First impressions (**Spoiler alert**)

[straitsway75]

Now, are in this album songs, better, 'GREAT SONGS' that can say is a MK's masterpiece?
thanks guys

it depends on what is a masterpiece ? it's obvious that we all have diferent tastes
some will say that a song is a masterpiece while others will say that it's boring
so very dificult to answer to your question

I can't pick up right a now ONE song from the album and saying it's a masterpiece, but I find the whole album works very well in his globality

I LOVE songs like STP, WII, Silvertown blues, and (yes you can kill me if you want  ) I don't find that SAN is a masterpiece, but I find that Baloney again is one. I find that In the sky is a masterpiece. I find that submariner is a masterpiece.
But of course it's MY taste, and maybe it won't suit yours

So all I can say is that I am very enthusiastic with this new album, but I can't predict if you will like it or not. If I had to bet, I'd say that people who like albums like STP or Shangri-La should like this new album, in term of "logic", but maybe I will be wrong.
And people who love the folkish-scottish-irish stuff will be disapointed because there's very few on it

Sorry if my words are note very clear, because my english is poor
Rail King explains it clearer and better 

Thanks JF,
...when you say 'I can't pick up right a now ONE song from the album and saying it's a masterpiece, but I find the whole album works very well in his globality' and 'I like WII & STP'  (that are SURE two masterpiece of the man), is like you want say 'OK in my tastes, like in everyone, I like this album but not can say of a track/or tracks that is/are 'worthy follow in 'MK's history.
In all MK's album, objectively there are minor tracks and other that are,  even a few tracks that are worth of the whole album.
For example in Love over gold sure that TR is the top, in Dire Straits sure that SOS in Cal sure that  TLR or IB (also if it irish don't care the style) and in Golden heart sure that ANISLA is another one...and going to now.
I hear from you and RailKing that in this album MK play jazz, OK, but when I hear little bit near disco or space music I think is not good for me.
Good on you son is a good song, but musically, the end mostly with his sound too charged of eletronic drums has all my disappointment with it, never happened with a MK's single.
Mark is free, sure, also to give hiself to  rap or dancemusic, but for his history, from where he started and how he came to today, it would not be a good result.
I hope to listen Down the road wherever and stay very good like always for every MK's album, but this time I doubt it.....

[ruipedro]

First sorry about my english One more time thank´s to JF and Rail king!!!a question in the new album besides that 2 songs(if i understand well)jazz style,is there some like : dream of drowned sb.,so far from the clyde,silvertown b.,hill farmers b.,i mean not equal but in terms of some resemblance!!!thank´s very much guys!!!

[Rail King]

Now, are in this album songs, better, 'GREAT SONGS' that can say is a MK's masterpiece?
thanks guys

it depends on what is a masterpiece ? it's obvious that we all have diferent tastes
some will say that a song is a masterpiece while others will say that it's boring
so very dificult to answer to your question

I can't pick up right a now ONE song from the album and saying it's a masterpiece, but I find the whole album works very well in his globality

I LOVE songs like STP, WII, Silvertown blues, and (yes you can kill me if you want  ) I don't find that SAN is a masterpiece, but I find that Baloney again is one. I find that In the sky is a masterpiece. I find that submariner is a masterpiece.
But of course it's MY taste, and maybe it won't suit yours

So all I can say is that I am very enthusiastic with this new album, but I can't predict if you will like it or not. If I had to bet, I'd say that people who like albums like STP or Shangri-La should like this new album, in term of "logic", but maybe I will be wrong.
And people who love the folkish-scottish-irish stuff will be disapointed because there's very few on it

Sorry if my words are note very clear, because my english is poor
Rail King explains it clearer and better 

This is really hard to answer after just a couple listenings, but I very much agree with JF that "the whole album works very well in his globality". In spite of the stylistic diversity, it's a well rounded whole. I will also say that there's not one weak song on it - but I'm used to that with Mark by now. It's why I admire him so much. I can also say that Nobody's Child, Just a Boy Away from Home and My Bacon Roll will most certainly make it onto my ever-growing list of MK favourites. Which probably means that their masterpieces, yes. I'm just not quite ready to use that word yet. My guess is that most people who like his solo work will consider this album just as good as his others. Whether you'll prefer it over others or not will depend more on your stylistic preferences than on the quality of the songs. They are top-notch as far as I'm concerned.

By the way, I added notes (all the way up in the original post) about the second half of songs now.

[straitsway75]

 

[Robson]

Great Rail King 

[JF]

for Rail King and JF :
You have not named Imelda May, what happens with her voice?

Thanks

indeed there are a lot aof female background vocals, and I like them a lot, but I must admit I didn't listen to imelda May before, so it didn't struck me if her voice was here or not. For ME, it could have been anyone else's voice, It would have been the same.

[JF]

First sorry about my english One more time thank´s to JF and Rail king!!!a question in the new album besides that 2 songs(if i understand well)jazz style,is there some like : dream of drowned sb.,so far from the clyde,silvertown b.,hill farmers b.,i mean not equal but in terms of some resemblance!!!thank´s very much guys!!!

my impressions are (but Rail King's ones might be different) :

 - I don't see any song with resemblance with so far from the clyde, because if memory serves, there are no songs in 3/4 or 6/8, you know that kind of "waltz" rhtyhm

- I can't see any song that has some resemblance with submariner neither.

- Silvertown blues : maybe a little bit back on the dance floor, but I would rather say something between millionaire blues/ride across the river in term of atmosphere

- Hil farmer's blues : maybe a very very little bit on Trapper man, but the hard-driving riff comes at the start, not at the end of the song. Imagine the whole song in the same musical flavour as the HFB live outro, blended with a Darling pretty touch.

I am speaking only musically of course

[GIUMK]

Sorry for the outburst but I can not understand why, a little less than a month after the release of the album, we still can not listen to any snippets. If I remember correctly (correct me if I'm wrong) it did not happen with the last albums. Unbelievable ...

[ruipedro]

Thank's very much JF!!

[quizzaciously]

Sorry for the outburst but I can not understand why, a little less than a month after the release of the album, we still can not listen to any snippets. If I remember correctly (correct me if I'm wrong) it did not happen with the last albums. Unbelievable ...

But as a trade off you have a sooner release date. I'm perfectly fine with that, although I wish later on they will just drop the album and that's it. No leaks, no snippets, no reviews, no nothing, just drop the album. If anything, I think it would only increase the sales anyway.

[Dutchessy]

Tracker didnt had any snippets i think.

[quizzaciously]

Tracker didnt had any snippets i think.

If you count some snippets of Taormina and something else in EPK, then it actually had. By the way, for some reason I like the sound of Taormina being recorded through the boom mic in the documentary more, than the actual version. So no, I can't find something good about snippets...

[Dutchessy]

Tracker didnt had any snippets i think.

If you count some snippets of Taormina and something else in EPK, then it actually had. By the way, for some reason I like the sound of Taormina being recorded through the boom mic in the documentary more, than the actual version. So no, I can't find something good about snippets...

Yes, the mini docu of Henrik Hansen and the Track by Track EPK with Mighty Man. But no snippets on Itunes

[Rail King]

Tracker didnt had any snippets i think.

If you count some snippets of Taormina and something else in EPK, then it actually had. By the way, for some reason I like the sound of Taormina being recorded through the boom mic in the documentary more, than the actual version. So no, I can't find something good about snippets...

Yes, the mini docu of Henrik Hansen and the Track by Track EPK with Mighty Man. But no snippets on Itunes

It's easy for me to say now that I can listen to the whole album, but i don't like snippets, either. It's almost disrespectful to the song to just cut out a little bit. That said, of course I couldn't resist, either, when we got snippets in the past. I remember hearing the intro to Mighty Man and thinking: Okay, this is going to be a great song. And indeed it was. Same with Taormina.

And to answer the question about So Far from the Clyde and Dream of the Drowned Submariner: I agree with JF, nothing like it, really. Drover's Road has a somewhat similar atmosphere and guitar sound to So Far from the Clyde, but that's about it. You'll probably like this one when you like Clyde. And while there are no songs reminding me of Submariner, there are a lot of very atmospheric song on the album. It might even be Mark's most atmospheric album so far (atmospheric in the sense of ambient sounds evoking a certain scene).

[JF]

Tracker didnt had any snippets i think.

If you count some snippets of Taormina and something else in EPK, then it actually had. By the way, for some reason I like the sound of Taormina being recorded through the boom mic in the documentary more, than the actual version. So no, I can't find something good about snippets...

Yes, the mini docu of Henrik Hansen and the Track by Track EPK with Mighty Man. But no snippets on Itunes

It's easy for me to say now that I can listen to the whole album, but i don't like snippets, either. It's almost disrespectful to the song to just cut out a little bit. That said, of course I couldn't resist, either, when we got snippets in the past. I remember hearing the intro to Mighty Man and thinking: Okay, this is going to be a great song. And indeed it was. Same with Taormina.

And to answer the question about So Far from the Clyde and Dream of the Drowned Submariner: I agree with JF, nothing like it, really. Drover's Road has a somewhat similar atmosphere and guitar sound to So Far from the Clyde, but that's about it. You'll probably like this one when you like Clyde. And while there are no songs reminding me of Submariner, there are a lot of very atmospheric song on the album. It might even be Mark's most atmospheric album so far (atmospheric in the sense of ambient sounds evoking a certain scene).

fully agree;

that's why I somehow quoted Ride across the river or millionaire blues; It's not about guitar, melody, riff or whatsoever, it's about ambiance, atmosphere, feelin, flavour...
I noticed that there are some "ambient "sounds, I mean talking voices : in the middle of Trapper man, at the start of my bacon roll, and on another song but cant' remember which one just now.
Like if Mark wanted to give a sort of "movie scene" kind of style to his songs....ok yo might say taht almost all his songs has this kind of movie-scene, but here you have some sounds or voices like if it was taken from a movie
so see what I mean Rail King ?