Mark Knopfler: The Ragpicker's Dream CD Track Listing

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Mark Knopfler The Ragpicker's Dream (2002)
Originaly Released October 1, 2002\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: With hissecondpost-millennium album in just two years, Mark Knopfler hasalready equaled his meager (non-soundtrack) output for the '90s.And while he isn't reinventing himself, The Ragpicker's Dream isa pleasant, classy, often inspired effort whose unassuming charms are best appreciated after repeated listenings. The memorable riffage that fueled Dire Straits' most radio-friendly material hasbeen discarded for a more pastoral approach, making this a perfect album for a rainy Sunday morning. Like his Notting Hillbilliesside project, it isn't entirely unplugged, yet there is an emphasis on acoustic accompaniment to its predominantly ballad slant.Instead of leaving space for traditional soloing, Knopfler weaveshis snake-like guitar between the words. This infuses a tense, edgy quality in even the most bucolic tracks, resulting in the crackling but still low-boil atmospherics of "Hill Farmer's Blues" and "Fare Thee Well Northumberland." "Marbletown" is an unaccompanied folk/blues that sounds as if Knopfler was born and raised inthe Mississippi backwoods. He taps into the patented insistent lazy, shuffling groove on the spooky "You Don't Know You're Born."It'sthe most Straits-like track here featuring an extended, winding, yet subtle solo. "Coyote," a mid-tempo sizzler -- lyrically based on the Road Runner cartoons -- is propelled by a walking bass figure and Knopfler's homey, lived-in, talk-sung vocals. Again,the guitar pyrotechnics are interspersed throughout the verses with overdubbed sounds employed to provide ambiance and mood. Theauthentic honky tonk swing of "Daddy's Gone to Knoxville" could have come off a Wayne Hancock album, and the "King of the Road" melody from "Quality Shoe" is a tribute to Roger Miller. As an homageto the American roots music he's always admired and a desire toretreat further from the stadium rock of his Straits days, The Ragpicker's Dream is a restrained success, at least on its own terms. It may not please some of Knopfler's old "Money for Nothing"fans, but at this stage, he's obviously not trying to. -- Hal Horowitz\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nEven at the peak of Dire Straits' fame, Mark Knopfler's music often seemed informed by a restless worldview as abstruse as his guitar playing was fluid andexpressive. This follow-up to his impressive 2000 collection, Sailing to Philadelphia, finds Knopfler chasing a similar musical and lyrical muse, with results that are even more surprising and loose-limbed. "WhyAye Man," the bracing opening chantey that sets much of the album's tone, draws parallels between Geordie pub-speak and Native American chants whilst lamenting economic refugees of Thatcherism forced to ply their blue-collar trades--and keep their Brit pub culture alive--deep in the Fatherland. From there, Knopfler takes us by "A Place Where We Used to Live" fora lounge-y, Jobim-inflected reminder that one can never really go home, drops in on "Quality Shoe" for a tribute to Roger Miller, and givesus a typically dry, so-deadpan-it's-funny rundown of his Circus Sideshow pals on "Devil Baby." "Marbletown," a graveyard folk-blues, showcases the musician at home on solo acoustic guitar, whilethe loping, laconic "Coyote" draws its good-natured inspiration from a beast named Wile E. But it's the way that Knopfler connectsdisparate cultures and histories with subliminal, deceptively effortless grace on "Fare Thee Well Northumberland," "You Don't Know You're Born" (both of which feature Knopfler's signature languorous, blues-inflected soloing), the folksy "Hill Farmer's Blues,"andthe country-fried "Daddy's Gone to Knoxville" that make the album a triumph of understatement. --Jerry McCulley \n\nAMAZON.COMCUSTOMER REVIEW\nAStar in an Otherwise Dark Night, November 8, 2004\nReviewer: N. Keshava (Needham, MA USA) \nI bought this albumto "catch up" with my Mark Knopfler albums after purchasing Shangri-La. I spend most of my radio time flitting from one station to another. Most songs I hear are written by musicians that are ob
This data cd contains 12 tracks and runs 55min 41sec.
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