A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: 11-54_Stringcheese on July 20, 2015, 01:17:27 PM
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It's been some time now since its release. Do you still like it? Do you feel the blues numbers blend well with the other tracks? Should it have been release as a single disc?
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I don't listen to albums a lot, only the first couple of months they are played. Later I prefer to listen to liverecordings.
I do like privateering, there are a few skippers for me, but also very great songs. For me it's not important that styles differ from song to song. When I play an album I play it in the right order and skip if I don't feel like hearing a particular song.
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I think this is an excellent thread. There is always excitement when a new album is released and that excitement perhaps clouds our judgement (well, I know it does mine) so to ask this question now the album has been out for a few years with the dust settled, it should yield more realistic reviews.
I am like Ingrid in that I don't listen to the albums much, preferring live recordings but when I do I find that I often wish this had been reduced to a single CD as there are a number of inferior songs. If it had, it could have been a really good album. I also have trouble with the blues numbers; Don't Forget Your Hat could be the worst song he's ever written. It does have some nice songs though:
Privateering
HA
CBC
YTC
KOG
Bluebird
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I still enjoy Privateering, but as with all MK/DS albums I prefer listening to the live versions if possible, rather than the album version, but I can listen to the whole album without the need to skip any song, including all of the blues songs - I love the harmonica on those songs!
An extra long single disc would probably have been the best option, as with Tracker, maybe!
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I think this is an excellent thread. There is always excitement when a new album is released and that excitement perhaps clouds our judgement (well, I know it does mine) so to ask this question now the album has been out for a few years with the dust settled, it should yield more realistic reviews.
I am like Ingrid in that I don't listen to the albums much, preferring live recordings but when I do I find that I often wish this had been reduced to a single CD as there are a number of inferior songs. If it had been it could have been a really good album. I also have trouble with the blues numbers. Don't Forget Your Hat could be the worst song he's ever written. It does have some nice songs though:
Privateering
HA
CBC
YTC
KOG
Bluebird
And a couple of bonussongs that I really like as well ;-)
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The blues numbers are not bad - some are great, Bluebird Cafe for instance - but they tend to sound a bit same-y. I also find the otherwise lovely Redbud Tree to be a strange choice for the opening track and also that it sticks out a bit in terms of sound, style and theme. After the beanstalk is one I easily could be without ...
All in all I think it's a fine record. Kind of fresh feel to it, which I like.
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It's all very well preferring live recordings to the original studio album, but when - as with the last two albums - many of the best songs never get played live...
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Yes, often it's the "big ones" that get played live. More than often I find the not-so-popular songs to be true gems.
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Yes, often it's the "big ones" that get played live. More than often I find the not-so-popular songs to be true gems.
That seems to be the case these days. Not so before though. Perhaps partly because the older albums had fewer (and usually longer) songs they always seemed to get a good amount of play on stage. Indeed in DS there were very few songs never performed live: Communiqué, Hand in Hand, My Parties and a couple from the EP but that was about it. :think
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I like very much Yon Two Crows (a masterpiece, a shame that the live version with the fantastic solo was dropped after a few tries !), KOG (I prefer live of course for the amazing solo, but the studio one is nice too, even if too repetitive), Submariner (also a shame it was played only 4 times live), Redbud tree (same, not even played in Europe), and for the bonus ones I like very much "River of Grog" for its russian-like vibe.
I am tired of Privateering (starts nice but never take off), I used to could (cheap version of Two Young Lovers) and Corned Beef City (I can't believe that the man who wrote Telegraph Road also wrote these poor lyrics !), which unfortunately are the ones that Mark prefer to play live :(
Haul Away does little to me, same as Seattle. Radio City Serenade is not so bad.
For the rest, I'm not found of the blues stuff at all, so I seldom listen to these songs.
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Listened to it three times and it takes the dust since.
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Haven't listened to it for a couple of years now.
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That coming from big fans says quite a lot.
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I tend to listen to music mostly when I'm driving. My last car had a 6 CD multi-changer which was always loaded with DS or MK albums on constant play, so all the albums got played regularly, Unfortunately my latest car doesn't have a CD multi changer so I tend to have one MP3 CD with 3 or 4 albums or 2 concerts on. Due to that, and that alone, Privateering doesn't get as much play as it used to, although the Get Lucky, Privateering & Tracker tour MP3 s are on regular rotation.
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That coming from big fans says quite a lot.
To be fair, there are a lot of MK/DS albums I haven't listened to for years. Still love them though. I think the older I get the more I realise life is short and there's a lot of great music out there that I've never heard.
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I have a playlist from privateering which I use for insomnia, very relaxing and usually works ! I mean that in the nicest possible way, it's pretty much the album stripped of the blues songs, which to me are truly awful now. I can't stand them, they sound lifeless and have no energy.
Of course the bonus songs are exceptional to my tastes, and like many other of MKs decisions, make me wonder what he's smoking these days! :)
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I left the cd in my mother's car a couple of years a go, and listen to it when I borrow the car and am alone at the same time. Then it's redbud tree (great!); go, love (nice) and yon two crows (nice), if there's nothing on the radio. I find Privateering and Get Lucky both a bit boring. But live he can play whatever he wants. Then he is always great, in my opinion.
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Had a listen to the whole album yesterday. Been a while since last time. I think it's holding up very well, to be honest. A bit surprised. Overall I feel it has a gritty sound to it that I like, and I think it could do well with removing some of the "smoother" tunes (the one about New York, Haul Away, Seattle, for instance) and a couple of the blues numbers that are too similar. Redbud Tree should definitely not be the opener (given the "feel" signified by the rusty van on the cover); rather Corned Beef City. I used to could would be a cool closer.
So yeah, I like it.
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I used to could would be a cool closer.
it's a matter of taste, but this kind of song sounds album opener to me, not a closer.
I always prefered clam songs for albums closers : BIA, Follow me home, are we in trouble now, one more matinee, old pigweed, etc...
in the case of Privateering, I would see Radio city sereande as the perfect closer, or better: follow the gibbon with his never ending outro
but I alawys find a bit strange to end an album on a uptempo song. what's why songs like CBC or IUTC fit more in beginning on the album imho
as for the album, I like it, but not very found of the blues tracks. If I want listen to "white" blues, I surely don't go for MK, but rather to SRV, EC, Stones, ABB, Derek Trucks, Winter, Gallagher, ZZ Top, etc...
my favs are : submariner, go love, bluebird, blood and water, serenade, YTC, IUTC, occupation blues. Not much found of rebud tree. for this kind of typical stratish clean sound, I prefer beachcombing for example
what I don't like on the Privateering album is the bass sound : several songs have saturated bass, like Go love for example. Very strange for sound quality obssessed guys like GF and MK
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I didn't like the Privateering album when I first heard it. Apart from the title song and a couple of others I thought the rest of the album was quite boring. One of the biggest flaws for me is the singing which sometimes I just cannot ignore. But as with most of Knopfler's work I probably need to give it some time to sink in. I had the same opinion about The Ragpicker's Dream, but when I studied the lyrics a bit and listened to it a couple of times, it grew on me. So maybe the same thing will happen with Privateering one day. I guess I am a bit too impatient and lazy for MK albums haha but I will change I promise :)
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I listened to the album once and that's all. I really didn't like it, I'm only just getting into tracker and only like a few tracks on that album. They don't seem to me to be albums that I'd put on a random routine. Mind you I'm still trying to get into oes since purchasing it in 92.
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OES is DS album I currently play the most, because this is the one DS record selected for my car.
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Holds up pretty well. I really like how they moved foreward with the production making more raw for some of the bluesier tracks. However there is simply too many songs making it a bit unfocussed. One CD would have been better.
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After my daughters were born, I load the albums in my phone and listen to them while commuting. I give them time (usually 3-4 weeks) and I some times force myself to listen to them, even if my whole existence say, don't waste your time, listen to something else. And I only do this for my 5 favorite musicians/bands, or if a friend insists. It worked a bit with KTGC which now I like (thanks to rollergirl, where is she now?) and GL, which I like a lot, but didn't work for Privateering. I just refuse to go back there. And Tracker's time is running out as well. Another thing is that some albums are tough to get, but once you get them you either go back and enjoy them repeatedly (like TRD), or you just don't visit them again, holding the feeling of the time you understood them. Happened with Kid A by Radiohead and Philophobia by Arab Stap. Both difficult - out of the usual for me- albums, that demanded repeated forced plays, and revealed themselves in peculiar state of mind- and time. I tried them again after years, but it was the whole experience I guess, and I couldn't bring it back just by playing the music.