Golden Heart

Mark Knopfler is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. His group, Dire Straits, was formed in London in 1977 and went on to become an international success after the release of its debut album in 1978. Though it began as a group with a permanent lineup led by Knopfler, in its first few years it evolved into a brand name for Knopfler with varying personnel. Starting with Local Hero in 1983, Knopfler has scored several motion pictures. He has also recorded with Chet Atkins and with the Notting Hillbillies. In 1995, Knopfler quietly laid Dire Straits to rest. He launched a full-fledged solo career with the release of Golden Heart in 1996; subsequent soundtrack efforts include 1998's Wag the Dog, 1998's Metroland, and 2002's Shot at Glory. Sailing to Philadelphia, a lush collection of folk-rock and breezy Americana that featured guest appearances by James Taylor, Van Morrison, and Squeeze leaders Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, appeared in fall 2000, and Ragpicker's Dream followed in 2002. In 2003, on the way to rehearsals in London, Knopfler broke his collarbone, shoulder, and seven ribs in a motorcycle crash. He returned in 2004 with Shangri-La, and in 2006 he completed All the Road Running, a collaboration with Emmylou Harris recorded over the span of nearly seven years that also found life as a live CD/DVD release (Real Live Roadrunning) later that November. Kill to Get Crimson appeared in 2007, and Get Lucky in 2009.

Mark Knopfler's debut non-soundtrack solo album, Golden Heart, was, in effect, the follow-up to the last Dire Straits studio album, On Every Street (1991). But it was also a compendium of the various musical endeavors in which Knopfler had engaged since emerging as a major figure in 1978. "Imelda" was cast in the mold of "Money for Nothing," with its trademark electric guitar riff and sardonic lyrics about Imelda Marcos, and other songs resembled Dire Straits songs, notably "Cannibals," which recalled "Walk of Life." But "A Night in Summer Long Ago" was presented in a Scots/Irish traditional folk style, complete with a lyric about a knight and a queen and would have fit nicely on Knopfler's soundtrack for The Princess Bride, and "Are We in Trouble Now" was a country ballad featuring pedal steel guitar and the piano playing of Nashville session ace Hargus "Pig" Robbins that would have been appropriate for Knopfler's duo album with Chet Atkins. For all that, there was little on the album that was new or striking, and Knopfler seemed to fall back on familiar guitar techniques while intoning often obscure lyrics. You get the feeling that there was a story behind each song, but except in the cases of "Rudiger," a character study of an autograph hunter, and "Done with Bonaparte," the lament of a 19th century French soldier on the retreat from Moscow, you might have to read Knopfler's interviews to find out what the songs were actually about. Knopfler hadn't used the opportunity of a solo album to challenge himself, and at the same time he had lost the group identity (however illusory) provided by the Dire Straits name. The result was listenable but secondhand.

— William Ruhlmann