AMIT first impressions

[Brunno Nunes]

Only tonight did I manage to give this album the attention I wanted and honestly, I'm increasingly fascinated, the album has a moving depth, anyone who knows the universe of Mark Knopfler's art well will understand through many references, from its opening emulating one of his greatest musical heroes, JJ Calle, through a theme notably important to him, River Tyne, so present in his songs, right down to his songwriting side, now in an even more lyrical, personal and cinematic incarnation. I've been analyzing the lyrics... What a strong feeling this album has, extreme sensitivity, a fantastic quality.

This is a very beautiful work, but it has a strong smell of farewell, this is spread throughout the album, between the lines of certain lyrics, in the feeling... It may not be the last, but, (it isn't), but, it is sending you goodbye, I get this feeling listening to the album. This album will easily be listened to by me more frequently than any Get Lucky album!

I will certainly have a lot to say about the songs, for now, I would like to record my thoughts about one in specific, the one that ends the album, which I just listened to again carefully.

For me, in my semantic universe, Mark Knopfler is the deep river of music, listening and reading the lyrics is like a meaningful farewell. The day he leaves, I will hear this song and it will have an even deeper meaning for me. May this day take a long time to arrive! 🙏🏻(Needless to say, this song touched me strongly!)

[Love Expresso]

You all said it so well. Not much to add really.

To me, this album shows that taking his time increases the quality of his work. It was hard for us to wait six years, but it was the same with Sailing To Philadelphia. Also breaking out of the two-year-album-tour-cycle paid off for us in the end.

LE

[the visitor]

So I listened yesterday to the album via streaming and today on vinyl.

I've got to say I'm stuck on the whole of LP2. Hangs together as a mini album or series of movements in itself and really has outstanding coherence in terms of a thread which runs though each of the songs and ultimately takes us to the conclusion of One Deep River. Really impressed.

[Chase]

Love the album. One Deep River, Jeanine, Smart Money and Tunnel 13 are my favorites after first listening. One Deep River song reminds of my beloved "One song at a time". Can't wait to listen the bonus tracks, especially after reading that is one more rockier song and longer guitar solo. I was hoping to hear some saxophone on some tracks, but that's ok.

[superval99]

I received my CD yesterday afternoon and have been listening as much as possible ever since!    It's a really great album imo with much more beautiful guitar sounds than I expected and it flows very well.   As others have said, it's a very atmospheric album. My favourites at the moment are "Scavengers Yard" and "Tunnel 13", but I'm sure things could change as time goes on.   

Regarding the bonus CD - there is only one song that I dislike and that is "What I'm Gonna Need".   I like "The Living End" very much, especially the crunchy guitar and also "Fat Chance Dupree".   "Along a Foreign Coast" reminds me of "On Raglan Road" and it's good to hear the folky boys again.   "Nothing But Rain" is a grower, but I don't dislike it.

I think that I will be listening to this album quite a lot!   

[shortfin]

About the vinyl bonus track, let me preface this by saying that for me one listen counts for almost nothing.

Dolly shop men: beautiful, very rhythmic, chorus so-so but the rest really addictive

Your leading man: track with a retro flavour, rhythm like rumba or cha cha cha. Not exactly my cup of tea

Wrong 'un: light and negligible, on the album it would have been out of tune

Chess: not very Knopflerian, atmospheres almost... South American? I find it intriguing, but even this is better here than on the album.

[privinvest]

Unfortunately, after listening every song at least twice, unlike almost everyone else here (?), i didnt like this album very much. No songs stood out for me. They all came to me as banal or weak musically. At the moment, for me, this is his weakest solo album. No future classics, no anthems, no great guitar work (in MK standards). Too much self-plagiarising (?) Initially i gave it a 4  (again in MK standards)

Yet I cling to four hopes: 1) it's almost always like this: initially i tend not to like his new albums, i begin to like them only later after many more listenings, 2) the only songs i somewhat like at the moment are the early released ones, hopefully becoz  i listened them many more times. Hence if and when,... 3) He had so much time to write songs (6 years?) and about  2 years of it more alone than usual, they've spend more time in the studio than previous albums. More time, more work does not necessarily bring better art but still … And 4) If so many MK fans here who know his work very well like it, then there’s considerable hope. I know nobody here will pretend to like it if/when they actually don't.

[Love Expresso]

Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, perfect time to listen to the whole thing now that the first excitement has settled a little bit. What a wonderful album this is!

Also all five bonus songs are really good and very strong from my point of view, yes, even What I'm Gonna Need.
No skipper for me among these five, while I admit that the album has one or two.

Over all songs I heard so far (vinyl bonus and EP of course missing) to me this appears to be his best release from the last 20 years. Very strong, beautiful melodies, a lot of guitar, much better lyrics than on DTRW, excellent musical decisions and thank God not too much annoying effects from Guy's synth department. Guy however did an excellent job as a producer if the result appears that good. Nothing that annoys me really, which is quite remarkable considering the high number of new songs. It's a quantum leap really.

I would point out also to the excellent drumming all over the album and the splendid work of Glen also. Greg Leisz's contribution is unbelievably good and fits perfectly. The album feels like from a single source, from the same mould.   It is almost as if they finally really understood how to make a really good record.

On DTRW, there was something in every song that annoyed me (the k-sound in Nobody's Child anyone? The weak vocals on almost all tracks and and and...)  The vocals on this new album sound soooo good, so timeless and pure MK.  I am deeply impressed.. Even in my most optimistic dreams I hadn't expected the new album being so good.

LE
 

[shangri la 1]

  agee with your review so closely that I don't need to add anything.

SL1

[jf9081]

Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, perfect time to listen to the whole thing now that the first excitement has settled a little bit. What a wonderful album this is!

Also all five bonus songs are really good and very strong from my point of view, yes, even What I'm Gonna Need.
No skipper for me among these five, while I admit that the album has one or two.

Over all songs I heard so far (vinyl bonus and EP of course missing) to me this appears to be his best release from the last 20 years. Very strong, beautiful melodies, a lot of guitar, much better lyrics than on DTRW, excellent musical decisions and thank God not too much annoying effects from Guy's synth department. Guy however did an excellent job as a producer if the result appears that good. Nothing that annoys me really, which is quite remarkable considering the high number of new songs. It's a quantum leap really.

I would point out also to the excellent drumming all over the album and the splendid work of Glen also. Greg Leisz's contribution is unbelievably good and fits perfectly. The album feels like from a single source, from the same mould.   It is almost as if they finally really understood how to make a really good record.

On DTRW, there was something in every song that annoyed me (the k-sound in Nobody's Child anyone? The weak vocals on almost all tracks and and and...)  The vocals on this new album sound soooo good, so timeless and pure MK.  I am deeply impressed.. Even in my most optimistic dreams I hadn't expected the new album being so good.

LE
 

 

[stratmad]

Unfortunately, after listening every song at least twice, unlike almost everyone else here (?), i didnt like this album very much. No songs stood out for me. They all came to me as banal or weak musically. At the moment, for me, this is his weakest solo album. No future classics, no anthems, no great guitar work (in MK standards). Too much self-plagiarising (?) Initially i gave it a 4  (again in MK standards)

Yet I cling to four hopes: 1) it's almost always like this: initially i tend not to like his new albums, i begin to like them only later after many more listenings, 2) the only songs i somewhat like at the moment are the early released ones, hopefully becoz  i listened them many more times. Hence if and when,... 3) He had so much time to write songs (6 years?) and about  2 years of it more alone than usual, they've spend more time in the studio than previous albums. More time, more work does not necessarily bring better art but still … And 4) If so many MK fans here who know his work very well like it, then there’s considerable hope. I know nobody here will pretend to like it if/when they actually don't.

I know exactly what you mean, and I had the same thing with RPD, GL and DTRW. I actually used to skip a lot of the songs. Years later I got them out again, and it was a whole different world that suddenly opened up! Some albums just need time to grow on you, I suppose.

[hunter v2.0]

Unfortunately, after listening every song at least twice, unlike almost everyone else here (?), i didnt like this album very much. No songs stood out for me. They all came to me as banal or weak musically. At the moment, for me, this is his weakest solo album. No future classics, no anthems, no great guitar work (in MK standards). Too much self-plagiarising (?) Initially i gave it a 4  (again in MK standards)

Yet I cling to four hopes: 1) it's almost always like this: initially i tend not to like his new albums, i begin to like them only later after many more listenings, 2) the only songs i somewhat like at the moment are the early released ones, hopefully becoz  i listened them many more times. Hence if and when,... 3) He had so much time to write songs (6 years?) and about  2 years of it more alone than usual, they've spend more time in the studio than previous albums. More time, more work does not necessarily bring better art but still … And 4) If so many MK fans here who know his work very well like it, then there’s considerable hope. I know nobody here will pretend to like it if/when they actually don't.

Have you tried playing it while reading the lyrics? That made all the difference for me.

[ingridswing]

Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, perfect time to listen to the whole thing now that the first excitement has settled a little bit. What a wonderful album this is!

Also all five bonus songs are really good and very strong from my point of view, yes, even What I'm Gonna Need.
No skipper for me among these five, while I admit that the album has one or two.

Over all songs I heard so far (vinyl bonus and EP of course missing) to me this appears to be his best release from the last 20 years. Very strong, beautiful melodies, a lot of guitar, much better lyrics than on DTRW, excellent musical decisions and thank God not too much annoying effects from Guy's synth department. Guy however did an excellent job as a producer if the result appears that good. Nothing that annoys me really, which is quite remarkable considering the high number of new songs. It's a quantum leap really.

I would point out also to the excellent drumming all over the album and the splendid work of Glen also. Greg Leisz's contribution is unbelievably good and fits perfectly. The album feels like from a single source, from the same mould.   It is almost as if they finally really understood how to make a really good record.

On DTRW, there was something in every song that annoyed me (the k-sound in Nobody's Child anyone? The weak vocals on almost all tracks and and and...)  The vocals on this new album sound soooo good, so timeless and pure MK.  I am deeply impressed.. Even in my most optimistic dreams I hadn't expected the new album being so good.

LE
 

Wow LE, never expected to hear that from you 😀 But I also am at a high with it. Every song has his special and surprising moments. The album as a whole is perfect to me. Listened the album about 4 times. Need to have a closer listen to the bonus songs. Heard them only once. But agree, it seems no skippers there too. Amazing! And the sound quality and producing is mindblowing

[Matchstickman]

I've listened to the album a couple of times, and one thing that strikes me is the odd structure.

Of the first four songs, three of them are the grooviest and most energetic on the album. Then, what follows is a long stretch of mostly slow songs. In addition, Two Pairs and Ahead are vaguely similar in their use of a short guitar riff partly played on high strings. In fact, putting one after the other probably underscores that little similarity, as I had not thought of it previously but which seems obvious now.

One Deep River is a poignant closer, but overall I would have preferred some more variation tempo-wise in the second half of the album. People have been raving about one of the songs on the vinyl (All Comers), so maybe that one should have been included.

[dmg]

I've listened to the album a couple of times, and one thing that strikes me is the odd structure.

Of the first four songs, three of them are the grooviest and most energetic on the album. Then, what follows is a long stretch of mostly slow songs. In addition, Two Pairs and Ahead are vaguely similar in their use of a short guitar riff partly played on high strings. In fact, putting one after the other probably underscores that little similarity, as I had not thought of it previously but which seems obvious now.

One Deep River is a poignant closer, but overall I would have preferred some more variation tempo-wise in the second half of the album. People have been raving about one of the songs on the vinyl (All Comers), so maybe that one should have been included.

I thought pretty much the same.  Before My Train Comes seems strategically placed to prevent people nodding off, however it sure can't come soon enough if it's to stop boredom!