Alan Clark - new interview

[Robson]

Latest interview.
Alan Clark gave an interview to "Teraz Rock" magazine. I thought this excerpt was interesting and perhaps a bit controversial and debatable: Alan Clark assesses the misguided direction Dire Straits went in

"I was not enthusiastic about it, although pedal steel guitar player Paul Franklin is an excellent musician and it was great working with him. In my opinion, however, there are too many country elements on the album. I generally saw it as the wrong direction for Dire Straits. But at the time, Mark was fascinated to the maximum by the sounds of Nashville...

[Love Expresso]

Opinions, opinions ...

LE

[kaleo74]

I have a lot of respect for Alan, but like any company, when the boss gives directions and instructions, we apply them and keep quiet, which is a pity of course.

[quizzaciously]

I thought overusing Paul Franklin in this period was a general consensus, not just Alan's opinion. On the other hand, if you take a musician with you on the road for so many shows, are you going to use his skills for a couple of songs or give him some room? And what he would do the rest of the show in plan A, just chill?

Besides, pedal steel is not strictly country. If anything, Paul Franklin is more of a jazz player playing a 'country' instrument. It's like calling Béla Fleck a country musician because he's playing a banjo. So I don't get it. Dire Straits always had a lot of country inspiration, and "Nashville sound" to me is not as much about the country as a musical style, as much as a production technique focused on virtuosity and attention to detail.

[TheTimeWasWrong]

I have huge respect for Alan's DS work, also on Local Hero, and he really moved MK forward. But nowadays, I'm so tired of the man. He hasn't released anything for the past 30 years, and when he does, it's an album full of MK covers. He has the same problem as David, desperately trying to keep the 'Straits-sound' alive, whatever they think it is or where they thought it was going.

Also, he was a producer on OES, so if he didn't like the sound, he should have done something about it or rejected his role as a producer if he didn't have a thing to say. It is easy to grab money from it but not take responsibility for it.

[Robson]

I thought overusing Paul Franklin in this period was a general consensus, not just Alan's opinion. On the other hand, if you take a musician with you on the road for so many shows, are you going to use his skills for a couple of songs or give him some room? And what he would do the rest of the show in plan A, just chill?

Besides, pedal steel is not strictly country. If anything, Paul Franklin is more of a jazz player playing a 'country' instrument. It's like calling Béla Fleck a country musician because he's playing a banjo. So I don't get it. Dire Straits always had a lot of country inspiration, and "Nashville sound" to me is not as much about the country as a musical style, as much as a production technique focused on virtuosity and attention to detail.

This is all true, but the album on every street, whether you like it or not, is marked by country music. The most. I like it, but I understand that after the Brothers In Arms album, some people were surprised by a different direction. Sometimes I wonder what this album would be like if it weren't for the two previous albums Missing... and Neck And Neck

[Robson]

I will add that the interview was published in connection with the DSLegacy concert.

[Chris W]

Paul Franklin was one of the best aspects of the show IMO. Mark gave Paul so much to play because he 1) highly respected Paul as a player and 2) enjoyed listening to Paul play.

[jbaent]

Latest interview.
Alan Clark gave an interview to "Teraz Rock" magazine. I thought this excerpt was interesting and perhaps a bit controversial and debatable: Alan Clark assesses the misguided direction Dire Straits went in

"I was not enthusiastic about it, although pedal steel guitar player Paul Franklin is an excellent musician and it was great working with him. In my opinion, however, there are too many country elements on the album. I generally saw it as the wrong direction for Dire Straits. But at the time, Mark was fascinated to the maximum by the sounds of Nashville...

I don't see the problem, it's just his opinion and nothing else, he didn't like the direction the band went but it was MK band so, they went that way.

What's wrong with that?

[Robson]

I quoted this excerpt from the interview because I had never before read such an unequivocal opinion from a band musician about the album.

[Robson]

Paul Franklin was one of the best aspects of the show IMO. Mark gave Paul so much to play because he 1) highly respected Paul as a player and 2) enjoyed listening to Paul play.

Chris thank you for your opinion

[Matchstickman]

Alan is right. While some may of course like the country-tinge, most fans, regardless of whether they joined the DS fanbase after the first album, Making Movies, LOG, or BIA, were hardly hoping for that. It does not dominate OES, but it is clearly there, and never has so much soloing on a tour been left/given to another player.

There was also an, at times, somewhat jarring mix between going in the straightforward rock direction with something like Heavy Fuel, and having a pedal steel noodling in the background over distorted guitars.

[KnopfleRick]

After the overly commercial BIA album (just my opinion) I really enjoyed the OES album, especially Paul's contribution in particular was absolutely magnificient.
Since the debut, country/folk elements have always been a part of Mark's music and later, when he was in Nashville for some time, it was more or less to be expected that the album would sound like this.
So it wasn't a big surprise for me.

[Rolo]

Latest interview.
"I was not enthusiastic about it, although pedal steel guitar player Paul Franklin is an excellent musician and it was great working with him. In my opinion, however, there are too many country elements on the album. I generally saw it as the wrong direction for Dire Straits. But at the time, Mark was fascinated to the maximum by the sounds of Nashville...

On the road again in cabaret
Grey hair and Fenders (Rhodes  )
Old ghosts revisited today
No original members

[Matchstickman]

It's easy to make fun of Alan because people automatically side with Mark, but it feels refreshing that someone speaks his mind, for a change.

"Best album ever..."