A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: wayaman on September 05, 2024, 01:45:29 PM
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Thanks Ed for all these answers. Very informative and funny at the same time. It would make a great book as many others stated in the forum, guess it would be difficult to speak about certain things but hey, that's why editors are in the business!
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Wow! Fantastic read, fantastic memories. Thank you Ed, thank you Dusty:)
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Thanks again to Ed for answering our questions, a few thoughts I have had after reading them. After saying he saw dozens of songs in Mark's little black and and about 20 song for Love Over Gold, Mark must be even more prolific than we thought!! I wonder how many songs are recorded and sitting in an archive somewhere?
I love the fact that Ed sent Private Dancer to Prince, a very bold move on his part ;D It would be have been amazing to hear what Prince could/would have done with it, maybe he did do something with it, Prince has a huge unreleased archive.
Mark playing on Michael Jackson's Bad :o wow, that would have been something, I wonder if Mark would have had been willing to do it? if not for the reasons Ed said. Jackson must have really liked guitar music and players, asking Mark, and using Slash and Eddie Van Halen and Jennifer Batton, he even called Mike Oldfield in the mid 80's.
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Damn, there go some last perceptions I was trying to hold onto out of the window :lol
Love people who actually dare to speak out in interviews!
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Can someone please elaborate on this sentence?
A part of one of Ed´s answers.
"The DSE are almost as good as the real thing, really tremendous and MK gets the bloody PRS!"
Does he mean DSL (Dire Straits Legends) and that it annoys MK so much he has sort of bleeding ;)
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Dear Ed, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. It has been a pleasure, a lot of fun and a lot of learning at the same time. This is a historic moment here at AMIT. Thank you for this unique opportunity! :clap
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Can someone please elaborate on this sentence?
A part of one of Ed´s answers.
"The DSE are almost as good as the real thing, really tremendous and MK gets the bloody PRS!"
Does he mean DSL (Dire Straits Legends) and that it annoys MK so much he has sort of bleeding ;)
PRS:
https://www.prsformusic.com/
ie MK makes money every time they play.
And they used to be called DSE. I think. It’s difficult to keep up, Alan kept falling out with people.
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Thanks, Ed for answering my stupefyingly long question and it's actually a perfect answer, I expected nothing less from you. You've left no stone unturned, bravo!
The upbringing, growing together and life experience is exactly what I wanted to see in your answer. But I also have to comment on one thing...
The thing MOST people are getting wrong about me is that I think of MK as some kind of a living God. That's simply not true. I believe in the presumption of innocence, and every man or woman is equally smart and important to me UNLESS they prove me otherwise.
And I actually praise Ed left and right, I praise everybody, and yes, I praise Mark left and right because I strive to see only the good in people. It's obvious everybody has their skeleton in the closet, everybody goes to the toilet, and as we say in Russia, "everybody masturbates how he wants".
I'm not interested in the dark side of people, I'm only interested in their good side. That's why I do my best to be "Mark's advocate" here and sometimes seem like a brainwashed fanboy.
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Can someone please elaborate on this sentence?
A part of one of Ed´s answers.
"The DSE are almost as good as the real thing, really tremendous and MK gets the bloody PRS!"
Does he mean DSL (Dire Straits Legends) and that it annoys MK so much he has sort of bleeding ;)
Thanks Dusty :thumbsup
PRS:
https://www.prsformusic.com/
ie MK makes money every time they play.
And they used to be called DSE. I think. It’s difficult to keep up, Alan kept falling out with people.
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Many many thanks Ed !
and yes I confirm : Tommy Mandel is credited on the LP/CD/Cassette booklets but NOT on the video. A bit weird isn't it ?
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Hi,
I can't find a correct translation for Ed's line about EC : "Lives down the street for me but never has any sugar in, cheap sod."
Can someone turn this sentence into simple english ?
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Hi,
I can't find a correct translation for Ed's line about EC : "Lives down the street for me but never has any sugar in, cheap sod."
Can someone turn this sentence into simple english ?
HAHAHA.
Imagine Ed with a empty cup knocking on Eric's door asking for some sugar. But he never get it.
In other words. Eric never waves to Ed.
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Dedicated thread for discussion of all the questions and answers.
Questions only in the question thread please and the answers thread will be locked and stickied so it can be preserved for reference. :)
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Hi,
I can't find a correct translation for Ed's line about EC : "Lives down the street for me but never has any sugar in, cheap sod."
Can someone turn this sentence into simple english ?
Means they live close from each other but they don't visit the other.
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Sorry, not sure if I understood it correctly. I am one of those who already had a question answered by Ed. Am I allowed to ask another one (because of the extended time frame).
Thanks!
LE
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Sorry, not sure if I understood it correctly. I am one of those who already had a question answered by Ed. Am I allowed to ask another one (because of the extended time frame).
Thanks!
LE
It's one question per member BUT! if you have a friend who isn't an AMIT member then you can post that question on their behalf (in the questions thread)...
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Ok, thanks!
LE
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Sorry, not sure if I understood it correctly. I am one of those who already had a question answered by Ed. Am I allowed to ask another one (because of the extended time frame).
Thanks!
LE
You can ask one more of behalf of your friend, if you have a friend ofcourse ;)
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Sorry, not sure if I understood it correctly. I am one of those who already had a question answered by Ed. Am I allowed to ask another one (because of the extended time frame).
Thanks!
LE
You can ask one more of behalf of your friend, if you have a friend ofcourse ;)
And I advise not to overuse it and treat it as free +1, but rather provide a genuine enquiry from somebody who don't want to bother to register here to ask a single question.
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Ed's comments about overdubs on On The Night made me brought a very little, almost invisible, smile.
oh, dear...
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Ed's comments about overdubs on On The Night made me brought a very little, almost invisible, smile.
oh, dear...
Same here! 😅
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Reading Ed's answers the parting of the ways with Mark was the right thing for both of them. If Ed doesn't listen to Mark's new stuff, he can't understand how Mark has grown as a lyricist and songwriter. Mark as a big fan of Bob always wanted to be an aartist. It is his calling. I think Mark lost his way slightly with the brothers in armd and on every street records. He needed a fresh start.
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I'm going to move on with just one comment.
He is a songwriter, singer and guitarist, father and husband and friend to many and dickhead to a few.
It’s not art. It is disposable pop music, entertainment, show business and it gives huge enjoyment to vast numbers of people and creates a lot of employment but it’s called “pop” music for a reason.
Because it’s popular.
That's the point of it.
And you will never persuade me that the EVERYTHING you say makes it more than that.
Obviously nothing personal, you just flipped one of my switches.
Seems like we live on completely different planets with Ed because I can't agree with this at all if I understood his words correctly.
From my experience in life, from all art, including sculpture, painting, poetry, theatre, architecture, whatever it is, music is probably the most important one. Even cinema and photography (as art, not iPhone shots) are not as accessible, ubiquitous, abundant, approachable and built into humanity as music.
People from any background can sing the pentatonic scale as famously demonstrated by Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival. Music is built right in us, one of the first things children do in life is either sing or dance to music, and the most viewed video of all time on YouTube is the kid's song with 15 billion views.
Pop music, as Ed said in the answer to my question, builds entire generations in which Ed Bicknells and Mark Knopflers of this world grow. Iconic pop songs, like, say, Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" literally save people's lives. Mark's "ditties" as he calls them, have the same effect—one of his favourite stories is one of a guy, who approached him saying he wanted to commit suicide but decided to go on because of his music.
That's also the reason music is truly the most accessible commodity today after air and water and is so easy to get. So I truly don't know. Getting popular is not the point of popular music. Music is popular because it's important for people and offers them something way more than simple enjoyment. It provides a soundtrack to their life.
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I'm going to move on with just one comment.
He is a songwriter, singer and guitarist, father and husband and friend to many and dickhead to a few.
It’s not art. It is disposable pop music, entertainment, show business and it gives huge enjoyment to vast numbers of people and creates a lot of employment but it’s called “pop” music for a reason.
Because it’s popular.
That's the point of it.
And you will never persuade me that the EVERYTHING you say makes it more than that.
Obviously nothing personal, you just flipped one of my switches.
Seems like we live on completely different planets with Ed because I can't agree with this at all if I understood his words correctly.
From my experience in life, from all art, including sculpture, painting, poetry, theatre, architecture, whatever it is, music is probably the most important one. Even cinema and photography (as art, not iPhone shots) are not as accessible, ubiquitous, abundant, approachable and built into humanity as music.
People from any background can sing the pentatonic scale as famously demonstrated by Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival. Music is built right in us, one of the first things children do in life is either sing or dance to music, and the most viewed video of all time on YouTube is the kid's song with 15 billion views.
Pop music, as Ed said in the answer to my question, builds entire generations in which Ed Bicknells and Mark Knopflers of this world grow. Iconic pop songs, like, say, Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" literally save people's lives. Mark's "ditties" as he calls them, have the same effect—one of his favourite stories is one of a guy, who approached him saying he wanted to commit suicide but decided to go on because of his music.
That's also the reason music is truly the most accessible commodity today after air and water and is so easy to get. So I truly don't know. Getting popular is not the point of popular music. Music is popular because it's important for people and offers them something way more than simple enjoyment. It provides a soundtrack to their life.
I agree :thumbsup
I think Ed has connected music and the music industry too much, and that's why we get this impression of this statement.
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
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I agree with Ed that pop music can never be art. Important, relevant, yes. But even Mark himself would probably laugh about calling his music art.
LE
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
I'd go for Alan if I would be asked to give a wild guess.
LE
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
Yes, this statement also struck me. :think
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I agree with Ed that pop music can never be art. Important, relevant, yes. But even Mark himself would probably laugh about calling his music art.
LE
What gives? Art is creating something out of nothing, whether it's a poem, a painting, a movie script, shooting a movie, designing a video game, writing a song, building a piece of furniture, designing a building, or designing a font. Music is probably not as celebrated as other arts, but it even has its own Oscar, for Mark's sake. Grammy.
How can a sensible human put a "≠" sign between music and art is beyond me. There is some music I wouldn't call art, but you know to which music it can be applied and you can say that about any questionable creation in any category of "art". There are bad movies, bad poems, bad paintings and pretty much everything.
What you're saying is true if the question is "Does Mark Knopfler consider himself an artist?". Of course, that's funny. Nobody in their right mind will think about themselves as "maestros" and creators of art, but it doesn't mean what they are doing is not art. Centuries ago, art was just what people did, and a piano was at every home.
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
Yes, this statement also struck me. :think
That's so awesome though. Talent is the ultimate gauge of everything, as was previously discussed in other threads. Even if you're an asshole, talent can save you, what an important lesson in life ;D
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Really, pop music can't be art? And, for example, progressive music can be art? Who decides that? For me, pop music can be and is art. Brothers In Arms album from the 1980s was pop music. And for me, the BIA album is art.
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Really, pop music can't be art? And, for example, progressive music can be art? Who decides that? For me, pop music can be and is art. Brothers In Arms album from the 1980s was pop music. And for me, the BIA album is art.
I think you were right when you talked about music and the music business. I can go as far as to say that music is... Sport. Yeah, because it's a very physical activity. You bang shit, strum shit, sing until you're completely exhausted and you can't find an artist without a picture of them sweating all over the place on stage, even many classical musicians.
However, there's a physical element to the music, the muscle memory element, and a much more important element is the other part, where what you are doing is actually making people react, cry or dance. The first part is in sports, the second part is in art, it's as simple as that. It's yin and yang, stuff that's known since the beginning of time.
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
I'd go for Alan if I would be asked to give a wild guess.
LE
Yeah, other than Mark himself that seems to be the only option
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
Ed has already said that he can't go into the exact details on that point, so come on AMITers, do what you do best - speculate!
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory.
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
Ed has already said that he can't go into the exact details on that point, so come on AMITers, do what you do best - speculate!
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory.
It is all pretty obvious. They were all always in it for the money. Ed had always assumed Mark had to come up with money for his divorce, but in Australia Mark revealed to Ed that his ex wife wanted no money at all and that Mark was doing the whole album and tour purely for artistic reasons. Two albums later Mark said in their final meeting that he really wanted to stay on the artistic path. He also revealed to Ed that this time he wanted to properly compensate the musicians involved. This was of course deeply insulting to Ed (we know from his answers that he doesn't have any consideration for people and only wants money).
But this is hardly a conspiracy theory as I'm obviously stating the obvious
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
Ed has already said that he can't go into the exact details on that point, so come on AMITers, do what you do best - speculate!
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory.
It is all pretty obvious. They were all always in it for the money. Ed had always assumed Mark had to come up with money for his divorce, but in Australia Mark revealed to Ed that his ex wife wanted no money at all and that Mark was doing the whole album and tour purely for artistic reasons. Two albums later Mark said in their final meeting that he really wanted to stay on the artistic path. He also revealed to Ed that this time he wanted to properly compensate the musicians involved. This was of course deeply insulting to Ed (we know from his answers that he doesn't have any consideration for people and only wants money).
But this is hardly a conspiracy theory as I'm obviously stating the obvious
Not sure if you are being serious or not?
We know from Ed's answers and the podcast that he didn't take commission for organising tours, which would have been a huge sum no doubt.
He also negotiated industry leading deals with the record company for the band where possible.
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
Ed has already said that he can't go into the exact details on that point, so come on AMITers, do what you do best - speculate!
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory.
It is all pretty obvious. They were all always in it for the money. Ed had always assumed Mark had to come up with money for his divorce, but in Australia Mark revealed to Ed that his ex wife wanted no money at all and that Mark was doing the whole album and tour purely for artistic reasons. Two albums later Mark said in their final meeting that he really wanted to stay on the artistic path. He also revealed to Ed that this time he wanted to properly compensate the musicians involved. This was of course deeply insulting to Ed (we know from his answers that he doesn't have any consideration for people and only wants money).
But this is hardly a conspiracy theory as I'm obviously stating the obvious
Not sure if you are being serious or not?
We know from Ed's answers and the podcast that he didn't take commission for organising tours, which would have been a huge sum no doubt.
He also negotiated industry leading deals with the record company for the band where possible.
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory Of course I'm not serious.
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
Ed has already said that he can't go into the exact details on that point, so come on AMITers, do what you do best - speculate!
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory.
It is all pretty obvious. They were all always in it for the money. Ed had always assumed Mark had to come up with money for his divorce, but in Australia Mark revealed to Ed that his ex wife wanted no money at all and that Mark was doing the whole album and tour purely for artistic reasons. Two albums later Mark said in their final meeting that he really wanted to stay on the artistic path. He also revealed to Ed that this time he wanted to properly compensate the musicians involved. This was of course deeply insulting to Ed (we know from his answers that he doesn't have any consideration for people and only wants money).
But this is hardly a conspiracy theory as I'm obviously stating the obvious
Not sure if you are being serious or not?
We know from Ed's answers and the podcast that he didn't take commission for organising tours, which would have been a huge sum no doubt.
He also negotiated industry leading deals with the record company for the band where possible.
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory Of course I'm not serious.
To elaborate a bit, from the answers Ed has given it is my impression that he is very considerate person. I understand it is his point of view, but it seems Mark (and John) have not always been very considerate with their 'staff', as is apparent from the treatment that Terry Williams, Jack Sonni and others got for example. Now, you could argue that they were only hired for the tour, so basically Mark and John didn't have to explain why they didn't hire them again, but I guess the decent thing to do would be to at least give that explanation. Then again, it is Ed's point of view, I was not there, so for all I know Mark and John did give that explanation and Ed is just not aware, but from all of the different situations with different ex-dire straits members I do get the impression that this sensitivity has not always been a priority. The only thing that does surprise me is that it seems it was very difficult to just say 'hey Mark, your being a dick!' given that people also tolerated some of these situations to exists in the first place.
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About the real reason for doing the OES tour that when Ed found out being in Down Under he says he should had resigned, only thing that comes to mind is what MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
Ed has already said that he can't go into the exact details on that point, so come on AMITers, do what you do best - speculate!
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory.
It is all pretty obvious. They were all always in it for the money. Ed had always assumed Mark had to come up with money for his divorce, but in Australia Mark revealed to Ed that his ex wife wanted no money at all and that Mark was doing the whole album and tour purely for artistic reasons. Two albums later Mark said in their final meeting that he really wanted to stay on the artistic path. He also revealed to Ed that this time he wanted to properly compensate the musicians involved. This was of course deeply insulting to Ed (we know from his answers that he doesn't have any consideration for people and only wants money).
But this is hardly a conspiracy theory as I'm obviously stating the obvious
Not sure if you are being serious or not?
We know from Ed's answers and the podcast that he didn't take commission for organising tours, which would have been a huge sum no doubt.
He also negotiated industry leading deals with the record company for the band where possible.
Special prize for the wildest conspiracy theory Of course I'm not serious.
To elaborate a bit, from the answers Ed has given it is my impression that he is very considerate person. I understand it is his point of view, but it seems Mark (and John) have not always been very considerate with their 'staff', as is apparent from the treatment that Terry Williams, Jack Sonni and others got for example. Now, you could argue that they were only hired for the tour, so basically Mark and John didn't have to explain why they didn't hire them again, but I guess the decent thing to do would be to at least give that explanation. Then again, it is Ed's point of view, I was not there, so for all I know Mark and John did give that explanation and Ed is just not aware, but from all of the different situations with different ex-dire straits members I do get the impression that this sensitivity has not always been a priority. The only thing that does surprise me is that it seems it was very difficult to just say 'hey Mark, your being a dick!' given that people also tolerated some of these situations to exists in the first place.
Yes, always two sides to every story. But when multiple people starting telling a similar story...
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Very grateful to Ed for my answer. Very interesting the Wembley 85 and Final Oz 86 shows were band / management initiated. Leaves me with hope that they were multitrack recorded and one day we may have some kind of official release. Then again I might be kidding myself ! Great stuff thanks Dusty for facilitating all of this and Ed for his generous participation.
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Can someone please elaborate on this sentence?
A part of one of Ed´s answers.
"The DSE are almost as good as the real thing, really tremendous and MK gets the bloody PRS!"
Does he mean DSL (Dire Straits Legends) and that it annoys MK so much he has sort of bleeding ;)
From Ed:
I said I wouldn’t respond to comments but to clarify DSE is the Dire Straits Experience with Chris White and Terence Reis.
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Thanks, Ed for answering my stupefyingly long question and it's actually a perfect answer, I expected nothing less from you. You've left no stone unturned, bravo!
The upbringing, growing together and life experience is exactly what I wanted to see in your answer. But I also have to comment on one thing...
The thing MOST people are getting wrong about me is that I think of MK as some kind of a living God. That's simply not true. I believe in the presumption of innocence, and every man or woman is equally smart and important to me UNLESS they prove me otherwise.
And I actually praise Ed left and right, I praise everybody, and yes, I praise Mark left and right because I strive to see only the good in people. It's obvious everybody has their skeleton in the closet, everybody goes to the toilet, and as we say in Russia, "everybody masturbates how he wants".
I'm not interested in the dark side of people, I'm only interested in their good side. That's why I do my best to be "Mark's advocate" here and sometimes seem like a brainwashed fanboy.
where is my praise damnit?
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
I'd go for Alan if I would be asked to give a wild guess.
LE
Alan seems like the same kind of megalomaniac, but at the same time, talented asswipe that Jon Carin seems to be (dayum that one is bonkers btw,...)
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Thanks, Ed for answering my stupefyingly long question and it's actually a perfect answer, I expected nothing less from you. You've left no stone unturned, bravo!
The upbringing, growing together and life experience is exactly what I wanted to see in your answer. But I also have to comment on one thing...
The thing MOST people are getting wrong about me is that I think of MK as some kind of a living God. That's simply not true. I believe in the presumption of innocence, and every man or woman is equally smart and important to me UNLESS they prove me otherwise.
And I actually praise Ed left and right, I praise everybody, and yes, I praise Mark left and right because I strive to see only the good in people. It's obvious everybody has their skeleton in the closet, everybody goes to the toilet, and as we say in Russia, "everybody masturbates how he wants".
I'm not interested in the dark side of people, I'm only interested in their good side. That's why I do my best to be "Mark's advocate" here and sometimes seem like a brainwashed fanboy.
where is my praise damnit?
Pottel has to be the most adequate AMIT member. His post are short and precise unlike mine, he's always funny and calm as a tank (as we say in Russia), never joins into arguments and fights, but rather trying his best to resolve them and avoid them. He never quits, never threaten, never ban, never insult anyone, overall a top bloke I'd be happy to share a drink together should the world be less fucked up and travel was possible for me. Pottel is the Rick Blaine of AMIT. And he's a co-founder of the damn thing. Amen!
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
I'd go for Alan if I would be asked to give a wild guess.
LE
Alan seems like the same kind of megalomaniac, but at the same time, talented asswipe that Jon Carin seems to be (dayum that one is bonkers btw,...)
Judging by Ed's comment of "a dickhead to a few", it might even refer to MK himself during that particular tour. But I don't think that's very likely.
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"MK’s solo career has been sustained by the fan base. I doubt he’s expanded his audience at all and without DS he wouldn’t have had a career, probably not even a record deal.
Yes. Harsh but pragmatic and I could be completely wrong."
Interesting one this one. I think I completely agree. I'm a Dire Straits fan but if I'm really honest with myself I'm not sure I'm that much of an MK solo career fan. I know there is a lot of love for his solo work here (slightly the point of the whole forum) so I won't go further into it but that's my personal perspective.
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There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
Wow, this was such a highlight. The guy definitely doesn't look amicable at all, I can't totally imagine the bad vibes.
I'd go for Alan if I would be asked to give a wild guess.
LE
Alan seems like the same kind of megalomaniac, but at the same time, talented asswipe that Jon Carin seems to be (dayum that one is bonkers btw,...)
Judging by Ed's comment of "a dickhead to a few", it might even refer to MK himself during that particular tour. But I don't think that's very likely.
Everybody is a dickhead sometimes. I know I am. I like to think I have become less of a dickhead as I have got older and learned from my mistakes but that is probably wishful thinking :)
PS Even Saint Pottel is a dickhead sometimes, and he has indeed banned people (justifiably!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOJbBBSe4oI
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Pottel has to be the most adequate AMIT member. His post are short and precise unlike mine, he's always funny and calm as a tank (as we say in Russia), never joins into arguments and fights, but rather trying his best to resolve them and avoid them. He never quits, never threaten, never ban, never insult anyone, overall a top bloke I'd be happy to share a drink together should the world be less fucked up and travel was possible for me. Pottel is the Rick Blaine of AMIT. And he's a co-founder of the damn thing. Amen!
quizzaciously, weren't you banned more than once ?
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"MK’s solo career has been sustained by the fan base. I doubt he’s expanded his audience at all and without DS he wouldn’t have had a career, probably not even a record deal.
Yes. Harsh but pragmatic and I could be completely wrong."
Interesting one this one. I think I completely agree. I'm a Dire Straits fan but if I'm really honest with myself I'm not sure I'm that much of an MK solo career fan. I know there is a lot of love for his solo work here (slightly the point of the whole forum) so I won't go further into it but that's my personal perspective.
I'm reading a bit more between the lines here. I guess this remark, together with Ed's remark about Mark being a two hit wonder, hints at the end of their relationship where Mark probably totally deminished Ed's role in the success of DS. If I'm in the right direction here I would say about this that Mark probably had enough talent to build a career without DS, but DS and also Ed made it so that he could record it all in his own studio. Then again, this theory could be as much crap as my questions to Ed were :-[
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"MK’s solo career has been sustained by the fan base. I doubt he’s expanded his audience at all and without DS he wouldn’t have had a career, probably not even a record deal.
Yes. Harsh but pragmatic and I could be completely wrong."
Interesting one this one. I think I completely agree. I'm a Dire Straits fan but if I'm really honest with myself I'm not sure I'm that much of an MK solo career fan. I know there is a lot of love for his solo work here (slightly the point of the whole forum) so I won't go further into it but that's my personal perspective.
Pragmatic ? it's a joke I hope Ed, yes completely wrong
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Pottel has to be the most adequate AMIT member. His post are short and precise unlike mine, he's always funny and calm as a tank (as we say in Russia), never joins into arguments and fights, but rather trying his best to resolve them and avoid them. He never quits, never threaten, never ban, never insult anyone, overall a top bloke I'd be happy to share a drink together should the world be less fucked up and travel was possible for me. Pottel is the Rick Blaine of AMIT. And he's a co-founder of the damn thing. Amen!
quizzaciously, weren't you banned more than once ?
Banned — never, left the forum — all the time, got topics deleted — all the time, scolded by mods in DM's... all the time. You see, my forum rages are always justified, so if somebody asked for it, it's difficult to stop me. I'm a classic "don't get me started" kind of person. But I was never banned because I fight people with dignity and respect. Those who lack it get banned instead 8)
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Quizzy's never been banned... but the night is yet young ;)
In all seriousness other than bots I could count the number of people we have had to ban over the last 16 years on the fingers of one hand.
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"MK’s solo career has been sustained by the fan base. I doubt he’s expanded his audience at all and without DS he wouldn’t have had a career, probably not even a record deal.
Yes. Harsh but pragmatic and I could be completely wrong."
Interesting one this one. I think I completely agree. I'm a Dire Straits fan but if I'm really honest with myself I'm not sure I'm that much of an MK solo career fan. I know there is a lot of love for his solo work here (slightly the point of the whole forum) so I won't go further into it but that's my personal perspective.
Pragmatic ? it's a joke I hope Ed, yes completely wrong
(Praise mode on) Ed is my favourite type of people because I can't say I agree with almost every single one of his taste calls (like this take above), but he makes up for it with humour, stories and attention to detail.
Like yes, no joke, Mark's solo career is sustained by the fan base, as it wasn't his songs, his guitar playing and his voice that have built it in the first place. To me, there are no DS or solo career, just MK in progress.
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Mary, Joseph and the little baby Jesus have mercy ...
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
You can play the family/friends card question, lol
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
You can play the family/friends card question, lol
Yes, I know, but I'd rather ask it myself. Because it's mine. :)
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
You can play the family/friends card question, lol
Yes, I know, but I'd rather ask it myself. Because it's mine. :)
Then you can't, lol
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
You can play the family/friends card question, lol
Yes, I know, but I'd rather ask it myself. Because it's mine. :)
Then you can't, lol
Too bad. Maybe Ed will be ready for another round someday.
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
You could just create a second account. Call it Robson2 and nobody will know it's you. ;D
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I regret that only one question because I have a second one that I like more than the first one. ;)
You could just create a second account. Call it Robson2 and nobody will know it's you. ;D
I'll think about it :D
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Reading Ed's answers the parting of the ways with Mark was the right thing for both of them. If Ed doesn't listen to Mark's new stuff, he can't understand how Mark has grown as a lyricist and songwriter. Mark as a big fan of Bob always wanted to be an aartist. It is his calling. I think Mark lost his way slightly with the brothers in armd and on every street records. He needed a fresh start.
I think that Ed is the kind of person that is motivated by music. Not too much about the lyrics.
A good lyric have much more effect inside a great music.
I agree that Mark wanted a fresh start. However, the musical direction didn't captivated Ed.
Ed is wild fire and MK turned himself a grill. Now, he is a matchstick.
There was one person who I and quite a number of the others would have been happy to see the back of but unfortunately he was saved by his talent.
I agree with LE. Must be Alan.
I agree with Ed that pop music can never be art. Important, relevant, yes. But even Mark himself would probably laugh about calling his music art.
Hahaha... partially agreed.
I we have the proof.
It's on the Guy Pratt's podcast.
MK said something like: - ... I made the music... err... music (laughs), i made the songwriting.
"MK’s solo career has been sustained by the fan base. I doubt he’s expanded his audience at all and without DS he wouldn’t have had a career, probably not even a record deal.
Yes. Harsh but pragmatic and I could be completely wrong."
Interesting one this one. I think I completely agree. I'm a Dire Straits fan but if I'm really honest with myself I'm not sure I'm that much of an MK solo career fan. I know there is a lot of love for his solo work here (slightly the point of the whole forum) so I won't go further into it but that's my personal perspective.
Yes.
However, before this sentence, is carved on stone that DS was Mark's band. So.. DS was 100% Mark (I had my doubts about it praising Alan's work and, maybe, his inputs)
And, after Mark started do "do what he wants", only his fanbase (DS) can sustain his solo career.
I often said: - We learn to like Mark's solo stuff because his impact with DS.
Like yes, no joke, Mark's solo career is sustained by the fan base, as it wasn't his songs, his guitar playing and his voice that have built it in the first place. To me, there are no DS or solo career, just MK in progress.
Yep. I am on this path now.
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One thing that doesn't give me pause. From Ed's answers we have a picture of MK, which is not easy to work with. 16 years DS many lineups, many goodbyes. MK solo - 28 years and the lineup can be said to be constant. Of course, more musicians but few goodbyes. People do not change only times are different (?) But maybe Mark after Dire Straits is a different man. Or maybe other musicians were not saints either. But we'll never know that from MK.
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To me, it's been a pleasure to ask my bullshits to Ed.
There are maaaaany cool things and I did a LOT of loud laughs.
I really like Ed's personality. It's a guy full of passion.
And, using a very poor comparison, he sells what he enjoys to sell.
If he don't believe in the products that he sells, he cannot sell it properly.
The main thing about Ed's management is that the music drives him to believe in the product. And that is huge.
- Things like why MK is so restrictive about "fans" are well explained.
- Mark making his maximum to avoid conflicts, and been bossy, creates a number of unfriendships along the times.
- That Alan's inputs (that i believe that was the main thing about 80's DS, expecially LOG, LH and Alchemy) was waaaay less than i tought.
- My guess about OES was planned to be a 2nd NHB album was way wrong. (and I laughed about his comments about the songs)
- The RRHOF thing and his vision about the band/fans
- The almost 20 songs that are RECORDED for LOG that will never see the light.
- Every show is the same show since the beggining. The only who can play new things is Mark.
- Mainly of the 96ers are too flat, almost horizontal. (LOL)
- Ed's tender LOVE for DK
and the most revealing of all answers.
- He doesn't sleep with a pillow in a shape of a strat. DAMN!
Thank you, Ed!
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One thing that doesn't give me pause. From Ed's answers we have a picture of MK, which is not easy to work with. 16 years DS many lineups, many goodbyes. MK solo - 28 years and the lineup can be said to be constant. Of course, more musicians but few goodbyes. People do not change only times are different (?) But maybe Mark after Dire Straits is a different man. Or maybe other musicians were not saints either. But we'll never know that from MK.
That's something I've been wondering about as well.
The solo line-up has been constant except for the drummers, god knows why ;-)
My impression is that there was a major change after DS, maybe not a different man, but a very different setup.
Firstly, the situation in the solo band is different, with a handful of highly sought-after specialist musicians, and no-one having to prove anything, no-one playing for the money, which makes it all much more relaxed, I suppose. Then there's maybe another factor, which is that half the band are Americans - I'm not sure if that would make a major difference, but maybe a bit.
Generally, I got the impression that MK has been much more relaxed than in DS, and I was quite shocked to learn what level of stress they were exposed to during BIA and especially OES tours. Having your garden gnomes stolen is one thing, but receiving death threats and stuff like that is another level! I never thought it was that bad. But now it's all crystal clear, and it makes total sense to me that he walked away from it all.
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One thing that doesn't give me pause. From Ed's answers we have a picture of MK, which is not easy to work with. 16 years DS many lineups, many goodbyes. MK solo - 28 years and the lineup can be said to be constant. Of course, more musicians but few goodbyes. People do not change only times are different (?) But maybe Mark after Dire Straits is a different man. Or maybe other musicians were not saints either. But we'll never know that from MK.
That's something I've been wondering about as well.
The solo line-up has been constant except for the drummers, god knows why ;-)
My impression is that there was a major change after DS, maybe not a different man, but a very different setup.
Firstly, the situation in the solo band is different, with a handful of highly sought-after specialist musicians, and no-one having to prove anything, no-one playing for the money, which makes it all much more relaxed, I suppose. Then there's maybe another factor, which is that half the band are Americans - I'm not sure if that would make a major difference, but maybe a bit.
Generally, I got the impression that MK has been much more relaxed than in DS, and I was quite shocked to learn what level of stress they were exposed to during BIA and especially OES tours. Having your garden gnomes stolen is one thing, but receiving death threats and stuff like that is another level! I never thought it was that bad. But now it's all crystal clear, and it makes total sense to me that he walked away from it all.
Exactly, people don't change but the times and environment (and your reaction to it) are different. You can't change or pick the first two, but the latter — hell yes! You need to be blind or born yesterday not to notice the obvious path of Mark's songwriting and the changes the songs demanded, and his career and the changes it demanded. Good luck playing Border Reiver, Kingdom Of Gold or Sailing To Philadelphia with the original 4-piece or Wild West End with the current Nashville/Folk orchestra, good luck trying to get Mark resurrect Dire Straits, put Ed back behind the wheel and organise a 3-stages 2-year-long tour. As we say in Russia, let's drink to our opportunities always matching our desires.
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Not sure if I should worry more about the Stalker thing or the fact that MK had garden gnomes... :lol
LE
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Not sure if I should worry more about the Stalker thing or the fact that MK had garden gnomes... :lol
LE
Haha!
Garden gnomes (or rather their owners) have a very negative image in Germany, as they convey the idea of a strait-laced, lower-middle-class person with very fixed views, but I don't think it's that bad in the UK.
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WOW! Ed really these answers, memories are great potential for a book.
Thank you Dusty. Solid work ! :)
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WOW! Ed really these answers, memories are great potential for a book.
Thank you Dusty. Solid work ! :)
No thanks necessary to me, I’m just cutting and pasting.
Real credit is to Ed, and anyone who is able to come up with a good question for him. :)
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:thumbsup
I've been on AMIT for 15 years. Have any other DS musicians written on the forum before, besides Chris Whitten and Ed Bicknell?
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:thumbsup
I've been on AMIT for 15 years. Have any other DS musicians written on the forum before, besides Chris Whitten and Ed Bicknell?
Yes, Guy Fletcher ( ;D) and Jack Sonni.
LE
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:thumbsup
I've been on AMIT for 15 years. Have any other DS musicians written on the forum before, besides Chris Whitten and Ed Bicknell?
Yes, Guy Fletcher ( ;D) and Jack Sonni.
LE
Yes Guy Fletcher. I wasn't sure about Jack Sonni. Thank you LE.
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Guy was only here for two posts ranting about In Ear Mix Bootlegs in 2008. Jack Sonni had a thread about his book where he posted for a while and answered questions.
LE
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Guy was only here for two posts ranting about In Ear Mix Bootlegs in 2008. Jack Sonni had a thread about his book where he posted for a while and answered questions.
LE
I need to find and revisit those memories. Thanks LE:)
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Tommy Mandel has also written on here, I think.
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Yes, I was not sure if it was him or Joop de Korte . Thanks!
LE
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I think it's Joop de Korte.
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Tommy Mandel also.
And, er, Guy's wife.
The IEM incident was hilarious.
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Tommy Mandel was here and I remember him saying that he composed the Romeo and Juliet ambient orchestration on keys during the outro, in the LoG tour.
I love that piece of music that leads to the classical guitar solo and I'll always be thankful to him.
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Tommy Mandel also.
And, er, Guy's wife.
The IEM incident was hilarious.
Please, I missed that part at the time, could you summarize what the issue was regarding the 2008 IEM recording?
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Tommy Mandel was here and I remember him saying that he composed the Romeo and Juliet ambient orchestration on keys during the outro, in the LoG tour.
I love that piece of music that leads to the classical guitar solo and I'll always be thankful to him.
This arrangement is pure gold, I love every second of that unique atmosphere.
He once wrote me a huge text telling me all his memories during his time on the LOG tour 82/83, at the time I posted it on my blog Universo Dire Straits, it's very similar to what he posted here, maybe there are some other details. Great guy, without a doubt.
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Tommy Mandel also.
And, er, Guy's wife.
The IEM incident was hilarious.
Please, I missed that part at the time, could you summarize what the issue was regarding the 2008 IEM recording?
During the 2008 Tour some IEM recordings popped up and one idiot posted about his RAH recording at Guy's forum which made the Management and Guy fume. He logged in here (("Hi, Guy here from the band..") and stated that they hated it and that they thought about consequences and wanted the recordings to be deleted. They even cancelled the Meet&Greet (at least) in Cologne because of this. It happened not only at the RAH and people were obviously able to hack into the frequencies of the IEM mixing desk but they reacted and made it impossible to do it later on.
LE
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Never knew about Guy's wife but of course the admits have much more insight into this matter.
LE
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Never knew about Guy's wife but of course the admits have much more insight into this matter.
LE
Not really, was a public post, of course as with anything on the internet it might not be real.
https://www.amarkintime.org/forum/index.php?topic=7991.msg175722#msg175722
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Tommy Mandel also.
And, er, Guy's wife.
The IEM incident was hilarious.
Please, I missed that part at the time, could you summarize what the issue was regarding the 2008 IEM recording?
During the 2008 Tour some IEM recordings popped up and one idiot posted about his RAH recording at Guy's forum which made the Management and Guy fume. He logged in here (("Hi, Guy here from the band..") and stated that they hated it and that they thought about consequences and wanted the recordings to be deleted. They even cancelled the Meet&Greet (at least) in Cologne because of this. It happened not only at the RAH and people were obviously able to hack into the frequencies of the IEM mixing desk but they reacted and made it impossible to do it later on.
LE
I'm trying to find this and can't.
Maybe it happened over at the MK News forum and not here? Mandela effect?!
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https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mknewsforum/first-2008-soundboard-recording-spoiler-rah-last-n-t1416-s10.html
It was MK News, so we can remove Guy from the list of AMIT contributors :)
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Yes, thank you. AMIT started at August 6th, 2008. The tour was over then so of course we could not find it. Thanks for the MKNews link! :wave
LE
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A couple of thoughts I had on the original topic:
1) No wonder EB doesn't want to write a book. How can you even name such a book when the man can jump from garden gnomes and death threats to colonic and shrinking balls in a few sentences? Ed's fisheye lens perspective and boundless humour are something I can't imagine in the book scenario, to be honest. That's why I prefer having a YouTube channel, which grows and evolves through time.
2) I'm still a little bit confused about how MK can be described as a guy who avoids conflicts, stress, confrontation at all cost, etc., and at the same time described as this tyrannical leader who fires people left and right, insults his bro, scolds musicians and ignores his mates. Something's wrong here as if we are talking about two different Marks. Maybe, there are two Marks after all.
Or maybe it's just like music vs. music business, music vs. sport, pop music vs. art debates, etc., and duality in this world is inevitable.
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Thanks, Ed for answering my stupefyingly long question and it's actually a perfect answer, I expected nothing less from you. You've left no stone unturned, bravo!
The upbringing, growing together and life experience is exactly what I wanted to see in your answer. But I also have to comment on one thing...
The thing MOST people are getting wrong about me is that I think of MK as some kind of a living God. That's simply not true. I believe in the presumption of innocence, and every man or woman is equally smart and important to me UNLESS they prove me otherwise.
And I actually praise Ed left and right, I praise everybody, and yes, I praise Mark left and right because I strive to see only the good in people. It's obvious everybody has their skeleton in the closet, everybody goes to the toilet, and as we say in Russia, "everybody masturbates how he wants".
I'm not interested in the dark side of people, I'm only interested in their good side. That's why I do my best to be "Mark's advocate" here and sometimes seem like a brainwashed fanboy.
where is my praise damnit?
Pottel has to be the most adequate AMIT member. His post are short and precise unlike mine, he's always funny and calm as a tank (as we say in Russia), never joins into arguments and fights, but rather trying his best to resolve them and avoid them. He never quits, never threaten, never ban, never insult anyone, overall a top bloke I'd be happy to share a drink together should the world be less fucked up and travel was possible for me. Pottel is the Rick Blaine of AMIT. And he's a co-founder of the damn thing. Amen!
i am a true T-72
amen indeed brother
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2) I'm still a little bit confused about how MK can be described as a guy who avoids conflicts, stress, confrontation at all cost, etc., and at the same time described as this tyrannical leader who fires people left and right, insults his bro, scolds musicians and ignores his mates. Something's wrong here as if we are talking about two different Marks. Maybe, there are two Marks after all.
Maybe I can explain my thoughts since was I am who writes this sentence.
Seems to me that the only band member that was fired directly by MK as David.
All the others choosed to quit or were "fired" by Ed.
Well, my thoughts are that Mark waves to Ed saying that he didn't want to work with a DS musician, and Ed had the "job" to fire those ones without Mark having to crosspath with this musician ever again.
The ones who choose 'to quit' or wont had their contract renewed never got a 'thanks, mate' from Mark.
Been bossy when you are the boss it's easy. Putting pressure on the band, been on bad mood and transfer his 'bad energy' to the others it's selfish. However, after live almost 2 years with a couple of band mates, sharing food (sausages), rooms, personal problem... after all, at the end, even been bossy and bad moody, the right thing to do is to say:
- Hey, pal. I am sorry for some issues and, sometimes, not been so friendly. I don't know how will be my direction for the future, however, if we wont play again, thanks for everything. Please, talk to Ed and your always be welcome.
Seems that MK never sayed anything even closer to this.
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2) I'm still a little bit confused about how MK can be described as a guy who avoids conflicts, stress, confrontation at all cost, etc., and at the same time described as this tyrannical leader who fires people left and right, insults his bro, scolds musicians and ignores his mates. Something's wrong here as if we are talking about two different Marks. Maybe, there are two Marks after all.
Well, ignoring his mates is absolutely avoiding conflict.
And likewise, "firing" seems to have involved simply not picking up the phone, leaving Jack and Terry baffled.
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A question, if I may, this time about Mark. One of the things I admire the most about him as a live performer is how effortlessly he plays lead lines behind his vocals. Many famous singer-guitarists don't, or can't. I mean, take Lady Writer for instance. An uptempo song, a mouthful lyrically, and then to play those intricate lines with precision and without messing up the singing. In your opinion, or from observation, is that just something he has a gift for, or did he practice a lot to achieve that kind of independency?
Gift I’d but there’s no point having a gift/talent if you done practice and apply it.
You know I can't recall ever seeing him practice in the time we worked together…doodling yes, but dedicated practice, no.
That's a great question, hunter v2.0 and since Ed's answer is not that detailed, I'll try to discuss it even though I know you dislike me at a genetic level.
ALL musicians who are multitasking, whether it's playing bass and singing like Sting or Paul McCartney, playing multiple melodies on the guitar at the same time like Chet Atkins or Tommy Emmanuel, or gaining limb independence to play drums, achieved that through practice and practice alone. I don't think you can even have a gift for something like singing/playing independence as you're doing something your hands and brain simply aren't wired to do.
And what's most impressive to me, is while everybody I've mentioned sings and plays pre-learned stuff like bass lines, arrangements and whatnot, Mark continues to improvise while singing as if he's not multitasking at all. To me, it screams about Mark putting in the proverbial 10,000 hours of practice and then some to gain this kind of independence. Blues musicians do this all the time too, but Mark applies it to non-blues music and it's infinitely cool.
As for observing practice, usually, it's all done privately, like writing, so you can't observe somebody's practice. Though Stewart Copeland in an interview with Rick Beato stated that he constantly oversaw Sting practising his bass/voice independence, which is, I must admit, on the highest level.
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qjamesfloyd:
Do you think Mark going solo was always inevitable from more or less the beginning of Dire Straits?
ED:
I never thought about at the time but, yes.
It gave him complete control and then I went and he got complete control in that area.
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I think very important words from Ed. This is a new perspective. No one has ever told us this in such a direct way.
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The main reason I asked that was because of the Arena documentary, when Mark is asked what extent is Dire Straits just a vehicle for his songs (I am paraphrasing) and he says "To no extent" and that was very early in his career.
One thing I am picking up from Ed is his dislike for Alan Clark and David Knopfler!!
I have a feeling Mark is a different person now from the one Ed knew, maybe he has been for many years as it is almost a quarter of a century since they had a working relationship. People can and do change, unless your Roger Waters of course!! I just don't think the likes of Guy Fletcher, who everyone say is a really nice "Guy" would have stayed around and worked with Mark for so long if he was so bad.
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The main reason I asked that was because of the Arena documentary, when Mark is asked what extent is Dire Straits just a vehicle for his songs (I am paraphrasing) and he says "To no extent" and that was very early in his career.
One thing I am picking up from Ed is his dislike for Alan Clark and David Knopfler!!
I have a feeling Mark is a different person now from the one Ed knew, maybe he has been for many years as it is almost a quarter of a century since they had a working relationship. People can and do change, unless your Roger Waters of course!! I just don't think the likes of Guy Fletcher, who everyone say is a really nice "Guy" would have stayed around and worked with Mark for so long if he was so bad.
Because he's a working musician and it's a good gig?
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Ed's revelations about the 79 tour are fascinating.
We've been banging on about OES for years, but it seems DS really could have folded after 79.
Making Movies was absolutely crucial. To be fair to Holly Beth Vincent, if she hadn't dumped Mark and thus R&J was born, DS might have been dropped by the label.
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I've just caught up with the answers, and I absolutely love Ed's responses and humor. Though I would love to know more about the whole OES/OTN story (I have always been fascinated by that part of the band), I really appreciate that he keeps things private — stuff that's none of our business — and he is not opening unhealed wounds. He is a real gentleman, if you ask me.
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MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
When did MK say that?
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The main reason I asked that was because of the Arena documentary, when Mark is asked what extent is Dire Straits just a vehicle for his songs (I am paraphrasing) and he says "To no extent" and that was very early in his career.
One thing I am picking up from Ed is his dislike for Alan Clark and David Knopfler!!
I have a feeling Mark is a different person now from the one Ed knew, maybe he has been for many years as it is almost a quarter of a century since they had a working relationship. People can and do change, unless your Roger Waters of course!! I just don't think the likes of Guy Fletcher, who everyone say is a really nice "Guy" would have stayed around and worked with Mark for so long if he was so bad.
Because he's a working musician and it's a good gig?
There must be more to it than that, they have been together for many decades, and haven't they both said that they have never had an argument?
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Well. I've never had an argument with my boss either ;)
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Ed's revelations about the 79 tour are fascinating.
We've been banging on about OES for years, but it seems DS really could have folded after 79.
Making Movies was absolutely crucial. To be fair to Holly Beth Vincent, if she hadn't dumped Mark and thus R&J was born, DS might have been dropped by the label.
I had this feeling when, back on my fervorous fan days of DS, i saw the Arena doc with the recording sessions for what could be the MM.
I felt that tha band was kind of lost because it have to move on and the band was still trapped on his original sounds.
Mark was trying hard to bring new stuff to the band so, i think that, if the band wont decided to chance his direction, maybe MK went solo in 1980.
However, i don't know if he could grow without calling himself as Dire Straits.
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MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
When did MK say that?
Can't remember exactly but when he used to talk about how he liked touring like a solo artist, he made that comment, I remember that running away from home sentence in various interviews.
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MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
When did MK say that?
Can't remember exactly but when he used to talk about how he liked touring like a solo artist, he made that comment, I remember that running away from home sentence in various interviews.
I distinctly recall him mentioning it once or twice when he was promoting The Ragpicker’s Dream during interviews on BBC Radio 2 way back in 2002, either with Johnnie Walker, Richard Allinson or both.
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The last DS tour could have been one big escape for MK.
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MK had said in recent interviews, that he was running away from home as he was getting divorced and it was being quite bad, I know Ed doesn't get into that details but if it's that, as long as MK himself has mentioned it, maybe he can confirm?
When did MK say that?
Interview with Swedish racing guy, somewhere between 2007 - 2009. It's on YT.
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He says that he had a good relationship with the same "girl" (Kitty) for 15 years and that she had a very stabilizing effect on him and that he often wondered if before he hadn't used touring as an excuse to run away. So this statement was not excactly related to his divorce but was more generally speaking.
LE
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He says that he had a good relationship with the same "girl" (Kitty) for 15 years and that she had a very stabilizing effect on him and that he often wondered if before he hadn't used touring as an excuse to run away. So this statement was not excactly related to his divorce but was more generally speaking.
LE
I think we can safely deduce he was referring to the OES tour.
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Yes maybe, but wayaman's post stated it as a fact in the way he wrote it and that's exactly what we should have learned to avoid by now. ;)
LE
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Yes maybe, but wayaman's post stated it as a fact in the way he wrote it and that's exactly what we should have learned to avoid by now. ;)
LE
I remember he said it in one or two or maybe more interviews but can't remember in which as I'm talking of memory about things I've been reading or listening during all these years, can't point to any specific interview to check, sorry, don't have them saved by themes.
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In the ragpicker's dream documentary, he talks about DS's long tours.
around 15 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfbVTczudZ8
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He says that he had a good relationship with the same "girl" (Kitty) for 15 years and that she had a very stabilizing effect on him and that he often wondered if before he hadn't used touring as an excuse to run away. So this statement was not excactly related to his divorce but was more generally speaking.
LE
I think we can safely deduce he was referring to the OES tour.
That was in the KTGC documentary.
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No it wasn't. It was the documentary with that Swedish guy. I watched it and checked before posting.
LE
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No it wasn't. It was the documentary with that Swedish guy. I watched it and checked before posting.
LE
Sorry, you're right, it's not it the KGTC documentary. Could you post a link to the Swedish thing?
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You can find it on YouTube with "Mark Knopfler interview in Swedish TV", two parts.
LE
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"There is one obvious one nobody has asked and several others I’d expected.
Ed, you can't leave it like this. We want to know! :)
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ED:
Amongst others he turned down The Last Emperor, A River Runs Through It, Legend, Maverick, Thelma and Louise, Last of The Mohicans, Anal Stories …The Sequel starring Rocco Sifreddi’s botty.
Yes. LH. "The Way She Always Farts” inspired by one of M’s girlfriends who liked turnips .
M and I tried to get the great Roy Orbison to do that but it didn't work out.
Amazing news from Ed
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It's all been great but today's post on Van Morrison might be the very best so far, pure GOLD, thank you Ed!
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Cannot agree more! Thank you very much for your dedicated, informative and hilarious answer!
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I felt that Ed was bit beyond sarcastic on my recent questions.
Oh, boy.
Pity that text messages didn't have 'body language' and my english sucks. Because of that, i cannot know if i am 'too literal' or is his understandment of my questions were 'too literal'.
His answers really made me think that Ed really believes that I made voting pool to ensure which guitar part was played by MK and which part was played by the others (DK or HL).
My points were:
DK is a fine player? Definetly NO.
He was capable to do the job as a ryhtm player for those early days of DS?
To a audience perspective: Yes!
From a musician point of view: NO! And, to me, the pressure to be a good player was one of the reasons that DK quitted.
There a podcast with Pick that he mentions that, at the beggining, was a hell to play with John and David.
David only could play live.
He had the 'red light' syndrom for sure.
The story of Hal during his period on DS is strangely curious.
He went into the band with no audiction. I missed who made Hal's propaganda, but he got the job. And he played on a band call 'Darling'
In Ed's opinion, seems that Hal are this close to be such a bad player as David.
When I called Hal a pro-session player, Ed went mad LOL.
Well, Steve Lukather is a pro-session player. In comparison to Luke, Hal is nobody. (it's not a competition)
If Hal is so bad as a player, so why work with him? It's all business after all.
My tought was that Hal could do things tht David couldn't do. So, in my opinion, at the recording of LOG, Hal could add his guitars in a way that DK could not deliver. Bringing more knowledge to the band and sparing time on the recording sessions.
The only that could and still can impress Mark as player and also got big parts thru the records is, since the begging, Richard.
Phil is great too, but his inputs on OES album are, to my ears, close to none.
However, Hal has a good number of film composing and a lot of recordings along his career. Of course, been on Dire Straits still is, by far, his higuest point. But he made a living playing guitar after DS.
Another good thing about Hal is that he made a living playing stuff way far from DS. I think that we will never see Hal playing on DS Tribute concerts. Alan, Phil, Chris White, Jack, Danny, John and even Pick played at tribute concerts.
I don't care Hal was a pain in the ass, too much inflated or Alan was sush a megalomaniac. I am interested on the musical side. Unreleased songs, Studio recordings, inputs from musicians, producers, concerts dynamics... Because I made a living as a musician for more than 15 years.
However, it seems to be irrelevant to Ed. To him, seems that the only band that these subjects are interestings are The Shadows.
That 'Brega' thing is very interesting to my view.
How a rock band can have a very strong, an totally organic, influence on a poor region of Brazil. Stronger than The Beatles. An entire musical segment is based on the early DS songs. It's real amazing.
The power of music and his transformations.
At the end, what matters is the gossip.
What really sells is the famous triad: Exoterism, Violence and Gossip.
I didn't read John's book and i wont read it because it's only questionable gossip.
Beyond sarcartic or not, Ed's answers are pure gold.
He is very bold, that's for sure.
That's the way. Uhun Uhun
I Like It.
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What I find most interesting is the fact that we were allowed to ask one question per each member and that you, Rolo, write literally novels with dozens of questions and get your detailed answers nevertheless. Ed seems to enjoy this whole thing immensely. ;)
LE
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What I find most interesting is the fact that we were allowed to ask one question per each member and that you, Rolo, write literally novels with dozens of questions and get your detailed answers nevertheless. Ed seems to enjoy this whole thing immensely. ;)
LE
One question per family member ;D
The novels are all about English level. As my english is very, very poor, i try to give some context for my questions.
I know that Ed is enjoyng it. The whole thing.
He gaves all the detailed answers.
What he didn't care he says: - I don't care.
And it is absolutely normal.
I am not saying that he was harsh. Actually he is very funny.
I just got lost on where is pure sarcasm, critic or joke
This tread is about the discussions about our questions.
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"I just got lost on where is pure sarcasm, critic or joke"
Sometimes I have the same thing. But maybe that's my problem :D
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Please, Folks.
Don't get me wrong.
I am VERY HAPPY about Ed's answers.
I have laughing A LOT.
Sometimes try to go deeper, but the language barrier, sometimes, screws it a bit.
I just tryed to understand how deep I can put my finger in, without been intrusive.
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Ed himself has said he doesn't care where the questions come from, he just wants good questions. And you guys have clearly provided them given the lengthy, detailed and hilarious answers.
There's clearly a slight language barrier here though - Ed's answers are framed in the classic British humour style of "taking the piss". All in good fun :)
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What I find most interesting is the fact that we were allowed to ask one question per each member and that you, Rolo, write literally novels with dozens of questions and get your detailed answers nevertheless. Ed seems to enjoy this whole thing immensely. ;)
LE
Ed himself has said he doesn't care where the questions come from, he just wants good questions. And you guys have clearly provided them given the lengthy, detailed and hilarious answers.
There's clearly a slight language barrier here though - Ed's answers are framed in the classic British humour style of "taking the piss". All in good fun :)
And I remember some folks being extremely exact about the rules :lol That's why I said right away, f***k the rules, fire up your question hoses, the more questions the better. With a guy like EB, the answer is more interesting than the question. To be honest, I'm not reading all the long questions, I'm deducing the question from Ed's answers. The question now is whether Ed himself read the questions or just go by luck :lol
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Well we didn’t know how things would go, and they have gone well, particularly after you stopped complaining about stuff Quizzy, please don’t start again, it’s very boring. :) Both Ed and myself explained why things were set up as they were.
Ed graciously offered to extend things, he could just as easily decide to no longer participate, so please can we concentrate on more interesting stuff. :)
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No complaints! Awesome questions, with even better questions yet to come especially since dropping the hint about THE obvious question missing, kudos to everybody who registered to ask a single question instead of relying on relatives and the likes of Busty Valentino. Kudos and laughs to Rolo for trying to use Ed's own weapon against him :lol Ed's kung fu is better though, I'll be honest :lol I lost it at Ed's take on poor Brunno Ninny Nonny, peak trolling right there. I'm just crying it's all going to end in a few days.
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I lost it at Ed's take on poor Brunno Ninny Nonny, peak trolling right there. I'm just crying it's all going to end in a few days.
He makes me laugh naturally,😅 it was pure trolling, i can't think of anything else, he could have that opinion for real, just like anyone else, but I'm sure he's never seen me playing guitar. Ed has a provocative side, he's a "black belt in Karate", also, an interesting personality,👽 I'm sure he's been having fun with most of us, otherwise he would have already ended the subject and speaking for myself, I've been loving it all. Of course he comes to demystify a ton of stuff, for me, he was the best thing that has appeared on the forum so far, him and Chris, because they both brought facts based on their own experiences with the band, something that for me is worth its weight in gold. When it comes to the history of Dire Straits, Ed is as much of an authority as MK, I believe that so far, everything he has given us in his answers is a turning point that not even John's book or any other book about the band comes close to. I have never had so much fun and been so enthusiastic about following topics like these related to Ed's answers. I can only be grateful to him and everyone who contributed to this historic feat, the opportunity to interact a little with one of the most important people in projecting Dire Straits towards success :clap :wave.
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No complaints! Awesome questions, with even better questions yet to come especially since dropping the hint about THE obvious question missing, kudos to everybody who registered to ask a single question instead of relying on relatives and the likes of Busty Valentino. Kudos and laughs to Rolo for trying to use Ed's own weapon against him :lol Ed's kung fu is better though, I'll be honest :lol I lost it at Ed's take on poor Brunno Ninny Nonny, peak trolling right there. I'm just crying it's all going to end in a few days.
This "missing obvious question" thing drives me crazy to be honest. What could it be?
I was thinking about his top 5 live shows which he mentioned but that's not too obvious. Plus too private questions about money and relationship were forbidden so I really have no clue...
LE
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Re the obvious question, has anyone actually asked why Ed and MK stopped working together?
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No complaints! Awesome questions, with even better questions yet to come especially since dropping the hint about THE obvious question missing, kudos to everybody who registered to ask a single question instead of relying on relatives and the likes of Busty Valentino. Kudos and laughs to Rolo for trying to use Ed's own weapon against him :lol Ed's kung fu is better though, I'll be honest :lol I lost it at Ed's take on poor Brunno Ninny Nonny, peak trolling right there. I'm just crying it's all going to end in a few days.
This "missing obvious question" thing drives me crazy to be honest. What could it be?
I was thinking about his top 5 live shows which he mentioned but that's not too obvious. Plus too private questions about money and relationship were forbidden so I really have no clue...
LE
Maybe it was related to selling the percentage of the DS catalogue? It's not about money per se, cause it's known and... well, obvious. In the podcast, EB even stated the company name he sold it to and at the time of listening to the podcast, you could buy the rights from them, assuming you had cash and belief in 40-year-old songs :lol
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Re the obvious question, has anyone actually asked why Ed and MK stopped working together?
He mentioned the last meeting they had, where MK was hard with him, and I guess that was the final reason for that, I guess it was a sum of things and this was the final drop, but maybe someone could ask for a more detailed explanation
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Re the obvious question, has anyone actually asked why Ed and MK stopped working together?
He mentioned the last meeting they had, where MK was hard with him, and I guess that was the final reason for that, I guess it was a sum of things and this was the final drop, but maybe someone could ask for a more detailed explanation
Yes and it was covered in the podcast so maybe that is why no one has asked, but it probably is the most obvious question.
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Re the obvious question, has anyone actually asked why Ed and MK stopped working together?
He mentioned the last meeting they had, where MK was hard with him, and I guess that was the final reason for that, I guess it was a sum of things and this was the final drop, but maybe someone could ask for a more detailed explanation
Yes and it was covered in the podcast so maybe that is why no one has asked, but it probably is the most obvious question.
Apologies, I am miles behind the curve here. Which podcast was this?
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Re the obvious question, has anyone actually asked why Ed and MK stopped working together?
He mentioned the last meeting they had, where MK was hard with him, and I guess that was the final reason for that, I guess it was a sum of things and this was the final drop, but maybe someone could ask for a more detailed explanation
Yes and it was covered in the podcast so maybe that is why no one has asked, but it probably is the most obvious question.
Apologies, I am miles behind the curve here. Which podcast was this?
Bob Lefsetz, essential listening!
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I was shocked to read about Van Morrison's attitude. I mean we knew he's notoriously a tough guy to work with and I remember Chuck Ainlay's funny interview where he was being extremely sarcastic about him, but damn... A percentage for a collaboration track? Does he know what the word "collaboration" means? Unbelievable.
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About Hal 'passing the audition' and being the only one tried out: This makes me wonder how they knew or met Dany Lademacher, who didn't want to join the band.
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Re the obvious question, has anyone actually asked why Ed and MK stopped working together?
He mentioned the last meeting they had, where MK was hard with him, and I guess that was the final reason for that, I guess it was a sum of things and this was the final drop, but maybe someone could ask for a more detailed explanation
Yes and it was covered in the podcast so maybe that is why no one has asked, but it probably is the most obvious question.
Apologies, I am miles behind the curve here. Which podcast was this?
Bob Lefsetz, essential listening!
Thanks. It’s the one from May this year I take it? There’s another that was recorded in 2021.
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They are both essential listening!
Not sucking up to Ed here because he has been a friend of AMIT, they are genuinely fascinating.
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Cue Quizzy for more of his intellectual babbling which is great.
I love a person who knows his/her own opinions and isn’t afraid to express them even when they’re wrong .
I have a question for him and I'm genuinely curious…….
Is Wet Ass Pussy ( WAP) by Cardi B, art?
Is BIA art?
Is Tales of Topographic Oceans art?
Is Dark Side of The Moon, art ?
Is What’s Going On, art?
Is Rock and Roll Parts 1 and 2 art ?
Is Kill the Foetus ( by Esham) art?
Is MC Hammer art?
Is Kind of Blue art?
Is A Love Supreme art?
Is Mahler’s 5th Symphony art?
Is Adagio for Strings art?
Is Wonderful Land art?
Is Like A Virgin art?
Who decides?
On what basis?
Thank you for this amazing question. To answer it properly, I need to provide a little background and I'm truly sorry for the "War and Peace" wall of text I wrote below. If anyone makes it to the end—thanks for reading. And good luck!
I'm happy I was raised the way I was raised, my parents gave me an extremely broad education and upbringing, which later on I expanded tenfold myself. So when it came to music, I consumed everything from The Beatles to Slipknot, from obscure jazz records to heavily explicit hip-hop and avant-garde records both in Russian and in English, many of which I enjoyed, weirdly enough.
As a typical millennial, I played a lot of games too. When it came to video games, I chose games based on soundtracks and enjoyed my early days with music in nearly every music genre imaginable in dozens of great video games, many of which are considered the best games ever created.
It was all happening in Russia, where copyright and punishment for illegal downloading do not exist even to this day, so I could download any art in any quality and quantity, so I pushed this "privilege" to its limit. I even got to read a few of the unpublished stories of J. D. Salinger that he asked to never release and that got leaked on What.CD tracker, funny times. I feel very bad about it, but if you were born in a place like this, why not enjoy at least a few things that ARE good about it?
But anyway, where I get with all this—while I failed to properly pay for all the popular art I've consumed—I developed this deep admiration towards creativity as a whole and that's why the art question is so sensitive to me. To me, everything is art, especially everything you've mentioned (thanks for recommending these, I had to look something new up and enjoyed it!). And so Artist's Shit (Merda d'Artista) is art. Malevich's Black Square is art, and a very good one.
That's one of the joys of life to me. Anybody can [try to] put their poop in a can on display, and anybody can draw a black square, but of course, if you do it without any skill and out of context whatsoever, chances are you won't be getting a Wikipedia article about your creation. It's easy to pick up a basketball, but only a few grow up to be proper athletes.
Tribute bands are creating art by playing live music... "Weird Al" Yankovic creates art by doing comedy songs. I create art in the form of my YouTube videos. Ed Bicknell creates art if he decides to write a book. Humour, making people laugh is art. And this is a good question on its own. Are fart jokes humour? Well, hell yeah, and often very damn good humour if executed properly. And a perfect snobs and hypocrites detector!
So my definition of art is—it's a creation that gives you something genuinely new that you never had previously. Whether it's a line in a song, a chord sequence, a stroke in a painting, a good joke, a new emotion, the knowledge that somebody put their shit on display in a can, a remarkably bad song, whatever it is. One of my favourite things in life is when something is "so bad, it's good". That means art defines logic, is undefinable and works in mysterious ways.
Is Taylor Swift art? Yes, she is. For girls and boys who don't know better, whose parents can't explain to them why "Boots Of Spanish Leather" is better than ANY Taylor Swift's song. Maybe it's impossible to explain and we're all doomed, who knows? But it's still art, just not the one I would enjoy. It gives me NOTHING new to that I wouldn't already have, except the knowlege she truly may be more popular than Jesus.
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Was revisiting the OG Ed thread
Yes.
There were a lot of smiles on stage during the BIA tour and probably a lot of laughs. OES was pretty grim from beginning to end. Not only Mark, but Alan was also a dark presence.
Another message from Ed B:
Camerado is right, absolutely, the BAND and CREW made OES work and became experts in disguising the sheer misery and toxicity of it and ultimately that’s why I eventually quit ( it had a quite “disturbing” effect on us all I think, mentally and physically ).
And Chris very subtly refers to another “issue” which you can now speculate about.
We’re all giving MK heat for the misery that was the OES tour, but it seems AC was just as bad?
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More amazing stories from Ed.
Auckland, 102,000 punters, BIA tour, the biggest show we ever did, magical night
My God I think I forgot about this.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any Australian BIA especially Sydney, maybe that last one that was televised
I'm glad Ed mentioned this concert because I have a special fondness for it. I still dream that one day it will appear on an official album.
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From the Q thread:
I know you'll think she has no taste in music, but Golden Heart is my wife's favorite of all the DS/MK albums.
I seem to recall that you had a whole tour lined up behind the release of GH, and then Mark decided he needed to record more songs, so you had to scrap the whole tour and start over. Did you have any input into Mark deciding he needed more material for that album? as in, "Mark, this album as currently constructed really doesn't cut it", or similar, or was that all Mark's doing?
And I imagine the PITA it was to start all over with the tour - was the original tour going to be more extensive than the one that ultimately was done?
Did you suggest the album be titled "Blade of Love"? ;D
Man, I had a careful relisten to GH after a long time, and that album simply isn't a good album. Too many fillers, too many similar songs, too long, and musically all over the map. If Mark felt he had to record MORE songs, someone should be held accountable for not stopping him LOL And by the way, the way his voice is completely and deeply buried in the mix is very strange. It's almost impossible to understand what he is "singing".
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Definitely too long.
But if we were to have a poll here on what songs would be cut, nobody would agree, same thing that happens whenever anyone says the White Album would be better as a single disc (not comparing Golden Heart to the White Album!)
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"But if we were to have a poll here on what songs would be cut, nobody would agree, same thing that happens whenever anyone says the White Album would be better as a single disc (not comparing Golden Heart to the White Album!)
:thumbsup It’s true.
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Yes, MK composed the music. I completely forgot about it. "Irish Road" in the background. Beautiful. Thanks wayaman:)
Chad Cromwell – drums
Ed:
I agree “Irish Road “ is beautiful
I could have asked a second question because it wasn't a question it was a statement and Ed agreed. :)
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Just ask the question, don't overthink it.
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I was joking a bit:) Ed agreed with me that '"Irish Road" is beautiful :)
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Awesome question about album covers. Also, I think M is not a fan of having faces on album covers, and this made it even worse from the get-go. So many iconic album covers, like 90% of them, have faces or at least pictures of faces on them... Or other approximations of living beings.
It rarely happens when an album with an amazing album cover (which can be considered true ART) has equally amazing music. You need to pick your poison, either a great cover with music that sucks or vice versa. Nearly all my favourite album art is simply someone else's work (a photo, a collage or a painting) and not an original creation.
BIA album cover is a perfect happy accident as it captures the vibes of Montserrat so well you feel like you visited the place. I can imagine the magnitude of the "aha" moment when this picture was taken, it's impossible to come up with anything better than this.
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Going true some answers from Ed
Reading some of his replay on why he and MK broke up. (page 2 Q&A thread)
What he said at that last professional meeting was grossly insulting, patronising, bewildering and deeply hurtful.
What the hell happend??
Someone has some more info on this??
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Ed's answers are hilarious, I'm so glad he's indulged us! I'll be glum when it's all wrapped up.
Seriously, he needs to write a book. It'll balance out the universe after the JI autobiography.
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Just me be qurious. Perhaps dusty or Julio can help me out?
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Just me be qurious. Perhaps dusty or Julio can help me out?
With what?
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Just me be qurious. Perhaps dusty or Julio can help me out?
With what?
With the answer to his question a couple of posts prior, I think
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Indeed. What happened between Ed and MK??
See my post a few hours ago....
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Well I can’t speak for Julio but I don’t have any idea. How would I? Ed said he didn’t want to elaborate on it.
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Indeed. What happened between Ed and MK??
See my post a few hours ago....
Ed mentioned a last meeting that went bad and MK didn't treat him well, he was quite descriptive about that, don't have time to copy and paste all the description of it he gave, but that last meeting was the end of it as far as I understood. He also mentioned that after Mandela's show more or less the relationship was changed very subtled and my guess is that was erasing the personal and professional relationship until that last meeting that I guess was the last drop.
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Ed's answers are hilarious, I'm so glad he's indulged us! I'll be glum when it's all wrapped up.
Seriously, he needs to write a book. It'll balance out the universe after the JI autobiography.
dude...you are SOOOOO right...
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They had a design team for the early album artwork!! What for Making Movies too? a team for that cover? really? I have to say I like the On Every Street cover, it matches the Blues nature of some of the songs.
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Message from Mimmo with 4 photos in attachment:
Dear Ed,
english is not my language. Hard for me to understand if yours it's just british humour or something different. But I am not neither a dreamer nor a liar, see the 4 attached photos. I was happy to get in touch again with you after so many years, at least just to say hello, but I wish I'd never posted that message. I'll stay with my happy memories of 25 years ago. All the best .
Lol. Funny how Ed's style of answering hasn't changed over 25 years.
Langugae barrier at play again here I would suggest, Ed once more "taking the piss" rather than calling anyone a dreamer or a liar...
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Message from Mimmo with 4 photos in attachment:
Dear Ed,
english is not my language. Hard for me to understand if yours it's just british humour or something different. But I am not neither a dreamer nor a liar, see the 4 attached photos. I was happy to get in touch again with you after so many years, at least just to say hello, but I wish I'd never posted that message. I'll stay with my happy memories of 25 years ago. All the best .
Lol. Funny how Ed's style of answering hasn't changed over 25 years.
Langugae barrier at play again here I would suggest, Ed once more "taking the piss" rather than calling anyone a dreamer or a liar...
Or "breaking balls" Scorsese/Sopranos style if you're a movie nerd. Ed has the makings of a great mafioso!
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They had a design team for the early album artwork!! What for Making Movies too? a team for that cover? really? I have to say I like the On Every Street cover, it matches the Blues nature of some of the songs.
Design teams are normal for most labels, especially big ones. It's not just the cover, it's the back artwork, lyric sheet, spine, typefaces, supporting multiple formats etc. And they're designing multiple releases for different artists in parallel.
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The cover of the first album corresponds wonderfully with the content of the songs. Cover Communique is very important to me and Love Over Gold is the first one I saw in a small music store. I am a dreamer :)
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The deadline came faster than I expected :'( :lol
As was stated in the recently deleted message, the rules kept changing, and people ended up sending long questions. To quote Quentin Tarantino, "Because it's so much fun, Jan!"
I wasn't able to come up with decent questions, but damn, I enjoyed a lot of questions from members and their numerous lusty/busty siblings.
Ed demonstrated the true art of communication, which deserves books, videos, Q&As, and what have you. Hope to see more!
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Start working on your next set of questions, I have a feeling Ed won't be able to resist the temptation to return some time in the future :think
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Seems there's quite some lore around Alan Clark that probably we will never know about:
They were 100% professional, delivered EVERY night and managed to extract what they could out of, frankly, a very dark situation exacerbated by one of them busily politicking , a singularly pathetic individual I wouldn't piss on if he ran past me on fire.
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Is that the end of the answers? Ed seems to have dismissed my weak questions :( :)
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Is that the end of the answers? Ed seems to have dismissed my weak questions :( :)
This?
Ed did you meet Chuck Loyola, who, according to Michael Oldfield's book, came up with the DS logo (a red guitar with Dire Straits written on it) And would you agree to participate in a radio program?
Maybe it was just missed. Frankly it's amazing that more questions weren't missed, Ed did an amazing job keeping on top of this.
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Is that the end of the answers? Ed seems to have dismissed my weak questions :( :)
This?
Ed did you meet Chuck Loyola, who, according to Michael Oldfield's book, came up with the DS logo (a red guitar with Dire Straits written on it) And would you agree to participate in a radio program?
Maybe it was just missed. Frankly it's amazing that more questions weren't missed, Ed did an amazing job keeping on top of this.
Yes.
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Ed just got back to me, no he did not meet Chuck and no to a radio show.
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Ed just got back to me, no he did not meet Chuck and no to a radio show.
Thank you.
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Really enjoyable reading all Ed's replies. Much appreciated.
Loads of insights and much more information that it seems, one only has to read between the lines and put together the pieces of the puzzle.
Definitely some recommendations of bands I didn't know and I'll check them!
Regarding the "DS Dream Team" question: I didn't put it with the right words. Not undermining members of DS or rejecting them, but it was just an excuse to get some of Ed's favourite players on each instrument (with the filter of DS, so he couldn't say any musician, but not too far from what DS was). Just like a game.
Thanks for the all the funny stories and your wisdom, you are a walking music (and life) encyclopedia... Some of the stories were heartbreaking too.
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
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I am pretty sure that his replies will cause ripples of wild stories, as is customary. It is not his fault of course. It is just a side effect of language. People understand different things, weight words differently, some don't recognize sarcasm and irony and also have a fantasy that carries the narrative to uncharted territories. Mat I say that what I liked most was his humour. It has been quite sometime since I laughed so much. Thank you so much Mr. Bicknell
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Start working on your next set of questions, I have a feeling Ed won't be able to resist the temptation to return some time in the future :think
hush hush now...
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
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Indeed all those posts where people asked several questions like 10 numbered!!! (While one was allowed) are slightly difficult to read as Ed just wrote away. It would be a great idea with that real Q&A. (Not able to do it myself, sorry).
LE
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
I could do it, of course, as I have the cast iron butt, I even transcribed Mark's entire radio show (try to do that! 3 hours of talking and no AI help!). Ed's little Q&A is nothing compared to that. The Google Docs would be nice, though I can't do it now and I want somebody else to shine and do the honours anyway.
I think it's just easier to write a book at this point! :lol
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
I could do it, of course, as I have the cast iron butt, I even transcribed Mark's entire radio show (try to do that! 3 hours of talking and no AI help!). Ed's little Q&A is nothing compared to that. The Google Docs would be nice, though I can't do it now and I want somebody else to shine and do the honours anyway.
I think it's just easier to write a book at this point! :lol
Maybe it's a group job. If all the Lusties, Fusties, Busties, Rusties, Crusties and Uncle Kingsley and the guy from Uranus work together, it might be easier to do. I can certainly help!
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
I could do it, of course, as I have the cast iron butt, I even transcribed Mark's entire radio show (try to do that! 3 hours of talking and no AI help!). Ed's little Q&A is nothing compared to that. The Google Docs would be nice, though I can't do it now and I want somebody else to shine and do the honours anyway.
I think it's just easier to write a book at this point! :lol
Maybe it's a group job. If all the Lusties, Fusties, Busties, Rusties, Crusties and Uncle Kingsley and the guy from Uranus work together, it might be easier to do. I can certainly help!
That is a good idea, as Google Docs are shareable and workable together. Needs some organising, though. First, throw everything in one document, then slowly but surely bring it together. It's way easier than trying to do it in the forum's engine. Some light correction is possible to save space and also the nerves of the reader.
I remember I tried to convince Chris to organise his topic Q&A style, but he declined. I don't think it makes sense to build his Q&A from his posts as many are diluted by disputes but it is possible. Everything's possible.
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
It's true. Just finished reading. Amazing stories.
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
Brilliant idea !
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We are fighting floods in southern Poland. Thank you Ed for the many smiles. :)
Ed:
have no idea. Not after all these years because I've only seen him in high heels.
I would say about same as me, about 5ft 10’’ because when we slept together everything lined up perfectly.
Def not 6ft. John is up there, on windy outdoor gigs we had to stick John’s hair on extra tight.
M surrounded himself with tiny people. .
All the crew had to be 5 6” or under.
The caterers 5 4’ or under.
The truck drivers were never allowed out of their cabs ( they were monsters), ditto the bus drivers.
Chris White had to stand in a trench.
That was why Jack didn't wear shoes and Guy’s riser was slightly lower than Alan’s to level them up.
Paul Franklin was fine. He actually fitted UNDER his pedal steel and we had to get him a higher bench to sit on. His bed was the flight case to save money.
I'm suave, hip, cool and beautifully dressed and back then M was…well he wasn’t! He looked like he’d been dragged through a car wash backwards 😀.
:D :D :D
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For those of you who like your bonus tracks, Ed had just added a TON of great stuff based on this thread, thanks again Ed!
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Thanks Ed for taking your time with this Q&A.
Good work Dusty.
AMIT is so great because of things like that.
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
I could do it, of course, as I have the cast iron butt, I even transcribed Mark's entire radio show (try to do that! 3 hours of talking and no AI help!). Ed's little Q&A is nothing compared to that. The Google Docs would be nice, though I can't do it now and I want somebody else to shine and do the honours anyway.
I think it's just easier to write a book at this point! :lol
Maybe it's a group job. If all the Lusties, Fusties, Busties, Rusties, Crusties and Uncle Kingsley and the guy from Uranus work together, it might be easier to do. I can certainly help!
leave my anus out of it. perv
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A huge THANK YOU to the legend and all round good guy that is Ed Bicknell.
Not only has this been great fun, I genuinely believe that the answers thread has become one of THE most important resources of FACTS about DS available anywhere.
This has been a huge effort by Ed and we are all massively grateful.
some get-a-life lunatic should start working on getting it all together, in one big long q&a, sorted by topic or era...
someone like...lustyval? quizman? Julia?
I could do it, of course, as I have the cast iron butt, I even transcribed Mark's entire radio show (try to do that! 3 hours of talking and no AI help!). Ed's little Q&A is nothing compared to that. The Google Docs would be nice, though I can't do it now and I want somebody else to shine and do the honours anyway.
I think it's just easier to write a book at this point! :lol
as i have learned now, NOTHING about Ed is little!
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Have to thank EB for his time and effort in all this. Also Dusty for being the middle man.
Love Ed's reference to Mark as M. IMHO a nod to M in the Bond films, being the grumpy boss. ;D
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A big THANK YOU to EVERYONE involved with this Q&A! Especially to Ed for taking his time and patience to answer all these questions. Great reading!
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Thanks to all those who took part in this Q&A, especially Ed for giving us so much information and many laughs! ;D :clap
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This is a great bonus from Ed. I wasn't expecting it. Fantastic!
Ed:
Being “perfect” musically for me is a really awful, misguided thing,
It becomes cabaret.
Bands like Springsteen, The Stones, ZZ Top, Skynyrd, Eric C, BB King, all the jazz artists I love were/are driven by the FUN of playing .
I saw Anastasia not long ago. Utterly brilliant. Exciting. One of my best gigs ever.
And she didn't need 900 lights and a fucking orchestra, she sang from her SOUL and it was fun ( amazing audience, one of the loudest I've ever heard ).
OES had no fun.
I never thought of it that way
--------------------------------------------------------
And Ed's words at which I stopped for a long time:
Ed:
People DO change , it’s called maturing.
We ALL got older, had kids or more kids, more responsibilities, bigger houses, smaller houses, more stuff, less stuff, divorces, new loves, different aspirations and so on.
What I want out of my life now is light years from what I thought I wanted at 27.
So we all changed and hopefully got a bit wiser and sadly some had to come to terms that their dreams were not panning out.
I don't know M now but I'm guessing he’s more than content with Kitty and his kids.
She was really good for him and he loves his family that’s for sure.
He’s had a great career, lived his dream, got a microwave and played with The Shadows and Bob “ Rambling’' Dylan ( but not together ).
It doesn’t matter what I think or any of you lot.
I can't imagine he’s ever looked on this site, for what?
For all of us now in our 70’s we think about the Grim Reaper….the last email I got from him was about that ( after `Brendan died, big loss to us both ), it was unusually philosophical.
I lost 7 friends to Covid including David Stewart RIP.
2 more this week (heart attacks) .
Jack died at just 68.
We are in the departure lounge .
Strong...
THANK YOU ED!
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So obviously Ed and M are still e-mailing if I understand correctly. Somehow that's a very nice thing.
LE
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Thanks Ed, it was a brilliant read, and thanks Dusty for your part in it. I may have missed this somewhere in all the discussions but is Ed referring to AC as the splif lighting arsehole on the BIA tour. The back stage at Live Aid argument was priceless. I’m really seeing things in a different light.
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I may have missed this somewhere in all the discussions but is Ed referring to AC as the splif lighting arsehole on the BIA tour. T
He most definitely did not say that.
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I may have missed this somewhere in all the discussions but is Ed referring to AC as the splif lighting arsehole on the BIA tour. T
He most definitely did not say that.
Yes of course, I hear you. I wouldn’t want anyone to get into trouble so feel free to delete my comment.
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I may have missed this somewhere in all the discussions but is Ed referring to AC as the splif lighting arsehole on the BIA tour. T
He most definitely did not say that.
Yes of course, I hear you. I wouldn’t want anyone to get into trouble so feel free to delete my comment.
No need for that, and of course it's fine to speculate, it's what we do best here! But just making it clear that Ed did not identify that individual. :)
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Yup, a great thank you to Ed and to Dusty for facilitating the whole thing.
I hope everyone realizes and appreciates what a historic and monumental thing this was. One might say the only thing to top it would be if Mark himself did a Q&A here, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have bothered to answer so comprehensively as Ed has and certainly not as entertaining and funny. And it's quite clear to me what an amazing job Ed has done as the DS manager. I'm feeling rather starstruck right now. Wow. Seriously.
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Agreed, it was epic! Many thanks to Ed for his time and for treating us with respect even though some questions may have been a bit silly. His answers completely exceeded my expectations - so elaborative, witty, and wise all the way. I feel privileged to have been able to participate. Big thanks to our only Dusty for facilitating and also cheers to his dedicated team: Busty, Lusty, and Fusty for moral support. :thumbsup :thumbsup
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An amazing insight from someone within, thanks Ed!
And good fun to read too ;-)
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I know one thing: it won't end with one reading.
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I know one thing: it won't end with one reading.
Definitely not. And I hope someone, somewhere has got a good backup of these threads. ;-)
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Ed. You da man! THANKYOU. Can't thank you enough really and again to Dusty for making this happen. Dedication.
Feels kinda sad that this has come to an end so please stick around.
Listening to an early version of Telegraph Road at San Remo 81. Your memories bring all this to life.
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Ed said that Mark is an observational writer, rather than autobiographical. It's clear that he hasn't listened to the last three albums!
I know, he said he hasn't listened to anything since STP. It just reiterates this change in Mark's writing.
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Thinking about the fact Ed hasn't listened to Mark music since Sailing To Philadelphia, which song would people recommend he listen to from post that album? Terminal of Tribute To? :think
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Lights of Taormina....
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I don't know about anyone else, but there was SO much coming through in the last few weeks that I found it difficult to keep up with the sheer volume.
I intend to go back through the answer thread and come back here with points that pique my interest, hopefully others can do the same :)
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Thinking about the fact Ed hasn't listened to Mark music since Sailing To Philadelphia, which song would people recommend he listen to from post that album? Terminal of Tribute To? :think
To be honest, I can't understand this stance of not listening to Mark's stuff after 2000, it feels to me more like a personal gripe or something. I mean it's the same guy, same voice, same guitar, songs are as strong as ever, the band is better than ever, recording quality can't be better, Shangri-La is easily Mark's magnum opus. What not to like about it?
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Maybe Ed only listened to Mark's songs upto 2000 because he was his manager! and in reality he is not really a fan of Mark's songs!!
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Maybe Ed only listened to Mark's songs upto 2000 because he was his manager! and in reality he is not really a fan of Mark's songs!!
No, he spoke highly of many DS songs. But he said he didn't like the GH album.
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I also think it's strange. Wasn't he curious? I think Ed would like The Ragpicker's Dream album and the next one.
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There is so much good music out there with instant and lasting appeal, that if I wasn't a DS fan, I would probably have missed the MK albums. Ed was working with DS and myriads of other musicians, so his opinion was crucial, but once they parted ways, he still had his other clients, that took up most of his time. He probably heard in passing some of the new tracks, it is almost inescapable, but most probably never devoted time to listen repeatedly in order to form an opinion. I get it. I listen to other groups new, or that are new to me, more than MK.
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Come on, guys. Mark and Ed were close companions for a long time. That split they had is not very unlike a divorce. Sad and painful. Why would Ed bother to listen to Mark's solo music which not only does not appeal to him, but when there's also the emotional baggage? I mean, who cares to keep up to speed on what their ex-es are doing?
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I know Ed said so much good stuff about Bob Lefsetz and I loved their podcast, but I tried to listen to Jimmy Webb's podcast and I couldn't stand a few minutes into this interrogation (can't call it any different) about percentages, money and the colour of underwear. If you want to know how to ask an artist everything possible about money, listen to this pod! I wonder why an artist as big as Jimmy would even agree to do all this.
About Ed not listening to Mark's stuff after 2000, I just thought it was a little artificial in the way he's almost proud he stopped listening to this music. It's not like he needs to, and not like he's obliged to like it, and he even visited a show. I'm sure it's entirely a misguidance on my side, and he gave it a shot and genuinely disliked the music, which is 100% fair, can't argue with that. I tried to listen to David's stuff, and it wasn't my cup of tea.
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I mean, who cares to keep up to speed on what their ex-es are doing?
I do. I need to see that my voodoo doll work is proving effective for one thing.
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I mean, who cares to keep up to speed on what their ex-es are doing?
I do. I need to see that my voodoo doll work is proving effective for one thing.
Are you suggesting Ed is to blame for the quality of M's work over the last 24 years? ;)
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I mean, who cares to keep up to speed on what their ex-es are doing?
I do. I need to see that my voodoo doll work is proving effective for one thing.
Are you suggesting Ed is to blame for the quality of M's work over the last 24 years? ;)
Well, I'm not in a position to rule it out :)
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The biggest impact from Ed's answers on me had his opinion about the album cover of Sailing To Philadelphia. If I remember it correctly, he found it ridiculous. It was released 24 years ago these days, and I have the vinyl cover in front of my while listening to the vinyl. I always loved that cover from day one. I fully understand that anyone could find it boring or ininspired, but the contrast between "Sailing" and the plane makes curious and let you take the (then) CD in your hand when you spot in a store, the blue sky and the silve plane was an echoe of the Brothers in Arms cover and even the typo was cool. I still love it and would choose it among his best ones. I read also what Quizzy wrote about the covers and he is refreshing and original and right most of the time as usual :lol, but the question shoud be what is a good album cover anyway?
LE
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I always loved that cover from day one. I fully understand that anyone could find it boring or ininspired, but the contrast between "Sailing" and the plane makes curious and let you take the (then) CD in your hand when you spot in a store, the blue sky and the silve plane was an echoe of the Brothers in Arms cover and even the typo was cool
Same. I think it has the best artwork of all his solo stuff. I love how tiny the letters and the plane itself are, great perspective. The CD itself was cool too, though it all feels a bit dated now. Shangri-La was the worst; it felt so cheap and amateurish.
That said, I am really bored with the sky theme. The list is getting ridiculous: : Communique, Love Over Gold, Brothers in Arms, Sailing, Tracker, DTRW, One Deep River. If there is ever going to be a next record, I hope he spends a few more minutes choosing something else.
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The biggest impact from Ed's answers on me had his opinion about the album cover of Sailing To Philadelphia. If I remember it correctly, he found it ridiculous. It was released 24 years ago these days, and I have the vinyl cover in front of my while listening to the vinyl. I always loved that cover from day one. I fully understand that anyone could find it boring or ininspired, but the contrast between "Sailing" and the plane makes curious and let you take the (then) CD in your hand when you spot in a store, the blue sky and the silve plane was an echoe of the Brothers in Arms cover and even the typo was cool. I still love it and would choose it among his best ones. I read also what Quizzy wrote about the covers and he is refreshing and original and right most of the time as usual :lol, but the question shoud be what is a good album cover anyway?
LE
Yeah, that was hilarious... Also, Mark's answer, "Don't you like planes?" might take a permanent residency in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures as the funniest Manager & Artist communication ever. Very funny and memorable! I'd suggest that Ed could use it as a book title akin to Richard Feynman's "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" which was also a quote, and a book I absolutely can imagine Ed's book ending up being IF he decides to write it.
I can't remember what I said about covers, but your question is awesome. What is a good album cover? In a world where an album cover might be a solid white, blue, red or black picture... And the band can be named "The The", this question is unanswerable.
I think it's entirely random, just like band names. As long it's not taken, and nobody will sue you, then you're good to go... Bonus points if it has some relation to the music (like the band being in dire straits and naming themselves Dire Straits). The cover could be an old painting like Fleet Foxes' 2008 debut album or Paul Simon's latest album, a photograph like The Ragpicker's Dream or Fleet Foxes' Shore. It could be anything.
The problem here is that you NEED a cover, just like you can't type something without using a font. I'm sure a lot of artists would not use any covers at all if given a choice not to do it. But as they are forced to do it, then this problem is getting solved somehow. I can imagine a world where all the music is being sold in plain albums with the Artist's name and Album name, like in nearly all the books without their dust jacket covers.
So, to be completely honest, at least to me, the album cover is just like this... A dust jacket. Something to hold the music together. If I want to marvel at the beauty of a painting, or photograph, I'll go elsewhere. Besides, if it is a painting or a photograph, these artists are going to put words on top of it that weren't originally there. So, the bottom line is — fuck album covers, let's enjoy the music!
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I believe that the way we perceive the artwork is somewhat subjective. Although it is a part of the packaging for the actual work, which is the music contained, in a way an advertisement that helps sell the product, we perceive it as part of the whole, which is not a mistake, since it is subjective. This cover artwork explains it perfectly.
https://www.discogs.com/master/70147-XTC-Go-2/image/SW1hZ2U6MjU2NDEwMw==
I don't know what would constitute a better alternative - substitute, since this means a choice between more than one complete artworks, or at least ideas of artworks. The story about the Hypgnosis - Pink Floyd - Animals, or DSOTM are such cases. But since DS albums were successful commercially, the impact of the covers are interwoven into the collective consciousness, influenced generations of people that bought them and are extremely hard to separate them from the whole. I love the simplicity of the idea of MM, and come to think of it, all DS studio albums are rather minimalist. It is a nice solution since such covers have more impact. In this sense STP works, and is probably better than tracker, but maybe if tracker was stronger than STP, we would have a different opinion. It is no wonder that big bands simply don't need an artwork cover, like the Beatles, but this was also part of the hype/add.
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I believe that the way we perceive the artwork is somewhat subjective. Although it is a part of the packaging for the actual work, which is the music contained, in a way an advertisement that helps sell the product, we perceive it as part of the whole, which is not a mistake, since it is subjective. This cover artwork explains it perfectly.
https://www.discogs.com/master/70147-XTC-Go-2/image/SW1hZ2U6MjU2NDEwMw==
I don't know what would constitute a better alternative - substitute, since this means a choice between more than one complete artworks, or at least ideas of artworks. The story about the Hypgnosis - Pink Floyd - Animals, or DSOTM are such cases. But since DS albums were successful commercially, the impact of the covers are interwoven into the collective consciousness, influenced generations of people that bought them and are extremely hard to separate them from the whole. I love the simplicity of the idea of MM, and come to think of it, all DS studio albums are rather minimalist. It is a nice solution since such covers have more impact. In this sense STP works, and is probably better than tracker, but maybe if tracker was stronger than STP, we would have a different opinion. It is no wonder that big bands simply don't need an artwork cover, like the Beatles, but this was also part of the hype/add.
Awesome post, vgonis! Nothing to add. Also, while we're on the topic of covers... From Mark's radio show, the biggest "aha" moment for me was when he introduced the band Yo La Tengo, which apparently he discovered nearly at the same time as his listeners. And the album he played music from had a cover like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85543eJkbHE
It turned out to be a photo by an American photographer Gregory Crewdson: https://www.flakphoto.news/p/gregory-crewdsons-new-book
I ended up finding a hi-rez version of this photograph. And while both the music and the cover art are great, I get much more enjoyment while looking at a full, not cropped image without words. And it's almost painful to look at, especially when paired with the muisc, this is how beautiful it is. Talking about ART! :lol
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I always loved that cover from day one. I fully understand that anyone could find it boring or ininspired, but the contrast between "Sailing" and the plane makes curious and let you take the (then) CD in your hand when you spot in a store, the blue sky and the silve plane was an echoe of the Brothers in Arms cover and even the typo was cool
Same. I think it has the best artwork of all his solo stuff. I love how tiny the letters and the plane itself are, great perspective. The CD itself was cool too, though it all feels a bit dated now. Shangri-La was the worst; it felt so cheap and amateurish.
That said, I am really bored with the sky theme. The list is getting ridiculous: : Communique, Love Over Gold, Brothers in Arms, Sailing, Tracker, DTRW, One Deep River. If there is ever going to be a next record, I hope he spends a few more minutes choosing something else.
And All The Roadrunning :)
I really like the sky theme. I like the compass on the Sailing To Philadelphia album and the hidden map. Covers are important to MK. I remember what he said about The Ragpicker's Dream album.
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That's what us fans like to think but Ed stated otherwise at least when talking about DS covers. They are all great and I love them all but as Ed said they were picked almost randomly and without any further deep thinking.
As MK got more and more autonomous with an own studio, pictures shot by Guy in the booklets and covers based on photos taken by Kitty I guess he changed that. The KTGC cover also comes to mind as an example for being essential.
LE
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Yes, because for the second time Mark was inspired by another artist.
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Yeah, the cover art for Mark's solo albums is on the whole pretty lame. I think STP, TRD and KTGC are the nicest ones. I like all the DS cover art, except BIA, which I think is pretty awful. But of course, it's iconic.
If you want to see nice cover art, do a Google Image search for "blue note cover art" and "ecm cover art". Beautiful stuff.
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...From Mark's radio show, the biggest "aha" moment for me was when he introduced the band Yo La Tengo, which apparently he discovered nearly at the same time as his listeners. And the album he played music from had a cover like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85543eJkbHE
It turned out to be a photo by an American photographer Gregory Crewdson: https://www.flakphoto.news/p/gregory-crewdsons-new-book
I ended up finding a hi-rez version of this photograph. And while both the music and the cover art are great, I get much more enjoyment while looking at a full, not cropped image without words. And it's almost painful to look at, especially when paired with the muisc, this is how beautiful it is. Talking about ART! :lol
Thank you quizzaciously. I was also stunned by this yo la tengo cover, when it came out and bought it on the spot, without trying the music first. Of course I had some of their previous records, so not a total shot in the dark. I also found a book a few years later which contained other Crewdson photos, along with other photographer's work with the Twilight concept, called Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour. Some beautiful photos, and Crewdson's were all stunners!
I wasn't aware of MK's suggestion - endorsement of yo la tengo. Which poadcast are you referring to?
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I asume he’s talking about The British Grove Broadcast on Sxm
Are those episodes still available anywhere? (Not just the songlist but the whole episodes with Mk comments)
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Thank you quizzaciously. I was also stunned by this yo la tengo cover, when it came out and bought it on the spot, without trying the music first. Of course I had some of their previous records, so not a total shot in the dark. I also found a book a few years later which contained other Crewdson photos, along with other photographer's work with the Twilight concept, called Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour. Some beautiful photos, and Crewdson's were all stunners!
I wasn't aware of MK's suggestion - endorsement of yo la tengo. Which poadcast are you referring to?
I asume he’s talking about The British Grove Broadcast on Sxm
Are those episodes still available anywhere? (Not just the songlist but the whole episodes with Mk comments)
Whoah, vgonis! What great memories you had with this particular album! I really don't know what I've been doing all these years without hearing it, but I'm happy I finally did, thanks to Mark. Yes, I was talking about The British Grove Broadcast, which is now completely forgotten and neglected like any other "official" product.
You can get it if you write to some of the fans who keep the original files on hand (who could it be???), and I'm not sure there's a way to obtain it legally. It should've been a podcast released on Mark's YouTube channel, not a radio show, but whatever. Still an amazing effort. I loved every second of it!
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I always loved that cover from day one. I fully understand that anyone could find it boring or ininspired, but the contrast between "Sailing" and the plane makes curious and let you take the (then) CD in your hand when you spot in a store, the blue sky and the silve plane was an echoe of the Brothers in Arms cover and even the typo was cool
Same. I think it has the best artwork of all his solo stuff. I love how tiny the letters and the plane itself are, great perspective. The CD itself was cool too, though it all feels a bit dated now. Shangri-La was the worst; it felt so cheap and amateurish.
That said, I am really bored with the sky theme. The list is getting ridiculous: : Communique, Love Over Gold, Brothers in Arms, Sailing, Tracker, DTRW, One Deep River. If there is ever going to be a next record, I hope he spends a few more minutes choosing something else.
And All The Roadrunning :)
I really like the sky theme. I like the compass on the Sailing To Philadelphia album and the hidden map. Covers are important to MK. I remember what he said about The Ragpicker's Dream album.
And don't forget, Mark wrote a song called In The Sky :)
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I asume he’s talking about The British Grove Broadcast on Sxm
Are those episodes still available anywhere? (Not just the songlist but the whole episodes with Mk comments)
There's a playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1J1sld3BDxSXLXiRDUghOi (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1J1sld3BDxSXLXiRDUghOi).
Some episodes are scattered across FB and YT.
But if anyone here has the full collection, or at least some episodes, I'll be in the queue of those who'd love to have it. ;D
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I asume he’s talking about The British Grove Broadcast on Sxm
Are those episodes still available anywhere? (Not just the songlist but the whole episodes with Mk comments)
There's a playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1J1sld3BDxSXLXiRDUghOi (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1J1sld3BDxSXLXiRDUghOi).
Some episodes are scattered across FB and YT.
But if anyone here has the full collection, or at least some episodes, I'll be in the queue of those who'd love to have it. ;D
I also made my own Spotify playlist of the show because people kept adding the wrong versions of songs to their playlists. The song could be right, but the version... Not always. I also used a perfect image for this courtesy of Guitarist Magazine, way better than the official shot: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4t7y47gbDJQNKRL2dfKYWm?si=8a1e6a9ce0a64b20 (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4t7y47gbDJQNKRL2dfKYWm?si=8a1e6a9ce0a64b20)
Please mail me at fffoma@gmail.com or drop a message for the link to a full show collection.
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Completely missed those podcasts. Thank you for bringing them to my attention. Will be on the look out for them.
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Don't want to get anyone into any bother re copyright etc but on a completely separate matter I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that Knopfler Unlimited is a wonderful resource :)
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I wonder if it is possible to combine all of Ed Bicknell's statements (answers) without questions so that it reads like a book with understanding. Certainly a very difficult task.
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I wonder if it is possible to combine all of Ed Bicknell's statements (answers) without questions so that it reads like a book with understanding. Certainly a very difficult task.
Hm, it might make it shorter, but not necessarily easiert to read, because he often wrote short answers without repeating the questions. You'd have to add a lot of info in brackets.
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I wonder if it is possible to combine all of Ed Bicknell's statements (answers) without questions so that it reads like a book with understanding. Certainly a very difficult task.
i proposed that from day one, but it is a DAUNTING task.....not one i have time for right now (things are changing Q2 2025)
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as no one is saying it, MAN I AM MISSING OUR SHINING STAR & LEADER THAT IS THE GREAT EDuard Bicknell!
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as no one is saying it, MAN I AM MISSING OUR SHINING STAR & LEADER THAT IS THE GREAT EDuard Bicknell!
Seconded!
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It was surely the most fun "lesson" I got in more than a decade, in the form of Q&A. And it was a full course, in music business, in human relations, in humour, in music and arts and in giving without asking anything in return. I realized (with some surprise) that the least interesting questions and replies were about MK. Maybe I am too old to really care, maybe I was never really curious .
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as no one is saying it, MAN I AM MISSING OUR SHINING STAR & LEADER THAT IS THE GREAT EDuard Bicknell!
I completely agree!
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Ed recommended reading Terry Gans' book that documents the making of Bob Dylan's "Infidels." It's called "Surviving in a Ruthless World."
Only part way through it, but it's excellent. I've read a lot books about his Bobness, and this is one of the better ones. Very detailed (including chapter that details the prep work that was carried out in MK's basement in the West Village), but also light enough to be entertaining. Quite a few funny anecdotes that once suspects were provided by our Mr. Bicknell.
Provides a lot of insight into what (to me) is one of the most interesting periods in Mark's career.
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Indeed a great book.
I wish something like that could be done about the LOG sessions, track by track, or STP which are both known for the big amount of songs recorded that remain unreleased!
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as no one is saying it, MAN I AM MISSING OUR SHINING STAR & LEADER THAT IS THE GREAT EDuard Bicknell!
+1
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I had no knowledge of the Ed Bicknell Q&A until yesterday and boy that was such a blast to read the whole thing through as a one-shot. Phenomenal guy. Even better to have almost all the questions I had in mind being asked by other members. Good to know I wasn’t wrong about David and Alan for example.
Shame I missed it though, I’d love to learn more about the MK/EC friendship. Are they good mates or is it just music camaraderie? Once I asked this question to Guy on his forum and also to Alan on Facebook. Guy said they really are friends whereas Alan said otherwise. It would be cool to know details about the EC tour MK was part of as well. Too late now, shame on me.
Thanks everyone who participated.
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I had no knowledge of the Ed Bicknell Q&A until yesterday and boy that was such a blast to read the whole thing through as a one-shot. Phenomenal guy. Even better to have almost all the questions I had in mind being asked by other members. Good to know I wasn’t wrong about David and Alan for example.
Shame I missed it though, I’d love to learn more about the MK/EC friendship. Are they good mates or is it just music camaraderie? Once I asked this question to Guy on his forum and also to Alan on Facebook. Guy said they really are friends whereas Alan said otherwise. It would be cool to know details about the EC tour MK was part of as well. Too late now, shame on me.
Thanks everyone who participated.
It's not too late. Ed often answered questions even when we didn't expect it :)
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I had no knowledge of the Ed Bicknell Q&A until yesterday and boy that was such a blast to read the whole thing through as a one-shot. Phenomenal guy. Even better to have almost all the questions I had in mind being asked by other members. Good to know I wasn’t wrong about David and Alan for example.
Shame I missed it though, I’d love to learn more about the MK/EC friendship. Are they good mates or is it just music camaraderie? Once I asked this question to Guy on his forum and also to Alan on Facebook. Guy said they really are friends whereas Alan said otherwise. It would be cool to know details about the EC tour MK was part of as well. Too late now, shame on me.
Thanks everyone who participated.
It's not too late. Ed often answered questions even when we didn't expect it :)
Wow! Good to know, thanks!
Come on, Ed! I’ll give you three caipirinhas and an umbrella if you get to this.