Phil Palmer book

[hunter]

"Gran fromage" LOL

[quizzaciously]

Mk also had Phil trying guitars, amps etc playing the same piece of songs until he found the perfect combination lot of hours after...

I wish I'd had Phil's problems

[Jules]

Mk also had Phil trying guitars, amps etc playing the same piece of songs until he found the perfect combination lot of hours after...

I wish I'd had Phil's problems

Actually he says in the book that for him that wasn't a problem at all, as the one paying very expensively hours of studio time doing that was not him 

[mschaap]

I believe I’ve read elsewhere that this story is about the OES riff/outro. In my honest opinion this fiddling with settings while playing the riff over and over again for hours did really pay off. On the record it sounds so amazingly good, truly wonderful, out of this world. It just sounds so clear, clean-like (although it isn’t), yet so powerful and insanely tight. As a guitar player I can state the part itself is pretty easy to play, however to get that sound and accomplish this effect is extremely difficult, at least I can’t do it. And both DS and MK never got anywhere near it sounding as good as on the record, it’s actually miles away. On OTN this is not even so much a problem because things get interesting because of the great pedal steel solo, however during the solo tours it became quite disastrous because of the consequently poor soprano sax solos combined with the sloppy, untight (almost amateur-like) playing of the riff by MK himself.

[hunter]

I believe I’ve read elsewhere that this story is about the OES riff/outro. In my honest opinion this fiddling with settings while playing the riff over and over again for hours did really pay off. On the record it sounds so amazingly good, truly wonderful, out of this world. It just sounds so clear, clean-like (although it isn’t), yet so powerful and insanely tight. As a guitar player I can state the part itself is pretty easy to play, however to get that sound and accomplish this effect is extremely difficult, at least I can’t do it. And both DS and MK never got anywhere near it sounding as good as on the record, it’s actually miles away. On OTN this is not even so much a problem because things get interesting because of the great pedal steel solo, however during the solo tours it became quite disastrous because of the consequently poor soprano sax solos combined with the sloppy, untight (almost amateur-like) playing of the riff by MK himself.

At the time of recording OES, MK was at his peak as a guitar player. And the tightness on OES is in no doubt much due to the great drummers on that album. Studio-grade compressors and top-notch engineers such as Chuck certainly help too. OES is just an amazing studio production - hard to reproduce that live, especially during the later solo tours where Mark's playing is nowhere near his peak. (He still has got the touch and feel, but the precision and drive is gone.)

[qjamesfloyd]

I read somewhere that Sir George Martin praised the outro of On Every Street, saying it sounded classical in it's progression and execution.
Did Phil say anything about playing with David Gilmour? Phil has played with lots of great players.

[dustyvalentino]

I read somewhere that Sir George Martin praised the outro of On Every Street, saying it sounded classical in it's progression and execution.
Did Phil say anything about playing with David Gilmour? Phil has played with lots of great players.

MK mentioned this in an interview, he said GM said it sounded like Bartok or something.

[Love Expresso]

I read somewhere that Sir George Martin praised the outro of On Every Street, saying it sounded classical in it's progression and execution.
Did Phil say anything about playing with David Gilmour? Phil has played with lots of great players.

MK mentioned this in an interview, he said GM said it sounded like Bartok or something.

Puccini. 

LE

[dustyvalentino]

I read somewhere that Sir George Martin praised the outro of On Every Street, saying it sounded classical in it's progression and execution.
Did Phil say anything about playing with David Gilmour? Phil has played with lots of great players.

MK mentioned this in an interview, he said GM said it sounded like Bartok or something.

Puccini. 

LE

Good catch!

Do you have the interview?

[Love Expresso]

No, I'm afraid not. Just remember it pretty sure.

LE

[JF]

people often says that Mark was at his peak in term of guitar playing during the OES era
I disagree

why most people think he was at his best ? because he played fast ?

I find that for example rhythm guitar parts on setting me up, single handed sailor or skateway are far more difficult technically than all guitar stuff on the OES album
I also find that the twiddy bits on sultans are easier to play than outro lick on lady writer

To me "Mark at his peak" is not intro licks on Heavy fuel live, or the TR solo played fast; neither calling Elvis
His guitar skills peak is for example the lick doubled by the sax on Portbolleo Belle in 83

during OES era, Mark was very show off, palying licks guitar-hero-like, but it was more doing the show, rather than really "guitar-skills" in my humble opinion
ending licks on Once upon a time live on Alchemy impress me far more than any solo on the OTN album, or even bootlegs from 91-92

I think that this "mark at his peak in 91-92" thing is a wrong vision imho

[quizzaciously]

people often says that Mark was at his peak in term of guitar playing during the OES era
I disagree

why most people think he was at his best ? because he played fast ?

I find that for example rhythm guitar parts on setting me up, single handed sailor or skateway are far more difficult technically than all guitar stuff on the OES album
I also find that the twiddy bits on sultans are easier to play than outro lick on lady writer

To me "Mark at his peak" is not intro licks on Heavy fuel live, or the TR solo played fast; neither calling Elvis
His guitar skills peak is for example the lick doubled by the sax on Portbolleo Belle in 83

during OES era, Mark was very show off, palying licks guitar-hero-like, but it was more doing the show, rather than really "guitar-skills" in my humble opinion
ending licks on Once upon a time live on Alchemy impress me far more than any solo on the OTN album, or even bootlegs from 91-92

I think that this "mark at his peak in 91-92" thing is a wrong vision imho

Absolutely. Nothing to add here... One Every Street era might seem overly "guitar hero" like, but it's just a natural evolution, we would get it no matter what. This is funny to me because I never considered Mark to be a virtuoso guitar player. His lines, and I learned a lot of them, are pretty logical and straightforward, it's not something that is usually associated with the term "virtuoso". I tend to think about it that Mark Knopfler is a virtuoso at being Mark Knopfler.

He's just a guy who's spent millions of hours playing simple stuff and not a guy who's spent hours playing millions of notes, and that's why he's so good. It's like ‎”I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

[Stanko]

people often says that Mark was at his peak in term of guitar playing during the OES era
I disagree

why most people think he was at his best ? because he played fast ?

I find that for example rhythm guitar parts on setting me up, single handed sailor or skateway are far more difficult technically than all guitar stuff on the OES album
I also find that the twiddy bits on sultans are easier to play than outro lick on lady writer

To me "Mark at his peak" is not intro licks on Heavy fuel live, or the TR solo played fast; neither calling Elvis
His guitar skills peak is for example the lick doubled by the sax on Portbolleo Belle in 83

during OES era, Mark was very show off, palying licks guitar-hero-like, but it was more doing the show, rather than really "guitar-skills" in my humble opinion
ending licks on Once upon a time live on Alchemy impress me far more than any solo on the OTN album, or even bootlegs from 91-92

I think that this "mark at his peak in 91-92" thing is a wrong vision imho

Absolutely. Nothing to add here... One Every Street era might seem overly "guitar hero" like, but it's just a natural evolution, we would get it no matter what. This is funny to me because I never considered Mark to be a virtuoso guitar player. His lines, and I learned a lot of them, are pretty logical and straightforward, it's not something that is usually associated with the term "virtuoso". I tend to think about it that Mark Knopfler is a virtuoso at being Mark Knopfler.

He's just a guy who's spent millions of hours playing simple stuff and not a guy who's spent hours playing millions of notes, and that's why he's so good. It's like ‎”I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

Exactly.

[Pierre]

people often says that Mark was at his peak in term of guitar playing during the OES era
I disagree

why most people think he was at his best ? because he played fast ?

I find that for example rhythm guitar parts on setting me up, single handed sailor or skateway are far more difficult technically than all guitar stuff on the OES album
I also find that the twiddy bits on sultans are easier to play than outro lick on lady writer

To me "Mark at his peak" is not intro licks on Heavy fuel live, or the TR solo played fast; neither calling Elvis
His guitar skills peak is for example the lick doubled by the sax on Portbolleo Belle in 83

during OES era, Mark was very show off, palying licks guitar-hero-like, but it was more doing the show, rather than really "guitar-skills" in my humble opinion
ending licks on Once upon a time live on Alchemy impress me far more than any solo on the OTN album, or even bootlegs from 91-92

I think that this "mark at his peak in 91-92" thing is a wrong vision imho

I think I disagree there, for me it's not so much Mark's guitar-playing peak than his creativity peak you're talking about if I get what you're saying.
I am pretty sure in 1991 he could still play every note of his first albums but having "evolved" in his musical path he was choosing different way of playing stuff.

Mark keeps repeating that playing with Chet Atkins helped him develop his guitar vocabulary. His Neck and Neck album is (for me) some kind of peak in his guitar-playing ability, his phrasing and technique and, to some extend, in his musicality.
Mark was also quoted, by the mid 80s as saying that he though he had evolved beyond merely saying "hello" in his guitar language, he could now say "Hello, how are you?" with a guitar, or something along that same humble line.

Also I have a problem when considering a musician's peak so early in his carreer especially when considering how long MK's carreer is.
Let's not confuse favourite era with best musical ability. (I am not saying that you do JF)

For me MK's guitar peak was 1996 album and tour. As varied pieces as "Don't you get it" and "Je suis désolé" (a true gem) are both stunning on a guitar level. (one has a very fast solo and the other a very subtle guitar part)
1996 tour was musicaly the most stunning for me. The musicality of Sultan's solos was second to none, his playing was neat, varied and soulful with hardly any mistakes.

I think he wrote better songs after 1996, and still today but his playing has never been as consistant (for me). Sadly I think his motorbike accident did some lasting harm.

All that said, it's only a matter of opinion. Some may rightly think he is at his peak now for numerous valid reasons, one being his experience. Alchemy era is of course wonderful too.
 
And then again creativity and musicality are very subjective topics.

[Stanko]

people often says that Mark was at his peak in term of guitar playing during the OES era
I disagree

why most people think he was at his best ? because he played fast ?

I find that for example rhythm guitar parts on setting me up, single handed sailor or skateway are far more difficult technically than all guitar stuff on the OES album
I also find that the twiddy bits on sultans are easier to play than outro lick on lady writer

To me "Mark at his peak" is not intro licks on Heavy fuel live, or the TR solo played fast; neither calling Elvis
His guitar skills peak is for example the lick doubled by the sax on Portbolleo Belle in 83

during OES era, Mark was very show off, palying licks guitar-hero-like, but it was more doing the show, rather than really "guitar-skills" in my humble opinion
ending licks on Once upon a time live on Alchemy impress me far more than any solo on the OTN album, or even bootlegs from 91-92

I think that this "mark at his peak in 91-92" thing is a wrong vision imho

I think I disagree there, for me it's not so much Mark's guitar-playing peak than his creativity peak you're talking about if I get what you're saying.
I am pretty sure in 1991 he could still play every note of his first albums but having "evolved" in his musical path he was choosing different way of playing stuff.

Mark keeps repeating that playing with Chet Atkins helped him develop his guitar vocabulary. His Neck and Neck album is (for me) some kind of peak in his guitar-playing ability, his phrasing and technique and, to some extend, in his musicality.
Mark was also quoted, by the mid 80s as saying that he though he had evolved beyond merely saying "hello" in his guitar language, he could now say "Hello, how are you?" with a guitar, or something along that same humble line.

Also I have a problem when considering a musician's peak so early in his carreer especially when considering how long MK's carreer is.
Let's not confuse favourite era with best musical ability. (I am not saying that you do JF)

For me MK's guitar peak was 1996 album and tour. As varied pieces as "Don't you get it" and "Je suis désolé" (a true gem) are both stunning on a guitar level. (one has a very fast solo and the other a very subtle guitar part)
1996 tour was musicaly the most stunning for me. The musicality of Sultan's solos was second to none, his playing was neat, varied and soulful with hardly any mistakes.

I think he wrote better songs after 1996, and still today but his playing has never been as consistant (for me). Sadly I think his motorbike accident did some lasting harm.

All that said, it's only a matter of opinion. Some may rightly think he is at his peak now for numerous valid reasons, one being his experience. Alchemy era is of course wonderful too.
 
And then again creativity and musicality are very subjective topics.

quoting the long lines extends the length of the thread significantly☝️