Review from the new edition of Classic Pop magazine
MARK KNOPFLER
ONE DEEP RIVER
BRITISH GROVE
3.5/5
Two months after the instruments
which birthed Money For
Nothing and Walk Of Life sold
at auction for over £1 million in
total, Mark Knopfler returns to
prove his guitar heroics are still
intact. Of course, having long
since settled into the status of
elder statesman, his 10th album
is less arena axeman and more
front porch troubadour.
Once again produced by
former bandmate Guy Fletcher,
the follow-up to 2018’s Down
The Road Wherever mines a
similar vein of country, blues,
folk and Americana, the loping
grooves of opener Two Pairs Of
Hands the only concession to
any musical developments since
Dire Straits disbanded 29 years
ago. Yet, amid all the genial,
laidback vibes, there’s an
occasional lyrical bite.
Boasting wistful pedal steel
from Grammy-winning sideman
Greg Leisz, Smart Money takes
aim at the fickleness of celebrity
culture, and you can take your
pick from the multiple suspects
likely to have inspired political
diatribe This One’s Not Going
To End Well (“Still after he’s
gone/ They’ll whip up old lies/
To ride into power.”)
Now in his mid-70s and with
a world-weary voice to match,
Knopfler also gets deeply
reflective about his early career.
The bittersweet Watch Me Gone
addresses his conflicted feelings
about hitting the big time: “It’s all
gonna happen/ And I’ll be a
happenin’ man.” Meanwhile, the
chugging Ahead Of The Game
finds Knopfler offering advice
to an aspiring singer-songwriter,
perhaps his younger self, about
the trials and tribulations of
starting from the bottom.
Delving even further back,
the orchestral Black Tie Jobs is a
sobering account of Knopfler’s
newsroom beginnings: the inner
journalist also comes out in how
detailed Tunnel 13 documents
its real-life 1920s train robbery.
Meanwhile, the closing title
track, a harmony-laden ode to
the Tyne, adds to Knopfler’s
canon of hometown love letters.
The proud Geordie should
be equally proud of how he
quietly continues to extend his
legacy. Jon O’Brien
