to be much in the way of rusty fingers back then!
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Its not immediately clear from this track, but the OES era esp. with the Pensa-Suhr, the guitar playing in terms of speed, detail (in the main) and improvisation was pretty impressive...there didnt seem to be much in the way of rusty fingers back then!
Mark at his peak as a guitar player, technically speaking. He displayed some great playing too during the Golden Heart tour and NHB tours, but I feel the decline in terms of precision, speed and dexterity kind of started after the motorbike accident in 2003 (?).
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Very exiting to see! Great version imo
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Its not immediately clear from this track, but the OES era esp. with the Pensa-Suhr, the guitar playing in terms of speed, detail (in the main) and improvisation was pretty impressive...there didnt seem to be much in the way of rusty fingers back then!
Mark at his peak as a guitar player, technically speaking. He displayed some great playing too during the Golden Heart tour and NHB tours, but I feel the decline in terms of precision, speed and dexterity kind of started after the motorbike accident in 2003 (?).
He certainly was capable back then - although he did make a lot more mistakes - but I just felt the OES tour was just plain dull compared with the BIA tour. Maybe just a lack of effort.
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Its not immediately clear from this track, but the OES era esp. with the Pensa-Suhr, the guitar playing in terms of speed, detail (in the main) and improvisation was pretty impressive...there didnt seem to be much in the way of rusty fingers back then!
Mark at his peak as a guitar player, technically speaking. He displayed some great playing too during the Golden Heart tour and NHB tours, but I feel the decline in terms of precision, speed and dexterity kind of started after the motorbike accident in 2003 (?).
He certainly was capable back then - although he did make a lot more mistakes - but I just felt the OES tour was just plain dull compared with the BIA tour. Maybe just a lack of effort.
I didn't attend any OES shows, but in hindsight the shows seemed very slick. The arenas were enormous too. I have a feeling Mark realized after a few shows "oh, no, what have I done" :) His marriage falling apart too at that time certainly didn't put him in celebratory mood.
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Mark is certainly at his peak during 91 - 96 tours on the guitar.
Whilst I do listen to OES shows a lot, alas for me the sound of the OES tour was a massive departure from that of the BIA tour and the Mandela gig.
Having literally worn out the tape of the Mandela gig, particularly sections of EC's solos, to then hear the radio broadcast of Woburn Abbey was a bit of a shock. People tend to focus on the Pedal Steel guitar which of course is a massive insertation, but I think the biggest change in sound was the approach to drums - clinical and formulaic. Whilst I really appreciate Danny's percussion, that was the first thing that struck me when hearing Woburn Abbey, along with the drums which are functional but lack the raw emotion of Terry's playing. Add that mix to a well behaved Phil Palmer and lashings of pedal steel at any opporunity and makes for a totally different flavour.
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Mark is certainly at his peak during 91 - 96 tours on the guitar.
Whilst I do listen to OES shows a lot, alas for me the sound of the OES tour was a massive departure from that of the BIA tour and the Mandela gig.
Having literally worn out the tape of the Mandela gig, particularly sections of EC's solos, to then hear the radio broadcast of Woburn Abbey was a bit of a shock. People tend to focus on the Pedal Steel guitar which of course is a massive insertation, but I think the biggest change in sound was the approach to drums - clinical and formulaic. Whilst I really appreciate Danny's percussion, that was the first thing that struck me when hearing Woburn Abbey, along with the drums which are functional but lack the raw emotion of Terry's playing. Add that mix to a well behaved Phil Palmer and lashings of pedal steel at any opporunity and makes for a totally different flavour.
Can't agree there. He was really struggling with ToL in the first leg on occasion and even when not it sound weak and tired with extra notes being added at the end to cover up the fact he didn't have the energy any more to sustain such a long and powerful solo. Most of the time it sounded a real mess compared with the BIA solos which sounded effortless. That is the real test.
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Mark is certainly at his peak during 91 - 96 tours on the guitar.
Whilst I do listen to OES shows a lot, alas for me the sound of the OES tour was a massive departure from that of the BIA tour and the Mandela gig.
Having literally worn out the tape of the Mandela gig, particularly sections of EC's solos, to then hear the radio broadcast of Woburn Abbey was a bit of a shock. People tend to focus on the Pedal Steel guitar which of course is a massive insertation, but I think the biggest change in sound was the approach to drums - clinical and formulaic. Whilst I really appreciate Danny's percussion, that was the first thing that struck me when hearing Woburn Abbey, along with the drums which are functional but lack the raw emotion of Terry's playing. Add that mix to a well behaved Phil Palmer and lashings of pedal steel at any opporunity and makes for a totally different flavour.
Can't agree there. He was really struggling with ToL in the first leg on occasion and even when not it sound weak and tired with extra notes being added at the end to cover up the fact he didn't have the energy any more to sustain such a long and powerful solo. Most of the time it sounded a real mess compared with the BIA solos which sounded effortless. That is the real test.
Do you mean ToL or TR? I'd have thought TR is the more physically demanding of the two.
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Very cool to see this. It seems that it replaced Heavy Fuel just before the intro to Romeo and Juliet.
Interesting that when MK started playing SFA in his solo tours (2001?), it was never placed in the beginning of the setlist but always at the end as an encore.
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Mark is certainly at his peak during 91 - 96 tours on the guitar.
Whilst I do listen to OES shows a lot, alas for me the sound of the OES tour was a massive departure from that of the BIA tour and the Mandela gig.
Having literally worn out the tape of the Mandela gig, particularly sections of EC's solos, to then hear the radio broadcast of Woburn Abbey was a bit of a shock. People tend to focus on the Pedal Steel guitar which of course is a massive insertation, but I think the biggest change in sound was the approach to drums - clinical and formulaic. Whilst I really appreciate Danny's percussion, that was the first thing that struck me when hearing Woburn Abbey, along with the drums which are functional but lack the raw emotion of Terry's playing. Add that mix to a well behaved Phil Palmer and lashings of pedal steel at any opporunity and makes for a totally different flavour.
Can't agree there. He was really struggling with ToL in the first leg on occasion and even when not it sound weak and tired with extra notes being added at the end to cover up the fact he didn't have the energy any more to sustain such a long and powerful solo. Most of the time it sounded a real mess compared with the BIA solos which sounded effortless. That is the real test.
Do you mean ToL or TR? I'd have thought TR is the more physically demanding of the two.
ToL. I always thought when he played that it showed off his fluidity and had more improvisation as he was building up to the crescendo. TR is really just a load of fast stuff.
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Mark is certainly at his peak during 91 - 96 tours on the guitar.
Whilst I do listen to OES shows a lot, alas for me the sound of the OES tour was a massive departure from that of the BIA tour and the Mandela gig.
Having literally worn out the tape of the Mandela gig, particularly sections of EC's solos, to then hear the radio broadcast of Woburn Abbey was a bit of a shock. People tend to focus on the Pedal Steel guitar which of course is a massive insertation, but I think the biggest change in sound was the approach to drums - clinical and formulaic. Whilst I really appreciate Danny's percussion, that was the first thing that struck me when hearing Woburn Abbey, along with the drums which are functional but lack the raw emotion of Terry's playing. Add that mix to a well behaved Phil Palmer and lashings of pedal steel at any opporunity and makes for a totally different flavour.
Can't agree there. He was really struggling with ToL in the first leg on occasion and even when not it sound weak and tired with extra notes being added at the end to cover up the fact he didn't have the energy any more to sustain such a long and powerful solo. Most of the time it sounded a real mess compared with the BIA solos which sounded effortless. That is the real test.
Do you mean ToL or TR? I'd have thought TR is the more physically demanding of the two.
ToL. I always thought when he played that it showed off his fluidity and had more improvisation as he was building up to the crescendo. TR is really just a load of fast stuff.
Right.
I actually never liked the improvised parts of ToL that much. Well, on a good day, he pulled off some great stuff, but on average I felt he was meandering a lot, even during the BIA tour.
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In terms of technique, speed, precision and fluidity that’s definitely Mark’s peak in my book. He remained impressive up to the SL tour though but after that his playing gradually went down. I can still appreciate the touch and the unique sound he still has though.
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In terms of technique, speed, precision and fluidity that’s definitely Mark’s peak in my book. He remained impressive up to the SL tour though but after that his playing gradually went down. I can still appreciate the touch and the unique sound he still has though.
I agree.
I'm curious what has caused his playing to deteriorate. Obviously ageing plays a part, but is it lack of practice (to focus on songwriting) or is it a physiological thing? Maybe both. He still has the touch though, so even if he can't to the "100m dash" or "somersaults" anymore, I still enjoy his playing.
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Ageing is a major factor for sure but I think the biggest problem is lack of passion. He clearly doesn’t enjoy playing solos anymore, SOS looked like he was being forced to play it. The solos were a huge mess, no connection, just a bunch of licks being thrown into the chord progressions. I’m sure he can still play it decently if he motivates himself to do so.
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Ageing is a major factor for sure but I think the biggest problem is lack of passion. He clearly doesn’t enjoy playing solos anymore, SOS looked like he was being forced to play it. The solos were a huge mess, no connection, just a bunch of licks being thrown into the chord progressions. I’m sure he can still play it decently if he motivates himself to do so.
Yes, I think he feels long (and especially flashy) solos are kind of pointless and take away from rather than add to the song. I think this is also reflected in most of the songs he plays in his British Grove broadcasts, and in his own solo albums of course.
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Thanks for sharing this rarity!