Recent Posts

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: That Ain't Workin' - My New Book

« Last post by Chris W on Today at 09:33:52 AM »

Most rock and pop is played at one dynamic, or even at a very limited range between 'quiet' and loud. This is especially the case in the studio.
Rehearsing for the OES tour, the quiet was so quiet, you were barely touching your instrument. The loud, was extremely loud and hard hit.
Sometimes we'd go from full on loud to almost no sound in an instant.
Dire Straits is one of the few bands where tempos change in songs, intensity changes in very short instances.
Most bands start a song and it stays the same tempo throughout, and perhaps gradually gets louder towards the end, but basically a set dynamic.

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: That Ain't Workin' - My New Book

« Last post by diremania on Today at 12:36:36 AM »

A lot of musicians speaks about the dynamics they learned from playing with mark. Can you give  some examples or elaborate on this?

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: A new book about MK

« Last post by skydiver on April 20, 2025, 10:21:12 PM »

This next comment is NOT a criticism, just my personal preference. As I mentioned, it's written in a conversational style, but it gets a little bit too conversational for me. Richard speaks about various pieces of music and then explains how it inspired him, and provides links to examples of his music and details of the many Swiss and German musicians he has worked with. This stuff isn't really of interest to me - when I pick up a book about Knopfler I want to read about Knopfler, not the author and his buddies. It's a perfectly valid decision to do it this way however but as I say, it's not for me.

That is my main point, too.
I am very grateful that someone took it upon himself to write such a (two volume) work on MK, which was long overdue.
But for volume II I would recommend a narrative that remains a little more objectively focused on MK and a little less intertwined with the author's personal biography.
Anyway I'll be buying and devouring volume II eagerly! 

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: A new book about MK

« Last post by Robson on April 20, 2025, 08:34:39 PM »

"I'll leave my remarks on one thought - in his analysis of Sultans, Richard pointed out something that I found quite incredible. I don't know of anyone picking up on this particular point before. I'm not going to say what it is here as Richard deserves the book sales for figuring it out in the first place, but bravo Richard, it kind of blew my mind!

Dusty why did you write this? Ok. I understand  I'm intrigued.

I’ll add that I found it quite incredible, don’t blame me if you buy the book and find it completely unremarkable.

As a Knerd of more than three decades there wasn’t much new in the book for me but I’m not sure if I am the target audience. This was new however.

I think that DS/MK fans probably already know everything, so when something surprises us, we react with disbelief. But I still don't know what I'm dealing with.

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: A new book about MK

« Last post by dustyvalentino on April 20, 2025, 07:28:43 PM »

"I'll leave my remarks on one thought - in his analysis of Sultans, Richard pointed out something that I found quite incredible. I don't know of anyone picking up on this particular point before. I'm not going to say what it is here as Richard deserves the book sales for figuring it out in the first place, but bravo Richard, it kind of blew my mind!

Dusty why did you write this? Ok. I understand  I'm intrigued.

I’ll add that I found it quite incredible, don’t blame me if you buy the book and find it completely unremarkable.

As a Knerd of more than three decades there wasn’t much new in the book for me but I’m not sure if I am the target audience. This was new however.

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: A new book about MK

« Last post by Robson on April 20, 2025, 07:15:08 PM »

"I'll leave my remarks on one thought - in his analysis of Sultans, Richard pointed out something that I found quite incredible. I don't know of anyone picking up on this particular point before. I'm not going to say what it is here as Richard deserves the book sales for figuring it out in the first place, but bravo Richard, it kind of blew my mind!

Dusty why did you write this? Ok. I understand  I'm intrigued.

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: A new book about MK

« Last post by dustyvalentino on April 20, 2025, 06:59:14 PM »

I have finished the book so here are my thoughts.

It was an enjoyable read. Richard writes in a conversational style that is easy to digest. I read the English translation and very occasionally a series of words or turn of phrase might remind you that you are reading a translated book, but not often.

Richard talks through the DS years in a personal way and I found it easy to relate to him - we both started listening to DS at an early age and went on to play music ourselves, albeit Richard is a professional and I just play in pubs for pleasure (mine, not the audience). I agreed with most of his views.

If I was being a little bit critical, I would say that the OES album and tour is covered very quickly and almost brushed over. John did the same in his book and while that is maybe understandable in his case as he did not want to piss off MK, as we have seen in posts from Chris and Ed over the last year, there is quite a bit that could be covered there.

This next comment is NOT a criticism, just my personal preference. As I mentioned, it's written in a conversational style, but it gets a little bit too conversational for me. Richard speaks about various pieces of music and then explains how it inspired him, and provides links to examples of his music and details of the many Swiss and German musicians he has worked with. This stuff isn't really of interest to me - when I pick up a book about Knopfler I want to read about Knopfler, not the author and his buddies. It's a perfectly valid decision to do it this way however but as I say, it's not for me.

I'll leave my remarks on one thought - in his analysis of Sultans, Richard pointed out something that I found quite incredible. I don't know of anyone picking up on this particular point before. I'm not going to say what it is here as Richard deserves the book sales for figuring it out in the first place, but bravo Richard, it kind of blew my mind!

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: Brothers in arms 40th anniversary edition

« Last post by tomtom51 on April 20, 2025, 02:22:59 PM »

Hello, I did nearly the same, just listened to 20 s of WOL, was quite happy with SQ, and gave it a rest until proper listen on my home stereo.

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: Brothers in arms 40th anniversary edition

« Last post by Robson on April 20, 2025, 01:11:51 PM »

I took the same decision after listening SOS and up to now I am still patiently waiting

 

I haven't listened to the Sultans yet:)

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Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum / Re: Brothers in arms 40th anniversary edition

« Last post by ds1984 on April 20, 2025, 12:55:28 PM »

I took the same decision after listening SOS and up to now I am still patiently waiting