Ed Bicknell end of contract with MK

[Tally]

Something missing in the MK/Bicknell story is GH - what about years of recording, Irish influences, a limited tour? What did Ed feel at that point, considering they later parted on the question of ambition (in one sense)?

[herlock]

I guess Ed wanted to resurrect DS.
STP was Mark's most "DS-sounding" solo record. It was also the most sucessful, maybe the 2 are related. Maybe Mark started to get pissed off because he realized he could'nt do what he wanted of his very own record, despite being a worldclass artist and a millionnaire. Maybe the last stroke was Ed suggesting to put the DS name on the record and present it as a DS come back ? No doubt that doing so would have made the record sell 20 million units rather than 6... but that's not what Mark wanted. He wanted to ressurect his NHB side, not his DS side, and this is what he indeed achieved with TRD...

[DIFFICULTTOBELIEVE]

I

[dmg]

I guess Ed wanted to resurrect DS.
STP was Mark's most "DS-sounding" solo record. It was also the most sucessful, maybe the 2 are related. Maybe Mark started to get pissed off because he realized he could'nt do what he wanted of his very own record, despite being a worldclass artist and a millionnaire. Maybe the last stroke was Ed suggesting to put the DS name on the record and present it as a DS come back ? No doubt that doing so would have made the record sell 20 million units rather than 6... but that's not what Mark wanted. He wanted to ressurect his NHB side, not his DS side, and this is what he indeed achieved with TRD...

Exactly my thoughts.  PC is more a passive manager in a musical sense and MK likes that these days.  Ed kept Mark's level high in my opinion with him thinking "he'd better not want to cut this from the album!". PC on the other hand just goes along with any rubbish and even tries to fleece the fans with poker chips and songs like Good as Gold...

[Love Expresso]

PC on the other hand just goes along with any rubbish and even tries to fleece the fans with poker chips and songs like Good as Gold...

 

LE

[herlock]

It may be worthwhile to note that, whatever Mark have said in the past about the STP record, he stills favors it very much these days. In the Get Lucky Tour no less than 4 songs from the record were played (WII, STP, SAN and PW); it seems that together with TRD it is the album he likes the most, both SL and KTGC having a very modest live treatment (almost non-existent for KTGC). And GL was somehow more similar to both STP and TRD than to KTGC and SL. Probably Mark realized that with SL and KTGC he pushed his country/folk side a little bit too far and that now he is back to a nice synthesis between his DS (or STP) and NHB (or TRD) sides. And maybe, that he made peace with Ed, who was not so wrong after all. Probably by now Ed has understood that DS is never to return as a brand (and band).

[Tally]

It is also worth noting that as much as I like GH, it is a very mixed bag; sounds like three different albums on top of each other. That may reflect all the different wills involved.

[Jackal]

GH is a VERY mixed bag. But I seem to remember that that's what they used to promote back then - the voice and guitar of Dire Straits going back to explore his roots. A lot of interesting roots, but not a very coherent record. I haven't heard the whole album from beginning to end for a while, but it's pretty longish. That's a funny thing, though - I used to love very long CDs (bang for the buck ), but now I prefer shorter ones, for the sake of coherence. The album feels more like a unit and it doesn't get boring. A perfect example, in my humble opinion of course, is Paul Simon's album last year, So Beautiful or So What. It's under 40 minutes, but it feels just right. Great songs, great themes that make a perfect unit. Speaking of which, here are couple of interesting comments from Paul Simon himself:

 

Sorry for the diversion. Back to Ed and Mark.

[Best Brown Baggies]

I met Ed & had a great chat with him at the RAH last year when the 'Straits' debuted.
A really nice, funny man. I also met him after a couple of NHB gigs. Once in Colchester UK, & once at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London.
A massive part of Dire Straits history.

Cheers BBB

[Jackal]

Ed should write his memoirs.

[Fieneke2]

Quote Jackal: "Ed should write his memoirs"

Hey Jackal you are right about that! It would be nice to read about the period of Dire Straits.

In those years I was too busy raising my children and didn't pay attention to the music of DS,
so I can use some extra information! 

Fieneke

[twm]

Picking up on what jbaent said in # 19 above, I have several times experienced the same problem - that is, I write a "reply" and press the "post" button, only to find that the posting has not registered, as it were. Mostly, this has been with longer postings, though not only so. Is there something built into the system here that applies a "timed out" effect  to a posting-in-preparation after a period of time?

As for Ed, I think a memoir wouyld be very welcome. As long as it added something of substance to what has been said or written in the past, I'd buy it, I'm sure.

[JF]

Picking up on what jbaent said in # 19 above, I have several times experienced the same problem - that is, I write a "reply" and press the "post" button, only to find that the posting has not registered, as it were. Mostly, this has been with longer postings, though not only so. Is there something built into the system here that applies a "timed out" effect  to a posting-in-preparation after a period of time?

to avoid this, when I write a long post, I write it before on Word, and the paste it here. 

[Hoops McCann]

Picking up on what jbaent said in # 19 above, I have several times experienced the same problem - that is, I write a "reply" and press the "post" button, only to find that the posting has not registered, as it were. Mostly, this has been with longer postings, though not only so. Is there something built into the system here that applies a "timed out" effect  to a posting-in-preparation after a period of time?

After you type a long post, and click the "Post" button, what screen do you see next if your post is not "registered"? Do you see the log in screen?

[ds1984]

Ed is the man who helped Dire Straits to become and stay huge.

Paul is the man who helps Mark to do what he wants.