Dire Straits ~ Brothers In Arms (album review) ... Singing of the walk of life!

Style: blues-rock, jazz-rock, pop
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1985
Home: England

Members: Mark Knopfler ~ lead guitars/vocals
Alan Clark ~ keyboards
Guy Fletcher ~ keyboards/b. vocals
John Illsley ~ bass/b. vocals
Omar Hakim, Terry Williams ~ drums

Additional: Michael Brecker, Malcolm Duncan ~ tenor saxophone
Randy Brecker ~ trumpet
Tony Levin, Neil Jason ~ bass
Jimmy Maelen ~ percussion
Michael Mainieri ~ vibraphone
Dave Plews ~ horn
Jack Sonni ~ guitar
Sting ~ b. vocals

I remember in high school my best friend at the time, now an elementary school teacher in Alaska, was trying to get me to listen to this album, his latest passion. The problem was while I was lost deep in Top 40 Dave Matthews Band & hardcore Robert Johnson blues, he was a movie soundtrack buff. Literally, he loved the saddest movie soundtracks you could find, particularly to war films. I just wasn't taking his recommendation. I also wasn't sold due to the heavy rotation of the MTV video at the time & find myself burning out on the breakout single "Money For Nothing." I can take the less than great cover art of this modest album, the sappy melodic commercial pop, but the lyrics just bored me. "Money For Nothing" is actually a jab at MTV bands who seemingly don't work for a living, dressing like faggots, though the pop sensibility overwhelms the song & its meaning has become obscured & heavily criticized. At the time, I didn't quite get it either, though now I can see it for being as smart as it really is ... I'm still a bit bored by microwave ovens though (something I don't own, believe it or not). The other two hits "So Far Away" & "Walk Of Life" are just too melodic pop without the guts for me in that Peter Gabriel/Steve Hackett vein (neither of who I listen to). The sad thing is, & what my friend was trying to get me to hear, is that underneath it all guitarist frontman Mark Knopfler is actually quite a competent guitarist & composer creating subtle lines. He's also one of the minority of rock 's full time fingerstylists, he doesn't use a guitar pick, like one of my favorites Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. Like Buckingham, Gabriel, Hackett DS was Knopfler's attempt to craft some rock that relied on something a little less in your face & a little more exploratory. He was going to me more than the straight ahead. At the time I couldn't appreciate what he was doing & I don't know if my friend even realized the full equation he was trying to peddle to me. Like Tom Verlaine of Television Knopfler took a minimalist approach. He'd rock without the heavy beat & do the blues without the shuffle & turn in solos that brought in a country music bend but without sounding like it. Brothers In Arms is the sixth DS album, they'd only make two more in the 90's as Knopfler went solo & into the world of soundtracks, & this had them finding the best of all worlds. There's melody, a bit of 50's rockabilly & country bluegrass, some world beat & jazz, even some blues that sound surprisingly very ZZ Top-ish, some prog-rock & lyrically little moody vignettes of peoples & places a la Dylan to string through it all. It's actually the perfect music for the baby boomer generation in contrast to the messy hard rock that the kids were banging out. Brothers In Arms was the first album to sell a million copies in the CD format & to outsell its LP version. Though, listening decades later when the name of Knopfler has seemed to fade from eye, its not the perfect album one might expect. After getting beyond the trio of standout hits the albums staggers under its own weight becoming a long prog-rock experiment of lengthy experimental moments of shimmering guitar sounds with little flashes of blues & country. It's also a very laidback album with Knopfler almost singing in a whisper that's a bit too laidback at times. I can see why my high school friend would love it - it's perfect soundtrack music that is made to be in the background & not distract. It's not a bad album but it becomes hard to remember that this is an album by a guitarist. It sounds like an album by a guitarist trying to be a composer or arranger & avoiding the spotlight. It's too laidback for its own good. DS took their music as far as they could with this album, not making another album for some years & then to little acclaim. One is recommended to pick up the greatest hits of DS instead & for the big picture, & the picture of what came next, turn to Knopfler's busy solo career that has an equal amount of diversity, including a duets album with country guitar master Chet Aktins, most to great acclaim.

Sting ~ Live In Berlin (live) (album review) ... Someone call the police!

Style: symphonic, folk rock, pop
Label: UMG
Year: 2010
Home: England

Members: Sting ~ vocals/bass
Dominic Miller ~ guitar
Rhani Krija, David Cossin ~ percussion
Jo Lawry ~ b. vocals
Ira Coleman ~ bass

Guests: Branford Marsalis ~ Sax
Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra 

My first reaction within notes of the first song ("If I Ever Lose My Faith In You") was that my father would love this album. Yes, he likes Sting but this is more than Sting. This is wonderful instrumentation behind Sting's soft croon that fits like a nice leather glove. I even immediately played the first track for my spouse whose a classically trained pianist to get a second response. I should say that except for a few tracks over the years I've never been much of a Sting fan, not even a Police fan for that matter, & listened to this album on a curious whim. But, it's one of the most enchanting albums I've ever heard. This is actually a CD/DVD set with the CD featuring 14 songs from the concert, but is worth getting even if the DVD remains unwatched. This is one of those CD's people use to test the acoustics of a new stereo system because it has so many little nuances in a mainly acoustic background where you can literally hear the air between the notes ... which is due to both good production but also good songs & perfect orchestration. This features Sting's back-up band but with the special guest of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra of strings & horns who radically bring new life to Sting's songs along with Branford Marsalas's sax both up front & in the background. Many musicians have turned to orchestras to give a new twist to their songs, even from Charlie Parker to Kiss, with the results often being an orchestra that just echoes the band, but here the RPCO becomes the band & ends up being everything but a gimmick. Sting has spent much of his solo career creating songs that already have a soft almost symphonic quality so it's a pairing that almost comes somewhat expected, but the results are a totally unexpected easy listening experience that sounds enchanting & dreamlike (for example "Fields Of Gold") far beyond what Sting ever has done in the studio. The highlight "Why Should I Cry For You?", preceded by a story about his father a milkman, could have come right out of the old British sea shanty songbook with an actual moving river via the string section moaning underneath, while "Moon Over Bourbon Street" is a lost Buster Keaton soundtrack while "Desert Rose" is nothing less than a tromp through an Arabic desert on camel with some of Sting's best vocals. "Whenever I Say Your Name" with backing vocalist Jo Lawry is a seven minute duet that is as good as any love song on the chart even given its length. Ironically, the chart-topping hits (i.e. "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You", "Englishman In New York", "Fields Of Gold", "King Of Pain") are probably the weakest in the bunch feeling like they are trying to preserve their well-known melodies too much to let loose. Some have criticized the concert for not having the kick in the songs that the studio versions do, which might be true on one hand, but the under-played aspect puts the lushness back in place & gives all the old songs a fresh impact though "Mad About You" certainly pops with spice & definitely creative arranging, let alone is introduced with an unexpected Biblical reading. What is great about this album is how every orchestra instrument is put to good use at some point in the show, from harp to nylon guitar to violin solos. Its not just one big backing band as is so often utilized by rock bands that treat symphonies as one instrument not many. For those worried that this is going to continue Sting's odd infatuation with lutes & other ancient instruments, take note there's not a lute in sight ... neither is there any electric guitar solos. If anything, this album picks up where Symphonicities left of, his previous studio album that re-examined old songs with the Philharmonic, but with a more relaxed feeling that doesn't suffering from the coldness of the studio atmosphere of overdubs. If you liked Symphonicities you'll love this.