Good to see a general air of positivity. Reading the comments so far there are so many comments I had been thinking myself and wanted to say, however I keep getting the feeling throughout that he's refusing a solo where I am expecting one and there's a general lack of energy and guitar.
The strongest songs are all placed together on the album from Scavengers to Janine, after which it weighs anchor until the uplifting Before My Train Comes wakes you up. That is short lived though because it's followed by the dreary This One's Not Going to End Well. One Deep River has so much potential to be a classic Knopfler but totally lacks punch and the final solo is taken over by Greg instead of Mark playing us out of what could well be his last album.
I think The Living End, and possibly Nothing But Rain could have been on the album instead of Sweeter than the Rain and This One's Not Going to End Well to give the album a little more pace and energy but what do I know.
Still some great songs on here though. The two standout tracks for me are:
Black Tie Jobs is a beautiful song, a kind of follow-up to Basil.
Tunnel 13 is a reworking of Terminal of Tribute To (Thanks Bruno)! Great song.
Interesting to note that The Living End has the same beat as El Macho.
If you get the LP you may want to play it at 45rpm.
