With the release of the newest solo recording Tracker which hit stores today (March 17th), Mark Knopfler’s extensive musical catalogue now includes eight solo albums, seven studio albums, and multiple live releases, compilations, and film soundtracks. The Scottish born Londoner has yet to run out of new material since starting his music career some 45 years ago. So, what does Knopfler have for us this time around? Today we get to hear the guitar legend on one of the most mature pressings of his long and illustrious career. “It’s called Tracker in the sense of tracking time over decades,” he says. “Tracking down a song to the end.”
In classic Knopfler fashion, the album is rich in delta blues inspired guitar playing, cohesive stories, and vast musical range. But now with this release, Tracker delivers a calmer and mellower recording, rich with Gaelic arrangements, and medieval sounding court jester flute playing, all while remaining casually paced and fascinatingly refined.
The meticulous virtuoso, rated 27 on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, still has his chops. His deep baritone voice sounds as rich as ever. Listening to Tracker conjures up feelings of familiarity of the Bob Dylan fashion. This is not surprising seeing as the two started working together in 1979 and have remained close friends since, with MK producing albums for, and touring extensively alongside Dylan across Europe and The United States as his opening act since 2011.
Two of the newest solo album’s tracks, “Silver Eagle” (named after the iconic line of tour buses) and “Lights of Taormina,” were written and recorded while on tour with Dylan. “I wouldn’t have written those songs without doing two tours with Bob on buses,” he says. Tracker is the result of two of the greatest songwriters and guitarists of the 20th century palling around on tour together for the last 4 years. A Grammy Award nomination for this album is almost a guarantee.
There are a vast range of topics explored on the newest release including author Beryl Bainbridge, poet Basil Bunting, and a commune in Sicily shrouded in “the mists of antiquity.” A mellower album, Tracker evokes somber themes of personal gains and loss, complimented with MK’s unique acoustic and slide guitar overdubs, as well as hints of jazz which are especially present on “Wherever I Go” featuring Ruth Moody sharing vocals.
With his new band’s longevity now surpassing the seventeen years spent with the Dire Straits line-up, aside from the tones of longtime band-mate Guy Fletcher on keyboards, we officially have a legacy much more and beyond that of the number one hit, “Money For Nothing,” from the 30 year old award winning Brother in Arms, or “Sultans of Swing.”
If you’re longing for the stadium rocker version of the Mark Knopfler of years passed, then Tracker will disappoint. If you can step up to the turn table with open ears and an opened mind, what you will get is one of the most well polished albums of the sure-to-be Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s career.