Sailing To Philadelphia 25th anniversary

[Silvertown]

Always found it interesting that the "Mexican" version got as far as being mastered etc to a state where it could even be released by mistake.

My blu-ray just arrived.

There was a mastered cd that was ready to be published, that included that What It Is version, and both tracks with Emmylou Harris, distributed in a promo cd by Rondor Music in a very limited run, but after that cd was done and ready, MK changed his mind and the track selection was altered to what was finally released.

This is the promo cd by Rondor Music:

https://www.discogs.com/release/33645492-Mark-Knopfler-Sailing-to-Philadelphia

Thank you for this info! I did not know about this promo CD.

[dustyvalentino]

So I had a listen to the blu-ray last night.

I will caveat by saying my system is only 5.1 so two speakers short of full Atmos.

Guy's style with these mixes seems to be fairly subtle, expanding things out and letting the music "breathe". This is probably the right way to go when you are mixing music, but it does mean that you don't get "flashy" stuff like a guitar solo coming from behind you and stuff like that.

It's only when you do a direct comparison with the stereo mix that you realise how dramatic even a subtle Atmos mix is.

It tends to work best on the more atmospheric laid back stuff than the rockers. My favourites were Prairie Wedding, Wanderlust and One More Matinee.

So overall, it's nice to have, and I still have the instrumental mix to listen to. But I doubt it will be used as a demonstration disc to "wow" potential Atmos customers, due to the lack of flashiness and gimmicks.

As an aside, Do America ruins the album. What a stupid song. It's never bothered me before but stuck out like a sore thumb on this listen. How anyone can decide it's a good idea to include this on the album instead of, say, Long Highway, is beyond me. I need to try to track down a copy of the CD without Do America.

[wayaman]

So I had a listen to the blu-ray last night.

I will caveat by saying my system is only 5.1 so two speakers short of full Atmos.

Guy's style with these mixes seems to be fairly subtle, expanding things out and letting the music "breathe". This is probably the right way to go when you are mixing music, but it does mean that you don't get "flashy" stuff like a guitar solo coming from behind you and stuff like that.

It's only when you do a direct comparison with the stereo mix that you realise how dramatic even a subtle Atmos mix is.

It tends to work best on the more atmospheric laid back stuff than the rockers. My favourites were Prairie Wedding, Wanderlust and One More Matinee.

So overall, it's nice to have, and I still have the instrumental mix to listen to. But I doubt it will be used as a demonstration disc to "wow" potential Atmos customers, due to the lack of flashiness and gimmicks.

As an aside, Do America ruins the album. What a stupid song. It's never bothered me before but stuck out like a sore thumb on this listen. How anyone can decide it's a good idea to include this on the album instead of, say, Long Highway, is beyond me. I need to try to track down a copy of the CD without Do America.

Regarding "Do America", this 25th anniversay is a lost chance of do some creative things like release two cds, one with the European standard edition, and in the second cd, put "Do America" and the extra tracks included in the "What it is" single, and some extra stuff like a live version of some tracks including "Pyroman".

Do America fits better as a bonus, indeed.

[knopfler1]

This has been a strange “Release”

Barely any promo, if any?

Looking at the album on Apple Music now which supports Atmos, there’s no new metadata for the album, everything points to it being the original 2000 release, but when you play the tracks you can stream the atmos version. Well, apart from the title track that is, that’s still the original 

[dustyvalentino]

This has been a strange “Release”

Barely any promo, if any?

Looking at the album on Apple Music now which supports Atmos, there’s no new metadata for the album, everything points to it being the original 2000 release, but when you play the tracks you can stream the atmos version. Well, apart from the title track that is, that’s still the original 

Let's be realistic here, this isn't the new Taylor Swift album. It's a surround sound reissue of a 25 year old album that wasn't exactly massive in the first place.

It's a niche within a niche.

[dustyvalentino]

Seems the surround sound nerds agree with my assessment, phew

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/45-in-the-sde-surround-series-mark-knopfler-sailing-to-philadelphia-limited-edition-blu-ray.37758/page-2

[knopfler1]

This has been a strange “Release”

Barely any promo, if any?

Looking at the album on Apple Music now which supports Atmos, there’s no new metadata for the album, everything points to it being the original 2000 release, but when you play the tracks you can stream the atmos version. Well, apart from the title track that is, that’s still the original 

Let's be realistic here, this isn't the new Taylor Swift album. It's a surround sound reissue of a 25 year old album that wasn't exactly massive in the first place.

It's a niche within a niche.

Yes, that’s fair, but was initially billed as the 25th Anniversary edition. So I’d at least expect to see an individual entry for that within Apple Music with credits to Guy for the mix etc…

[Robson]

"...that wasn't exactly massive in the first place"

That's debatable. In my opinion, the album was very well received in 2000. I remember 'What It Is' was played very often on many radio stations.

[dustyvalentino]

According to this:

https://bestsellingalbums.org/year/2000-2

It sold 2.5m copies and was the 57th top selling album of the year 2000.

Not to be sniffed at by any means but not exactly a cultural phenomenon.

It was outsold, at number 47, by the classic album that was Who Let The Dogs Out by The Baha Men, presumably a blu-ray mix of that one will be along shortly.

[wayaman]

According to this:

https://bestsellingalbums.org/year/2000-2

It sold 2.5m copies and was the 57th top selling album of the year 2000.

Not to be sniffed at by any means but not exactly a cultural phenomenon.

It was outsold, at number 47, by the classic album that was Who Let The Dogs Out by The Baha Men, presumably a blu-ray mix of that one will be along shortly.

It was number 1 to 3 in many European countries as far as I recall.

[dustyvalentino]

I'm revisiting some of nterviews with MK from the STP days. I forgot that Mark wanted to record a blues album with Van Morrison. It's a shame it never happened.

Ed told that story here.

I don't remember

Van wanted MK to share the credits of "The last laugh", and that petition ended any chance of doing a record with Van Morrison in the future.

Or that's what I understood.

Yes, I remember now. But it probably wasn't Van, but someone from his management.

No, it probably was Van.

I don't fully remember the story but, from memory, and logic, I'd say that it would had been Van's manager talking to MK's manager, but managers doesn't do these things on their own, but because their managed artists asked them to do them.

Ed Bicknell asked me to clarify with the below, mostly a re-post from last year's Q&A, thank you Ed.

Yes there was talk of a duets record but for better or worse it bit the dust when V wanted to own the copyright in "The Last Laugh" which he hadn’t written, hadn’t paid to record and had only sung the chorus on, and then said he would licence it back to us for £1.
 
M and I just got fed up with his nonsense so the duets idea bit the dust.

The issues I mention then got resolved after M said he would take V off and sing the part himself , V backed down and the track went onto STP.

A complete waste of time and for what gain?

It came from VAN. He didn't have a manager at the time. In law the person (s) who paid own the copyright eg in a photo, recording, film etc.

[Robson]

Okay. Thanks again, Ed, thanks Dusty. I've heard Van can be difficult, but that really was a stupid idea.

[dustyvalentino]

Speaking of Van and publishing, here's a great tune for you to all enjoy, a song Van wrote to fulfil a contract where he had to deliver a certain number of songs.

[Rolo]

According to this:

https://bestsellingalbums.org/year/2000-2

It sold 2.5m copies and was the 57th top selling album of the year 2000.

Not to be sniffed at by any means but not exactly a cultural phenomenon.

It was outsold, at number 47, by the classic album that was Who Let The Dogs Out by The Baha Men, presumably a blu-ray mix of that one will be along shortly.

Seems like that my fav MK albums are the lower ranked ones. STP and Privateering.
Damn...

[Robson]

Maybe it's like Dusty says: >It's a niche within a niche<
Maybe it's always been this way