Alan Clark - new interview

[Rolo]

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.

I see no problem with 'keeping the DS sound alive'.
He (Alan) is making some money for some time with very less effort, i mean, he is playing the same thing over the years and making money with it. It's fun and, for good or bad, he is bringing the Dire Straits to people who would never have a chance to see it.

Alan is a big figure thru the DS history, his influence on 80's MK is clear as day.
I believe that Alan didn't want to leave Eric's band do re-join DS.
After 93/94, i believe that he chooses to not be on a major artist's band.

The thing with Alan is that he is like a Persona Non Grata for most of MK fans and, maybe, for MK himself.
I never knew why Alan didn't play on that 2002 charity concerts.

David, for me its the opposite to 'keep the DS sound alive'
His albums are almost pure sh*t until Wishbones and he still stuck on the same piano chord progression since A Father And The Son.
Except for some songs like Easy Street, David is away from the early days of Dire Straits.

Well, he needs money sometimes, so... he plays some DS songs on his shows.

[quizzaciously]

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.

Can't blame Mark here... I can listen to Paul Franklin play forever, what a legendary cat. And his playing in songs like "The Ragpicker's Dream" or "Rüdiger" is sublime as well. With no country licks in sight!

[ds1984]

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 only read a couple of post folliwing that one but not all three pages

I understand Alan's statement.
I disagree on using the word "wrong" but this the way Alan sees it.
Alan was an active musical contributor to Dire Straits but had its owns musical tastes and they obviouly are not the same as Mark's.
Should he keep his mouth shut or can he openly speaks about his musical disagrement with Mark?

The OLT was a major change in Dire Straits sounds.
It was almost another band, not 100% for the better, but lot of interesting thing.
 
There is still a shadow about why Alan post Dire Straits career did not went big. Not huge but big.
Not only as composer or music contributor, but firstly as a performer.

I mean if I had to put a band together I would dream to have someone like him to play the keys .
He was sounding so good on stage with Dire Straits.

Something out of my radar went off wih him after the Dire Straits years.

My two fave key player for Mark are Alan and Matt.
 

[jbaent]

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..." 

+1000

[Robson]

"I understand Alan's statement.
I disagree on using the word "wrong" but this the way Alan sees it.
Alan was an active musical contributor to Dire Straits but had its owns musical tastes and they obviouly are not the same as Mark's"

Exaclty! I agree with Alan that the album on every street is very country, but I don't agree that it's a bad direction

[2manyguitars]

Alan is bigger in his own mind than real life. He talks earnestly about working with big artists but none of those doors would have opened without mk. There's a hint of this in everything he says publicly about DS....

[Knut]

I think it's a fair opinion. And, it's not like MK has ranted about DS going in wrong directions, either. "It got too big" bla bla - and so on.

If MK can rant, any member can as well. It's a band, not a one man show.

[cannibals]

Did Alan and MK not do a version of Local Hero after DS disbended. Somewhere in the UK. Someting small it was but i can't remember?

[olazabalrok]

Did Alan and MK not do a version of Local Hero after DS disbended. Somewhere in the UK. Someting small it was but i can't remember?

At least this:

[jbaent]

Did Alan and MK not do a version of Local Hero after DS disbended. Somewhere in the UK. Someting small it was but i can't remember?

As far as I recall, last time MK and Alan did something together was in 2005, playing Wild Them at the Alan Shearer's pub near Newcastle United's stadium.

[dustyvalentino]

I've been harsh on Alan previously but I was wrong to be that way.

I don't see anything wrong with what Alan said. I disagree and love the country stuff, but I don't have any problem with him voicing an opinion.

[Chris W]

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.

I haven't seen anyone 'make fun' of Alan. I think the point is well made, that even Alan was an add-on to the Dire Straits line-up. By OES it was primarily Mark and John's band and a vehicle for Mark's songwriting and playing. At the end of the day, the keyboard player with Elton John or Bruce Springsteen can say they didn't like the direction of a certain album, but it's not going to carry much weight.

[Chris W]

I see no problem with 'keeping the DS sound alive'.
He (Alan) is making some money for some time with very less effort, i mean, he is playing the same thing over the years and making money with it. It's fun and, for good or bad, he is bringing the Dire Straits to people who would never have a chance to see it.

I saw a run of Dire Straits Experience shows in France at the end of 2023. As far as 'keeping the DS sound alive' I'd say they are putting on an arena show infront of 3,000 to 3,500 audiences, with a full lighting rig and PA system. The show has a lot of energy and they play a large body of DS work with no solo material and no Yes or Buggles songs.

[quizzaciously]

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.

I haven't seen anyone 'make fun' of Alan. I think the point is well made, that even Alan was an add-on to the Dire Straits line-up. By OES it was primarily Mark and John's band and a vehicle for Mark's songwriting and playing. At the end of the day, the keyboard player with Elton John or Bruce Springsteen can say they didn't like the direction of a certain album, but it's not going to carry much weight.

Come on, even Mark himself made fun of Alan in his song "Terminal Of Tribute To", his harshest and dirtiest song to date. Alan Clark's reputation is questionable.

I feel bad to be harsh on Alan. The guy deserves way more than to play in a tribute band and give interviews to foreign magazines. Tribute bands are made by fans for fans, not by band members for... Whom? It's such an obvious way to abandon your dreams and make an easy living standing on someone else's shoulders, that no wonder he gets a lot of criticism. To every action, there is always opposed an equal reaction.

His playing in DS was so amazing, so unique, you could imagine him continuing touring with big acts, recording in the studio, conducting an orchestra, composing for movies, almost anything BUT playing in a tribute band with a foreign singer replacing Mark. It's just such a downfall, no song, article or opinion can justify that.

[jbaent]

I understand that Alan and Guy were both creative forces in musical terms in the studio helping arrange the songs written by MK, and the three of them (I'm not sure about the input from John Illsley in musical terms) were resposible of the DS sound, I totally understand Alan saying he thought it was a wrong direction to go sounding Nashville for DS as that was never the DS sound not even in the early days that despite sounding American, they were not country, but in the end Alan words also means despite he didn't like the country flavour, they went that way because althought he had an important say musically, MK was the boss.

I don't see anything wrong telling he didn't like that, it's just his opinion, and many fans thinks the same. Actually many say OES is almost like the first MK solo record as it has a big variety of styles for the first time in DS.