Shangri-La

Shangri-La

So we’ve been listening to Mark Knopfler’s latest album, Shangri-La. I put it on in the evenings when Alex is having his dinner; it makes a pleasant backdrop to the otherwise grim silence of eating (or not eating) and crying (or not crying) which is how we usually spend his dinner time.

It is also important to note that this is the first new CD I have received in a long time; if we exclude tapes and CDs of old Goon Shows, it is probably the first new music I have received in a couple of years.

I like Boom, Like That just fine, it is the obvious hit of the record. As I have written before, even from the first listen it sounds like an old friend; Knopfler knows exactly how much guitar is the right amount, and when silence is what is called for. The lyrics are rather whimsical, although perhaps more laden with a message than the mainstream listener is used to. As a single, it will definitely make it into my musical rotation.

The rest of it is more reflective, and dare I say more politically aware. Musically it wanders around the country blues (or perhaps bluesy-country) genre; pleasant enough to have on the machine, but not something which I would frequently specifically decide I want to listen to.

As I listened to it for the first time, I wondered if it was really what I expected from Knopfler; and that got me reflecting on whether or not I really ever got what I “expected” from him, or if my memories of his music are more tied up with the person I was and the things I was doing when I was listening to him regularly. I don’t have an answer to this.

It turns out that Knopfler is coming to Ottawa this year, however we only learned about that this weekend and by the time I got to checking the NAC/Ticketmaster site for information, everything had been sold out.

I suspect that this is the sort of album which I would put into the shuffle play on a low priority, rarely selecting, but also rarely being disapointed with it when it comes up.