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Nel 2004 torna il "Sultano Dello Swing", il guitar hero e l'anima dei Dire Straits Mark Knopfler, e lo fa con un lavoro più che mai uniforme, omogeneo e di valore decisamente notevole.
Il sound è sempre il solito, quello tipico dei Dire Straits e cioè country-rock intriso di dolcissimi arrangiamenti blues.Chitarre molto più semplici e meno pungenti e aggressive del passato. Ma una cosa è certa: la tecnica è sempre la stessa, ed è tutta in questa ora di musica.
Il singolo di lancio, "Boom, Like That", rinchiude appieno in sé lo stile Dire Straits. Quasi 6 minuti di blues che ci riportano letteralmente al sound degli esordi della band britannica, quando con la realizzazione di "Love Over Gold", "Brothers In Arms" e "Making Movies" diventarono una delle più grandi rock band di quel periodo.
Il ritmo generale dell'album non è assolutamente tirato, anzi, tutt'altro. Il tutto scorre abbastanza lentamente, ed è proprio questo il punto forte dell'album.
E' un blues di qualità il filo conduttore dell'intero lavoro. Basti infatti ascoltare "The Tlawlerman's Song", "Song For Sonny Liston" e "Donegan's Gone" per rendersi conto che il buon vecchio Mark, con la sua sei corde Fender, sa comporre ancora oggi pezzi d'impatto, di facile e piacevole ascolto. L'esempio da prendere per avere un'idea della qualità degli arrangiamenti è certamente "Everybody Pays", con una tastiera tanto semplice quanto fondamentale che suona molto '70s e coppia chitarra-basso che intervengono al momento giusto dando quel tocco magico all'intera canzone.
C'è spazio anche per elegantissimi episodi acustici, come "Back To Tupelo" e "All That Matters" (che suona quasi come una ninna-nanna), che danno quel leggero tocco di varietà ad un disco tutto sommato poco eterogeneo ma non per questo noioso e ripetitivo.
14 brani per poco più di un'ora di musica a ritmo molto blando, in pieno stile Knopfler. Infatti è proprio a questo che l'ex-chitarrista dei Dire Straits ci ha abituato. Sono lontani i tempi della grinta di "Money For Nothing" e della spensieratazza di "Walk Of Life". Ora abbiamo un Mark Knopfler più serio, riflessivo, diverso da quegli anni. Dopo qualche recente passo falso come "The Ragpicker's Dream" e il discreto "Sailing To Philadelphia", un disco che conferma tutto quanto fatto da Knopfler, senza aggiungere o togliere nulla al suo stile. Tutto è rimasto più o meno simile a quanto già scritto e suonato in precedenza nella sua attività solista, ed è forse questo che non rende perfetto questo album. Ma in fondo è molto piacevole vedere ed ascoltare invecchiare artisti così, se la qualità resta sempre su livelli medio-alti...
"When you're young and beautiful
Your dreams are all ideals
Later on it's not the same".
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Boom, Like That (05:37)
I'm going to San Bernardino, ring-a-ding-ding
Milkshake mix is thus my thing now
These guys bought a heap of my stuff
And I gotta see a good thing shooting up now
Oh my name is not Croc, that's Kroc with a K
A crocodile is not spelt that way now
It's dog eat dog, rat eat rat
Kroc style - Boom, like that!
Folks line up all down the street
Now I'm seeing this girl devour her meat now
And then I get it wham as clear as day
My pulse begins to hammer then I hear a voice say
These boys have got this down
Ought to be one of these in every town
These boys have got the touch
It's clean as a whistle and it don't cost much
Wham bam don't wait long
Shake fries plenty of gum
How about that friendly name, heck
every little thing gotta stay the same
Or my name is not Croc, that's Kroc with a K
A crocodile is not spelt that way now
It's dog eat dog, rat eat rat
Dog eat dog, rat eat rat now
Oh it's dog eat dog, rat eat rat
Kroc style - Boom, like that!
You gentlemen are to expand
You're gonna need a helping hand now
So gentlemen well what about me?
We'll make a little business history now
Or my name is not Croc all the way
A crocodile is not spelt that way now
It's dog eat dog, rat eat rat
Kroc style - Boom, like that!
Well we'll build it up and I'll buy him out
The man they made me grind it out now
They open up a new place flippin' meat
So I do too, right across the street
I got the main I need town
Sell 'em in the end and it all shuts down
Sometimes you gotta be an S.O.B.
You wanna make a dream reality
Competition sent 'em south
They're gonna drown or we're hosing 'em out
Do not pass go go straight to hell
I smell a lotta meat, da smell
Or my name is not Kroc that's Kroc with a K
A crocodile is not spelt that way now
Oh it's dog eat dog, rat eat rat
Dog eat dog, rat eat rat now
Oh it's dog eat dog, rat eat rat
Kroc style - Boom, like that!
10 Postcards from Paraguay (04:02)
one thing was leading to the next
i bit off more than i could chew
i had the power to sign the cheques
it wasn’t difficult to do
i couldn’t stay and face the music
so many reasons why
i won’t be sending postcards
from paraguay
i robbed a bank full of dinero
a great big mountain of dough
so it was goodbye companero
and cheerio
i couldn’t stay and face the music
so many reasons why
i won’t be sending postcards
from paraguay
i never meant to be a cheater
but there was blood on the wall
i had to steal from peter
to pay what i owed to paul
i couldn’t stay and face the music
so many reasons why
i won’t be sending postcards
from paraguay
11 All That Matters (03:04)
my darling girl
my darling girl
you’re all that matters
in this wicked world
all that matters
all that matters
my darling boy
my darling boy
all of my sunshine
and all of my joy
you’re all that matters
all that matters
well, i can’t stop the pain
when it calls
i’m a man
and i can’t stop the rain
when it falls, my darling
who can?
my darling girl
my darling girl
you’re all that matters
in this wicked world
all that matters
all that matters
my darling friend
my darling friend
all we’ve got going
is love in the end
it’s all that matters
all that matters
14 Don't Crash the Ambulance (04:58)
don’t often open up this floor
since i handed in my gun
what all these keys are for
now my tour of duty’s done
you got to know the switches
now you got your turn
watch and learn, junior
watch and learn
now you will get your
trouble spots
here’s one from
down voodoo way
bragged he had me
by the you-know-whats
very funny, you don’t say
the big enchilada
stealing elections
had to go down there
trash collection
got his cojones
on my desk in there
made into a souvenir
set of cufflinks, nice pair
the rest of him’s
someplace up here
sometimes you got to
put a shoulder to the door
not so fast, junior
listen to your pa
here, son
i’m handing over to you
don’t crash the ambulance
whatever you do
what we have here’s
a dung hole place
thought it was fly shit
on the map
fat bastard, ugly face
and the personal crap
you can’t move the barriers
you can’t mess with oil and gas
had to go down there
stick a couple
aircraft carriers
in his ass
fancy dress
medals chest
it’s all in here
for all the gigs
gas mask
bullet-proof vest
all the usual rigs
there’ll be things they missed
they didn’t mention
you’ve even
got a whistle in there
for attracting attention
well, i think you’re gonna
be okay, son
you’ve had the tour, i guess
these two buttons
by the way
this one i hope
you never press
some holy fool, just watch
who’s not like you or me
that one’s the whole
shooting match
right there
it’s the whole shitaree
we don’t forget
who put us here, jack
that’s page one
we talk soft
but carry a big stick
and pack the biggest gun
we don’t like accidents
major or minor
you don’t want yourself
an incident
don’t ever invade china
here, son
i’m handing over to you
don’t crash the ambulance
here, son
i’m handing over to you
don’t crash the ambulance
whatever you do
16 El Macho (05:19)
Your date has gone home
Now you're left on your own sweet own
Your tough - talkin' friend
Split on you in the bitter end
And you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry
They say you're a star
That's what the boys all say you are
I don't see much TV
So you don't mean shit to me
But you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry
They got a name for people like you
Yeh they do
And they got a name for people like me too
El Macho, El Macho
Now they want you to sing
Don't get shy or anything
The boys are all here
Gonna buy you another beer
'Cos you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry
El Macho, El Macho
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Altre recensioni
Di claudio carpentieri
"Shangri-La è il piacevole risultato di un artista che ha concentrato le sue energie compositive nel country, nel folk e attingendo all’immancabile sorgente del blues."
"In questo quarto capitolo solista, Knopfler indossa come non mai gli abiti del cantautore con ponderatezza ed attento equilibrio, offrendo riffs magari velati, ma sempre al servizio di delicate melodie."
