Mark Knopfler Shangri-La CD

Personnel: Mark Knopfler (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bottleneck guitar, Spanish guitar); Mark Knopfler; Paul Franklin (pedal steel guitar); Jim Cox (harmonica, melodica, piano, organ); Glenn Worf (bass instrument, upright bass); Richard Bennett (guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, tiple); Guy Fletcher (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, harmonium, Clavinet, organ, Wurlitzer organ); Chad Cromwell (drums, percussion).
Recording information: Shagri-La Studios, Malibu.
Shangri-La, Mark Knopfler's fourth solo release and his first since breaking his collarbone, shoulder, and seven ribs in a motorcycle crash in March 2003, finds the eternally laid-back Dire Straits frontman in familiar territory. Instead of constructing a song cycle about his brush with mortality -- the wry "Don't Crash the Ambulance" aside -- he uses his warm baritone and effortless guitar work to ruminate on everything from the plight of the modern fisherman -- the beautiful and rustic "Trawlerman's Song" -- to the entrepreneurial skills of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc ("Boom, Like That"). Knopfler has more or less abandoned the British folk and Celtic-influenced pop that began to surface on his previous two recordings, opting instead for a full-blown yet quiet and considerate collection of country-folk ballads and bluesy, midtempo dirges that revel in their uncharacteristic sparseness -- one of the better examples of the latter is the gutsy, backwoods boxing tale "Song for Sonny Liston." Knopfler spent seven months away from the guitar in physiotherapy, but his melancholic slow-burn tone is as peat-smoked as ever, and his penchant for wrapping Americana-gothic folk around subjects that are uniquely English -- colliers, cockneys, the one-armed bandit man who meets his maker in the atmospheric opener, "5:15 A.M." -- is evident throughout. Dynamically, Shangri-La loses steam about three-quarters of the way through -- the cringe-inducing "Whoop De Doo" and the sweet but dull "All That Matters" bring things to a sleepy halt -- but Knopfler fans and lovers of Chet Atkins, Gordon Lightfoot, and J.J. Cale, as well as late-night poker players and early risers with an acerbic streak, will find much to love here. [A version of Shangri-La containing a bonus DVD/DVA is also available.] ~ James Christopher Monger
Mark Knopfler's first excursions outside of Dire Straits were film soundtracks, where his guitar mastery served him well. Starting in the mid-1990s, he embarked on a proper post-Straits solo career. By the time of 2004's SHANGRI-LA, Knopfler had almost entirely left behind the expansive instrumental textures of his former band in favor of a more straight-ahead singer/songwriter approach, which works wonderfully here. Knopfler keeps things low-key throughout most of SHANGRI-LA, with quietly intoned, often drolly sardonic lyrics, supple finger-picked guitar lines, and songs full of subtly crafted surprises.
There's a wealth of unusual topics on offer here; "Boom, Like That" is a first-person monologue by Knopfler in the voice of Ray Kroc, the man behind the McDonald's fast-food empire. The bluesy "Song for Sonny Liston" chronicles the famed boxer's brushes with the underworld. "Donegan's Gone" laments the passing of British folk/skiffle pioneer Lonnie Donegan, a key influence on Knopfler and scores of other British rockers. Departing from the more folk-oriented sound of its predecessor, THE RAGPICKER'S DREAM, SHANGRI-LA more fully develops the detail-oriented, irony-laced songwriting style Knopfler first hinted at in Dire Straits tunes like "Money for Nothing."Rolling Stone (p.102) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "Mark Knopfler has grown into one of rock's more mature and sharp-eyed writers....[The album] mixes sunniness and darkness in artful ways."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 - "There is genius in here....It also serves up three beguiling gasps of Tyne/Delta blues bewitchery."