Alan Clark - new interview

[quizzaciously]

I know you did; I was just making fun Just interesting how we can perceive and understand the same lyrics so differently.

And you are both right. How Long is the ultimate trolling song from MK. He said he deliberately made it sound as country as possible and yet played the most distorted, rock guitar over it, so country radio stations would be confused about playing this song or not. Also, sad lyrics against a happy melody, the fact it's a 3-chord song (literally a proverbial 3-chord trick song), that you probably won't expect after the years of Telegraph Roads and Brothers In Arms, and the fadeout is perfect as well, and it's the shortest lyrics in all DS songs ever. So many interesting details about this little song.

I believe he actually said that about Are We In Trouble Now. And he was right - Randy Travis did an almost note for note cover (even using some of the same musicians!) but without the Les Paul, and had a country hit with it.

I have a good memory and am positive he was talking about How Long, though nobody stops you from keeping this formula in the next album and using it on "Are We In Trouble Now". These covers without Mark's guitar are ridiculous, it's like covering The Everly Brothers' songs with only one voice. Mark has two voices, one of them is guitar

[dustyvalentino]

Yeah I have a good memory as well and I am positive too.

Pretty sure it was in an interview in Guitarist magazine in 1995.

[Matchstickman]

Mark has a peculiar way of not putting distorted guitar solos on some of his most famous and straight-forward rock songs (MFN, Heavy Fuel) (on the albums), but putting them on stuff like the tunes you are discussing 

[Chris W]

Solo guitar on MFN and Heavy Fuel are pretty well over driven.

[Matchstickman]

Solo guitar on MFN and Heavy Fuel are pretty well over driven.

Yes, I am aware  But there are no solos on the album versions of those songs. Famously, Mark was encouraged (by Dorfsman?) to take a proper solo on MFN in the studio, but preferred not to. Unlike live, where Mark played solos on MFN in '85, and both he and Phil played solos on the OES tour.

[dustyvalentino]

Solo guitar on MFN and Heavy Fuel are pretty well over driven.

Yes, I am aware  But there are no solos on the album versions of those songs. Famously, Mark was encouraged (by Dorfsman?) to take a proper solo on MFN in the studio, but preferred not to. Unlike live, where Mark played solos on MFN in '85, and both he and Phil played solos on the OES tour.

The outro of MFN is one long solo - in fact TWO solos panned left and right! Mostly the same but sometimes they differ and it sounds cool

[KnopfleRick]

Lyricwise, all songs and even the non-album tracks Millionaire Blues and Kingdom Come are all cynical, bittersweet, negative, sad, blues-like etc, even The Bug. How Long is the only song that transports pure positive unspoiled love and feel which makes it the perfect closing song of OES. It's like a new morning after long dark nights.

LE

Completely agree! How long is a perfect closing song for OES and for Dire Straits.

I totally agree here. And it's a song that takes you straight to his solo era. The man does nothing without thinking about it first.

[Matchstickman]

Solo guitar on MFN and Heavy Fuel are pretty well over driven.

Yes, I am aware  But there are no solos on the album versions of those songs. Famously, Mark was encouraged (by Dorfsman?) to take a proper solo on MFN in the studio, but preferred not to. Unlike live, where Mark played solos on MFN in '85, and both he and Phil played solos on the OES tour.

The outro of MFN is one long solo - in fact TWO solos panned left and right! Mostly the same but sometimes they differ and it sounds cool

In a sense; we could quibble about this, but you all know what I mean 

On the live versions, he plays typical rock solos, far removed from the riff, while on the album, he "solos in his own rhythmic way" (paraphrasing Dorfsman), only venturing briefly away from the riff.

In 2005, Guy said that only having Mark on guitar was a step back to the album version, but this never quite made sense, as there are two guitars on the album (like you say, Dusty). Relegating Richard to cowbell must have been one of the least flattering treatments of an ace guitarist ever...

[dustyvalentino]

I thought having Richard on cowbell was great!

No point playing guitar if it's not needed.

Kind of the opposite of Corn Beef City towards the end where you had six people playing guitar or something but they still needed to play a sample of MK!

[Love Expresso]

I thought having Richard on cowbell was great!

No point playing guitar if it's not needed.

Kind of the opposite of Corn Beef City towards the end where you had six people playing guitar or something but they still needed to play a sample of MK!

I was curious what you exactly mean and searched for Corned Beef City 2019 on YouTube. I was totally surprised to see those two boring blokes with brass on this song! Who could have imagined that! I guess I did nothing wrong in completely skip the whole DTRW campaigne and tour...

LE

[ds1984]

OES should have not ever existed as a DS album.

It is something that happened whereas Mark had already buried the band once.

But it happened and in1992 I was not questionning myself if it was a real "DS" album.

It was the new DS album and Calling Elvis was the single hit.

But in 1996 I though about some songs on GH, oh that one could have featured on a DS record if Mark had not decided to go without the rest of the band...

[Matchstickman]

I thought having Richard on cowbell was great!

No point playing guitar if it's not needed.

Kind of the opposite of Corn Beef City towards the end where you had six people playing guitar or something but they still needed to play a sample of MK!

Haha, yeah well Corned Beef is an atrocious song anyway 

Not sure why a second guitar would not be needed in 2005 only. It's live, let the boys play! I enjoy hearing the second guitarists add something. Funnily, the main contribution on MFN over the  years was probably Jack, whose rhythm playing was very noticeable (using a pick and being high in the mix). But I also like having a brief solo, like Phil's, for variation.

[dustyvalentino]

I always loved Corn Beef City. Great groove coming from Ianto's drums.

And I always hated Phil's solo on MFN. I guess you want to play something different from MK but Phil's solo sounded just like a typical 80s EVH hair metal type thing to me.

[JF]

And I always hated Phil's solo on MFN. I guess you want to play something different from MK but Phil's solo sounded just like a typical 80s EVH hair metal type thing to me.

+1 

I like EC's solo on Mandela concert

[Matchstickman]

I always loved Corn Beef City. Great groove coming from Ianto's drums.

And I always hated Phil's solo on MFN. I guess you want to play something different from MK but Phil's solo sounded just like a typical 80s EVH hair metal type thing to me.

Yeah, that's fair. It's a fine line to tread. I sometimes have the same impression, but I like Phil's solo on On the Night and it may be the reason they picked that particular version, as his solo is better than on other nights.

Sometimes, the second guitarists don't sound right at all (Jack on Wild West End). One of my favourites is Richard on Pyroman, now that is a cool solo!