Mark Knopfler Golden Heart CD

Personnel: Mark Knopfler (vocals, guitar); Richard Bennett (acoustic guitar); Paul Franklin (pedal steel); Donal Lunny (bouzouki); Sean Keane (violin); Derek Bell (Irish harp); Paul Brady (whistle); Liam O'Flynn (Uilleen pipes); Mairtin O'Connor (accordion); Matt Rollings, Barry Beckett, Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Steve Nathan (keyboards, Hammond organ); Bill Cuomo (Hammond organ); Guy Fletcher (keyboards, background vocals); Glenn Worf, Michael Rhodes (bass); Eddie Bayers, Chad Cromwell (drums); Terry McMillan (djembe); Danny Cummings (percussion, background vocals); Vince Gill, Brendan Croker (background vocals).
Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee; London, England; Dublin, Ireland.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
Personnel: Mark Knopfler (guitar); Paul Brady (whistling); Richard Bennett (guitar, acoustic guitar, tiple); Don Potter (acoustic guitar); Sonny Landreth (steel guitar, National guitar, background vocals); Dónal Lunny (bouzouki); Derek Bell (irish harp); Seán Keane (violin); Michael Doucet (fiddle); Liam O'Flynn (Uilleann pipe); Jo-El Sonnier, Martin O'Connor, Steve Conn (accordion); Matt Rollings, Barry Beckett, Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano); Guy Fletcher (keyboards, background vocals); Steve Nathan (keyboards); Glenn Worf, Michael Rhodes (bass guitar); Eddie Bayers, Robbie Casserly, Chad Cromwell (drums); Terry McMillan (djembe); Billy Ware (triangle); Danny Cummings (percussion, background vocals); Vince Gill, Brendan Croker (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Chuck Ainlay.
Recording information: Air Studios, London, England; Emerald Sound Studios; Javelina Recording Studios; Sixteenth Avenue Sound, Nashvil; Windmill Lane Studios, Dub.
Photographer: David Scheinmann.
Unknown Contributor Role: Derek Bell.
Mark Knopfler's debut non-soundtrack solo album, Golden Heart, was, in effect, the follow-up to the last Dire Straits studio album, On Every Street (1991). But it was also a compendium of the various musical endeavors in which Knopfler had engaged since emerging as a major figure in 1978. "Imelda" was cast in the mold of "Money for Nothing," with its trademark electric guitar riff and sardonic lyrics about Imelda Marcos, and other songs resembled Dire Straits songs, notably "Cannibals," which recalled "Walk of Life." But "A Night in Summer Long Ago" was presented in a Scots/Irish traditional folk style, complete with a lyric about a knight and a queen and would have fit nicely on Knopfler's soundtrack for The Princess Bride, and "Are We in Trouble Now" was a country ballad featuring pedal steel guitar and the piano playing of Nashville session ace Hargus "Pig" Robbins that would have been appropriate to Knopfler's duo album with Chet Atkins. ~ William Ruhlmann
Mark Knopfler's debut non-soundtrack solo album, Golden Heart, was, in effect, the follow-up to the last Dire Straits studio album, On Every Street (1991). But it was also a compendium of the various musical endeavors in which Knopfler had engaged since emerging as a major figure in 1978. "Imelda" was cast in the mold of "Money for Nothing," with its trademark electric guitar riff and sardonic lyrics about Imelda Marcos, and other songs resembled Dire Straits songs, notably "Cannibals," which recalled "Walk of Life." But "A Night in Summer Long Ago" was presented in a Scots/Irish traditional folk style, complete with a lyric about a knight and a queen and would have fit nicely on Knopfler's soundtrack for The Princess Bride, and "Are We in Trouble Now" was a country ballad featuring pedal steel guitar and the piano playing of Nashville session ace Hargus "Pig" Robbins that would have been appropriate for Knopfler's duo album with Chet Atkins. For all that, there was little on the album that was new or striking, and Knopfler seemed to fall back on familiar guitar techniques while intoning often obscure lyrics. You get the feeling that there was a story behind each song, but except in the cases of "Rudig