Media Reviews of Tracker

[surferboy]

"I am pretty sure I said that on day one after we learned the track names that Silver Eagle is about Bob's Bus..."
LE

I remember you guessed that vey early and I hoped you would be right, beacuse it is such a beautiful and fitting title for a Bob related song.

[Marijo58]

@ Marijo58 - A Geordie is still a Briton, the same goes for a Scouser, from Liverpool, but we are both part of Great Britain!      

Thanks Superval I learned something today!! Great!!

Britons and Bretons - cousins perhaps?     

I wish we were cousins but I don't think so, only in my dreams!! By the way have somebody heard that MK said once that Scottish landscape looks like France!! I think he meant our beautiful Brittany's landscape because it's true!! He must have travelled with his wife there!!

[nababo]

My thoughts about the album.

Likes:
- River towns
- Skydiver (so Beatlenesque, but I think some italian pals will see some reminescences of Cesare Cremonini, non è vero?)
- Broken bones (though I sense that is a rework of Early bird)
- Long cool girl
- Lights of Taormina
- Silver eagle
- Wherever I go

But no one stands out for me.

Dislikes:
- Beryl ("lemme get the SoS solo and make a simpler song")
- Mighty man (may work with the Chieftains...)
- Basil (almost fited KTGC, almost fited GL. Ended up here)

I enjoyed a lot of songs, but I think no track from Tracker would be in a solo career personal greatest hits...
Despite this, there's more guitar licks than I expected. On the other way, too much saxophone in the first half of the record.
His voice improved, imho.

[herlock]

So far and after three listens, for the very first time I have failed to find THE song I instantanously fall I love with, like Yon Two Crows or Silvertown Blues... :/

[dmg]

So far and after three listens, for the very first time I have failed to find THE song I instantanously fall I love with, like Yon Two Crows or Silvertown Blues... :/

Basil?

[herlock]

So far and after three listens, for the very first time I have failed to find THE song I instantanously fall I love with, like Yon Two Crows or Silvertown Blues... :/

Basil?

Not yet.
Dmg I'm puzzled that you love the album. I thought you were disappointed with Mark not playing guitar anymore... We are very far from TOL and TR here... Nice to listen but no "wow" factor for me yet. It might grow of course... But even KTGC had Punish the Monkey that I found great from day one...

[dmg]

So far and after three listens, for the very first time I have failed to find THE song I instantanously fall I love with, like Yon Two Crows or Silvertown Blues... :/

Basil?

Not yet.
Dmg I'm puzzled that you love the album. I thought you were disappointed with Mark not playing guitar anymore... We are very far from TOL and TR here... Nice to listen but no "wow" factor for me yet. It might grow of course... But even KTGC had Punish the Monkey that I found great from day one...

I'm puzzled too but I just like it!  It's a bit of a departure from the last few albums now that he's mostly ditched the Mc's and I think that's moved things on to a completely new level.  Having these guys in the studio constantly have been holding him back and influencing all his songs in their direction I think.  May well be wrong.  In this album they've only been needed for a couple of songs and so they haven't been "hanging around" to exert any of their influence.

[Marijo58]

Well in French Brittany is Bretagne and Great Britain is Grande Bretagne so...

True Robin!!! In French Brittany, we say that Scots, Irish and Welsh are our cousins because landscapes are similars and music as well!!!

[superval99]

http://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/mark-knopfler-tracker

Some differing views in this review!   

[border_reiver]

This one is rather nice. And the author actually got that it's a very personal record.

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/18683/reviews/4148787

[Vesper]

This one is rather nice. And the author actually got that it's a very personal record.

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/18683/reviews/4148787

Great read that one!

[pjh3121]

Just had a quick run through Tracker. First thing that strikes me is that the production is much crisper than on the last few albums which were a bit muddy and dense. Great high end sound and good instrument separation on this one.

As for the songs, it's good to hear him stretching out a bit from just re-writing You Can't Beat the House and Before Gas and TV over and over again (the snoozesome Mighty Man aside). I like the lengthy outros too, especially on Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes. 

I will give it more time but I think it's potentially the best album for a while. 

[Marijo58]

Well now that I heard the songs, I'd say that it's true his voice has improved and that I've a very special feeling for Lights of Taormina!! Can't say exactly why!!  Not really one title that I dislike!! Beryl and Basil are very nice ones as well!! Finally I'll say that he made a very good choice by asking again Ruth Moody to sing along with him!! Their voices match perfectly!!

[El Macho]

My favorite is Terminal of tribute to. Excellent melody and guitar solos !
Also Skydiver for the Beatles sound !
Skippers : Mighty Man : The Fish And The Bird meets Ry Cooder, Silver Eagle (boring).
Broken Bones could have been better with a little guitar solo, but it's too repetitive, a mix of Early Bird and No Can Do.

[border_reiver]

Back to the media reviews then...

First one from Sweden, the tabloid "Aftonbladet". Freely translated.

"Suddenly a beautiful yellowed postcard came in the mail, drawn with reverb clear Strat-tones and a cheerful drumming. Just an arm length away from "Sultans of swing".

We could all agree on that the expectations got turned up with "Beryl", the first single from Mark Knopfler's eights solo album. Mark Knopfler's unique and airy songwriting does so often land perfectly just when he is approaching the core center of his career. Not everything, but a whole lot, is right up the alley for the legend of Dire Straits on "Tracker". The album doesn't splay as much as with the previous "Privateering" and most of the woody old man type of blues has give way for something less annyoing; the woody old man type of hifi-rock. When the songs are lurking around the neighborhoods of "Sailing to Philadelphia", as in the case of the pliable "Basil", then it is quite easy to consider the album to be some sort of a reawakening.

Best track: "Basil"

3/5