Customer Reviews

A Shot at Glory

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've long enjoyed the Dire Straits' guitar sound and have been a fan of the Knopfler Brothers for a long long time. While I prefer the Dire Straits albums, or the solo albums by David or Mark, the soundtracks that Mark has composed over the past 20 years have found a comfortable spot on the cd rack as well. And this release doesn't vary the formula from his previous soundtracks too much at all (although it is much more a Knopfler album than the somewhat annoying "Metroland").

Here are the basics: The cd is 38 minutes long. Mark Knopfler composed all the music and sings vocals on three tracks--the best of which, "He's the Man" would fit well on either of his solo releases. All the songs with vocals are more reminiscent of his work with the Notting Hillbillies or Chet Atkins. What I'm trying to say is these songs have a little more country sound to them. The other eight songs are instumentals and have a Celtic flavor to them. In fact, the entire album (aside from the vocal tracks) is very familiar--it sounds a heckuva lot like the "Local Hero" soundtrack. The songs feature Celtic instrumentation and the primary theme throughout sounds very much like 'Going Home'. Additionally, as you'd expect, this OST features Guy Fletcher on keyboards! Overall, an enjoyable soundtrack, but a tad too short and familiar.

These soundtrack CDs have become a nice way to get some original material from MK between his solo projects. This is no exception. The instrumentals are really nice and the contemporary tunes range from the typical DS style tune to material more like his solo work (I'm thinking Golden Heart here). Of course, I haven't even seen the movie yet and don't know the context for which these tunes were written. This CD is longer time-wise than the last soundtrack (Wag the Dog), but still a little short for today's CD media standards (38 min.).

I'm a huge MK fan, but I was a little disappointed with this one. For a couple of fantastic MK soundtracks with a Celtic lilt, check out "Local Hero" and "Cal". Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad soundtrack, but I didn't feel like it was as good as MK's other work.

I bless the girlfriend who introduced me to "Making Movies" back in the 70's. It has been a long and pleasurable journey following Marks releases and growth. He has explored a lot along the way, there are things he's done I don't like, but certainly appreciate - and tend to play more while I try to understand them.

In "Local Hero" he presented us with an ephemeral "Going Home", a recurring theme throughout the movie, the more you reached out to touch it the more it drifted away, when it was finally presented in it's fullness in "Alchemy" it lost that quality - as though Mark was embarrassed to show his talent without a band to blare it out.

This album has been on my wish list for a while - it's just a sound track, how good can it be. Good enough that I'm taking the time to write about it. It found it's way into my christmas stocking last year. The movie is not that great (although it does leave you with a smile on your face), but the sound track is excellent. Here we finally see Mark emerge from behind the wall of noise. That ephemeral quality that you wanted to emerge in "Local Hero"? It's here in full force. I could listen to "Sons of Scotland" all night. Along the way we get a few rockers - the only phrase that I can use to describe "Four in a Row" is "happy feet". It is difficult to resist pounding your feet on the pavement when it kicks in. I'm good with 90% of this album, and studying on the other 10%.

Mark has given us so many gifts of such a different variety that it is difficult to order them and say that this one is greater or lesser than another. I can't therefore say that this is his best album ever. I will say that, in my humble opinion, this is in the top 5.

"He" being Mark Knopfler, and also the name of one of the best tracks on this album. I willingly admit that I cannot possibly be objective regarding this recording, because (1) I firmly believe Mark Knopfler is about the best guitarist on earth, and (2) I firmly believe Robert Duvall is about the best actor on earth, and (3) being of Scotch/English ancestry, I have a soft spot for anything Scottish, and (4) I find English/Scottish football and the culture fascinating, and, finally, (5) I deeply enjoy Celtic music.
It seems that MK has been able to come up with at least one astonishingly great melody on all of his soundtracks, a tune so magnificently romantic and evocative that it's a wonder that it hasn't entered the pantheon of classics. On Local Hero, he was able to turn out several. On this set, it's Sons of Scotland. This modest, subtle, poignant, beautifully melancholy tune perfectly distills the moody and wistful spirit of Scotland. He's The Man is a muscular, straightforward rocker which features a memorably explosive riff which you'll not soon forget.
There is not a lot of innovative music on this CD, but what is there is of superior quality.