mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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golden heart
Golden Heart Released: 1996 Rating: 8/10 Track listing: 1. Darling Pretty/ 2. Imelda/ 3. Golden Heart/ 4. No Can Do/ 5. Vic And Ray/ 6. Don’t You Get It/ 7. A Night In Summer Long Ago/ 8. Cannibals/ 9. I’m The Fool/ 10. Je Suis Desole/ 11. Rudiger/ 12. Nobody’s Got The Gun/ 13. Done With Bonaparte/ 14. Are We In Trouble Now The leader of Dire Straits disbanded the group silently after their 1991 album On Every Street and the following tour. However, Dire Straits was only a band in name. The members came and went and was replaced according to Mark Knopfler’s expanding musical visions that culminated on Love Over Gold 1982. The commercial success peaked with the following album, Brothers In Arms, but Mark had moved far from the simple, basic pub rock that he once started out with. Sure, the songs were still very laid-back and his charateristical vocals were the same, but the music had developed into a much more commercial sound. Knopfler was obviously not happy with the pressure of “Dire Straits” and quietly released a cupple of soundtracks and finally this. His first album with his own name attached to it. Now, feeling free from whatever demands the public had on a new Dire Straits album, Knopfler went back to music that inspired him most. Traditional folk songs, especially with an Irish flavor to them. He had previously worked in that field with his soundtracks, Local Hero in particular which offered the magnificent Going Home-theme. I’m not saying that this album is an Irish folk-album, because it isn’t. There are just some touches of it here and there. He doesn’t seem ready to use it all the way, so sometimes he returns to the sounds of his latest rock project, On Every Street (Imelda, No Can Do). That means quite distorted guitars over a steady beat playing the same riff over and over with little variation. Some of the songs are very rootsy with focus on melody, mood and Mark’s beautifully spare guitar playing in the background played so careful, tasteful and brings out the melody that might be buried within his somewhat limited vocals. Or why not A Night In Summer Long Ago which is so simple with an acoustic guitar accompanying a tender and beautiful melody performed by violins, flutes and accordion? Amazingly affecting, indeed. Je Suis Desole finds Knopfler back to his teenage inspiration, the Blues. Although the chorus is all Irish folk, complete with violins and accordions but still with a bluesy feel thanks to the acoustic slide guitar that runs in the background. Rudiger is jazzy blues, similar to Planet of New Orleans found on the Dire Straits album released in 1991. Only this is acoustic, down to earth. Good stuff. Simple pop melodies covered with a layer of Irish folk music isn’t that bad you know and in 1996 it must have been a relief to hear this when others were lost in modern thinking that excluded real instruments and forgot about making good music. This is an album that will grow with each listen.
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