If, like me, you are a long-term follower of the career of songwriter / guitarist / vocalist / extraordinaire Mark Knopfler, Christmas seems to have arrived a little early in 2023. Sometime in September, news began filtering through that a rather large box set was on the way. This set would contain all of Dire Straits’ live albums, not only remastered but also expanded with previously unavailable material. Furthermore, it would even contain one entire live album recorded in 1979 that has never before seen any kind of release. I must admit I was a little sceptical. Mark Knopfler himself, such is his relentless focus on writing and recording original material (and long may that continue), has never really been that enthusiastic about digging up the past. Unreleased archive material from Dire Straits has not been terribly forthcoming over the years since the band made their final bows in Zaragoza at the end of the On Every Street tour in October 1992. And to put such a set together would undoubtedly take a good deal of time and effort. It seemed inconceivable to me that something like this could come out of the blue. But happily, my initial scepticism was misplaced. The news wasn’t just an over-ambitious fan dreaming of the ultimate Dire Straits live release. It was actually happening. And so on November 3rd 2023, we received Dire Straits Live: 1978-1992.
And let’s not beat about the bush here. This set is an absolute gem. By some way the most interesting and exciting release by the band since their split in 1992, the CD set contains eight discs, while the vinyl set contains twelve discs. Included are five separate live releases – Live at the BBC (recorded 1978, released 1995), Live at the Rainbow (recorded 1979, previously unreleased), Alchemy (recorded 1983, released 1984) and On the Night along with the Encores EP (recorded 1992, released 1993). Each album has been remastered at Abbey Road under the watchful supervision of longtime Mark Knopfler cohort Guy Fletcher, with Alchemy and On the Night receiving three and seven additional songs respectively, all newly mixed by Guy at Mark’s British Grove Studios in Chiswick, London. And I think I can quite confidently say that we can trust Guy to do the best by this wonderful material. There can’t be many engineers out there with such a good ear for a great mix. As those who have read my previous missives may recall, I still hold Real Live Roadrunning – the live DVD/CD recorded on Mark and Emmylou Harris’ 2006 tour – in extremely high regard. Others have run it close but all these years later, to my ears at least, it remains the best mixed live recording I know of.
The packaging and artwork of Dire Straits Live is very much in line with the Studio Albums sets which have been in print for several years now, so both will complement one another on your music collection shelf. The CD edition is presented as a gatefold arrangement, though the cases in which the CDs are contained are somewhat sturdier than the basic slipcases we got in the Studio Albums set. The vinyl edition is once again a slipcase design. Both contain a set of album artwork litho prints and a booklet containing photos of the band from down the years along with a newly written essay by veteran music journalist Paul Sexton, who has followed the exploits of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler since 1978. The discs themselves are all of top quality and have been pressed at Optimal in Germany, as opposed to the last few Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler vinyl releases which were pressed at the GZ Media plant in the Czech Republic and were of a slightly more variable standard. The only issue with my particular set is a slightly off-set label on side B of Alchemy, though the hole has been punched correctly. My only criticism of the vinyl box would be that it is ever so slightly too narrow. On inspecting the contents for the first time, I found that it was quite a challenge to squeeze everything back into the box. It is quite a tight fit, and I have ended up storing the litho prints in a separate plastic wallet. The case just needs to be an eighth of an inch wider. For a twelve disc set, a different arrangement might have been a more practical solution – either a top-loading design with a lid, or possibly a slipcase with an internal binder, similar to the Sting set pictured.
A slipcase with internal binder similar to Sting’s Studio Collection may have been a better solution for a twelve disc set.
But these are very minor quibbles. Any slight reservations I may have about the packaging are easily overridden by the wonderful music contained within. Let’s take a look at all the albums included in this brilliant set one by one.
LIVE AT THE BBC
Now here’s a thing. Live at the BBC has existed since 1995 and until now, as big a Dire Straits fan as I may be, I have never actually owned a copy of this album. I don’t know why exactly, but I just never got around to buying it. How could I possibly have allowed my Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits collection to go incomplete for so long?! Well, I must have managed somehow. Predominantly recorded at the BBC’s now defunct Paris Theatre, London (now a fitness club) in July 1978, Live at the BBC was essentially released for contractual reasons. It completed Dire Straits’ recording contract, thereby enabling Mark Knopfler to initiate his solo career which began with the release of Golden Heart in March 1996. It always seemed somewhat of an afterthought to me, which possibly explains why I have overlooked it until the release of the live set. Nonetheless, it is an interesting representative of Dire Straits’ live sound at a very early stage. The band had barely been together for a year. Their self-titled debut album had only been released the previous month. So here we have a seven-song snapshot of Dire Straits when they were still relatively unknown. As you can tell from the recording, there is little fanfare around them at this point. And musically, they were still raw. But, through a slightly poor mix in which Mark’s voice is a tad buried at times, his guitar work stands out powerfully on this recording. You can clearly hear how Mark’s guitar, voice and songs would go on to capture the public’s imagination. What has always puzzled me about this release, however, is the inclusion at the end of ‘Tunnel of Love’. While the first seven tracks were all recorded for the aforementioned BBC radio session in July ’78, ‘Tunnel of Love’ is a somewhat later composition and this particular performance was recorded in 1980. For a start, it is not from the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test as suggested in the credits, but was in fact recorded in Dortmund in December 1980. By this time, the line-up had changed and the band had a different sound entirely. Quite apart from the fact that this particular recording is in mono and of a fairly poor quality which I would tend to argue is not really of a good enough standard for an official release, it is totally out of step with the other seven tracks. Guy has done his best to improve it using an effect to open out the sound, but with the original recording being of a low quality there is only so much he could have done. Personally I’d have removed it from the album completely, but that’s just me! That aside, I am nevertheless glad to finally have Live at the BBC in my collection. It fills a gap that should have been filled many moons ago. It is also quite poignant reading the liner notes on the inside cover, written by the late Charlie Gillett who gave the band their first break when he played their demo of ‘Sultans of Swing’ on BBC Radio London in 1977. Rest in peace Charlie.
LIVE AT THE RAINBOW
Perhaps the biggest surprise of this set is Live at the Rainbow. Recorded on December 21st 1979, it’s an interesting show for a multitude of reasons. It was the final show of the Communiqué tour, and it was also the final show played by the original Dire Straits line-up. David Knopfler would leave the band during the recording sessions for Making Movies in August 1980. The setlist in fact includes two songs that would later be recorded for that album, namely ‘Solid Rock’ and ‘Les Boys’, and it’s fascinating to hear these songs being performed by the original line-up. The concert also features guest appearances by the late, great Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy fame and Tony De Meur of New Wave band The Fabulous Poodles for an encore of old-time rock n’ roll tunes. Other than a few clips featured in the BBC’s Arena documentary which focussed on the band and was broadcast in 1980, nobody seemed aware that a complete recording of the show existed. I don’t believe any of us fans could have predicted that we might one day see the issuing an entirely unreleased Dire Straits live album, but lo and behold, here it is. Reading his diary of the production of this box set on his website, it would seem it also took Guy Fletcher somewhat by surprise. Unlike Alchemy and On the Night where the additional songs had to be mixed in such a way that they remained in-keeping with the nature of their existing tracklists, there were no such limitations here. Guy had a clean slate to work from. And what a truly magnificent job he has done. The quality of this album is quite incredible. It might have been recorded almost 44 years ago as I write this article, but it might just as well have been recorded yesterday. It sounds so fresh, and the energy of the band at this point in time comes through in spades. Listening to it almost makes me feel that I am actually in the Rainbow Theatre. I just have to close my eyes and I’m there. Sadly that wouldn’t be possible in reality now, since in 1988 the venue was converted into a Brazilian church which, considering its history and the array of artists that played there, is a huge shame. But the sound really is as clear as a bell, not least because the band at this point was still the original four-piece. There are two guitars, the bass and the drums, plus the backing vocals. It is wonderfully uncluttered and simple. As was typically the case in that relatively early period, Mark’s lead guitar playing is very much at the forefront of the music. Songs such as ‘Lady Writer’ and ‘Sultans of Swing’ feature some frenetic soloing. As the years progressed, Mark’s playing would become more measured – perhaps, quite rightly, more in favour of tone over speed. There is no way he would be so exuberant in later years but in the late 1970s, his speedy fingerpicking on a red 1961 Fender Stratocaster was a defining signature of the music. To be able to hear an immaculate representation of this period of Dire Straits’ live career is really quite something, and I for one am extremely glad we have it.
ALCHEMY
There is little I can say about Alchemy that has not already been said. It is a legendary live album, much loved by many fans. Recorded at the end of the Love Over Gold tour at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in July 1983 and originally released in March the following year, it captures Dire Straits on the cusp of becoming one of the biggest bands on the planet – not long before they would record Brothers in Arms, which would propel them to positively stratospheric heights in 1985. The band had undergone somewhat of a transformation since Live at the Rainbow was recorded. The line-up had expanded, with keyboardist Alan Clark joining, and guitarist Hal Lindes and drummer Terry Williams replacing David Knopfler and Pick Withers respectively. Musically, they were now experimenting much more with synthesisers, effects and the arrangements of the songs themselves. Dire Straits was now a far more dynamic unit than it had been in the early years. Songs such as set opener ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ and ‘Sultans of Swing’ were now significantly longer than their respective studio versions, gaining new passages and extended solos. The latter of those two songs would remain a set staple in its extended form for the next fifteen years, subtly evolving from tour to tour. Previous CD issues of Alchemy featured eleven tracks, but three more songs recorded at the Hammersmith shows were omitted, those being ‘Industrial Disease’, ‘Twisting By the Pool’ and ’Portobello Belle’. I was always puzzled particularly by the omission of ‘Industrial Disease’, since you can hear the intro of the song at the end of ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ and the tail end of it at the beginning of ‘Expresso Love’. It seemed an almost cruel tease. Happily however, after all these years, we finally have a version of Alchemy with all three songs slotted into the tracklist. Guy Fletcher has once again worked his magic here. Listening to the album now, which in its vinyl form is now a triple album such is its length, it’s as if these songs had always been a part of it. The transition from the original tracks to those newly added and back again is totally seamless. It’s fantastic to have this historic live album now in a more complete form, albeit with some edits to accommodate it on vinyl. As well as the album, there was of course a concert film of Alchemy, which last saw a reissue on DVD and Blu-ray in 2010. Perhaps we will get another reissue at some time in the future with the previously unreleased songs added. It remains to be seen.
ON THE NIGHT / ENCORES EP
Speaking personally, On the Night is the album I was most looking forward to in this set. On Every Street is probably my favourite period of Dire Straits. The album itself, released in September 1991, has stood the test of time remarkably well and still sounds amazing to this day, over thirty years later. With the band now having established itself among the all-time legendary artists with the runaway success of previous album Brothers in Arms, the associated tour was naturally a large production, visiting huge arenas and stadiums around the world. It began in August 1991 and lasted until October 1992, with a large road crew and two stages that would leapfrog one another to each subsequent venue. Much water had passed under the bridge since the Brothers in Arms tour of 1985-86. Mark had recorded and toured as part of The Notting Hillbillies and had also recorded a collaboration album with Chet Atkins entitled Neck and Neck. And in those five or so years, music and sound production technology had moved on considerably. Effects and synthesisers, for instance, had advanced significantly. The touring line-up had also expanded once again. Dire Straits was now a nine-piece. The result was a significantly different sound to that of the mid-1980s. The On Every Street shows were perhaps the most polished and water-tight that the band had played. Some might argue that the show was too polished. Indeed, the rehearsal time ran into months as opposed to weeks. With everything now being on such a massive scale, Mark had made the decision that this should be the last Dire Straits tour. It wasn’t a farewell tour as such, but I think it’s fair to say that it had the feel of one. And that’s something that I’ve always felt came across quite strongly on the On the Night live album and concert film. Along with the three additional tracks included on the concert film and the Encores EP, the combined original releases gave us thirteen songs recorded across multiple shows in May 1992. There were, however, some glaring omissions including the likes of ‘Sultans of Swing’, ‘Two Young Lovers’ and ‘Telegraph Road’. Until now, we had to rely on TV broadcast bootlegs of shows in Basel and Nîmes in order to hear those songs but with the release of Dire Straits Live, we finally have properly mixed official recordings of them in an expanded edition of On the Night. The album now features seventeen tracks and, in its vinyl form, is now a quadruple album. Added to the Encores EP (of which the edition remastered for Record Store Day Black Friday 2021 is included here), we now have a total of twenty recordings from these shows. We have superb, previously unheard recordings of ‘Fade to Black’ and ‘When it Comes to You’, as well as an excellent performance of ‘I Think I Love You Too Much’, an unreleased song from the On Every Street period. Perhaps of most interest is the addition of a recording of ‘Tunnel of Love’ which, upon first listen, immediately became my new favourite performance of the song. It is simply outstanding and quite an exhilarating listen. I especially love the delay effect on Mark’s Pensa-Suhr MK1, his primary guitar of the time used for both overdriven and clean Strat-like tones. It is an iconic instrument from which Mark achieved some amazing sounds. The performance of ‘You and Your Friend’ is a prime example here. It is among a large number of his instruments being auctioned in January 2024, which makes this extended edition of On the Night all the more poignant. It is an absolute joy to behold from start to finish.
Making my way through this wonderful box set, then, has been a huge pleasure. There are so many gems to unpack, from additional songs added to Alchemy and On the Night that many of us would have assumed we’d never get to hear, to an entirely unreleased live album. It really is a box of sonic treasure. If I’m being honest, to say it is the last word in Dire Straits live recordings would possibly be taking things a little too far. Not every tour is covered – nothing is included from the 1980-81 On Location tour and there is a gaping nine year gap between Alchemy and On the Night, since there are no recordings included from the Brothers in Arms tour. Other than clips from one of the shows during the mammoth Wembley Arena residency of July 1985 uploaded to the official Dire Straits YouTube channel, nothing has ever been properly released from this tour which, considering how significant a period it was for Dire Straits, is really quite perplexing. Perhaps one day we will be surprised once again with a Brothers in Arms live album or concert film, but it depends very much on the availability of multi-tracks of shows from the tour which, it would seem, are in short supply going by Guy Fletcher’s comments on his website. But in the meantime, I cannot possibly have any complaints about what is contained within Dire Straits Live. It is a positively sumptuous collection. And perhaps it is an indication of things to come. Maybe there are more unreleased treasures in the vaults just waiting to be unleashed. Perhaps there will be a similar set (or sets) covering Mark’s solo tours. Well, if Dire Straits Live is anything to go by, that would be something rather special.
When I began considering my annual round-up of activity by my favourite artists during 2022, I was initially a little concerned that I might not have much to write about. But then I got my notepad and pen out, and at the time of writing this introduction I have filled two and a half pages worth of bullet points on Sting and The Police alone. There have been musicals, tours and a number of interesting reissues. So here, then, for your delectation, is an omnibus – if you will – of my musical highlights from 2022, as well as a look forward to what we might expect during 2023 from the likes of Sting and The Police, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Ron Sexsmith and Lindsey Buckingham.
STING & THE POLICE
Way back in early 1980, The Police had been formed for something in the region of three years. By this point they had released two studio albums (1978’s Outlandos d’Amour followed by 1979’s Reggatta de Blanc) and had achieved two UK number one singles in the form of ‘Message in a Bottle’ and ‘Walking On the Moon’. They were gathering momentum all the time, but in order to further consolidate their success and expand their listener base, manager Miles Copeland III hit upon the idea of touring Asia and the Far East. Taking in such places as India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico and Egypt, the Around the World tour was unprecedented for a British rock band. The tour was documented in the Around the World film, originally released in the early days of home video in 1982. Starting with footage from the beginning of the tour in February 1980 and stretching past the release of third album Zenyatta Mondatta in October 1980, this rather jovial, jaunty film follows the band as they visit Kyoto, Bombay, Cairo and later the US. It has taken many, many years and some painstaking remedial work, but the film finally saw a reissue in May 2022 across multiple formats as Around the World: Restored and Expanded. The footage has been uprated to high definition and is of an excellent quality. It is fantastic to finally have an official record of this mid-point in the band’s career on disc, along with full bonus performances of various songs featured in the film. As well as the visual content, the package also comes with a previously unreleased live album featuring a number of performances from Kyoto, as well as Hammersmith and Hong Kong. And I have to say, whoever mixed these recordings deserves a medal. They were recorded over forty years ago, but here they really do sound as fresh as if they were recorded just yesterday. I was quite taken aback as I pressed play for the first time and Sting’s first few bass notes rang out on ‘Walking On the Moon’. The energy of the band comes across amazingly well. The Blu-ray set comes with the live album on CD, whilst there is also a limited edition DVD set with the album presented on blue vinyl, which looks and sounds fabulous (though does miss off a couple of tracks due to space constraints). If you are a Police fan and you don’t already have this set, I cannot recommend it enough.
Various covers of the newly restored and expanded Around the World film, and the beautiful blue vinyl edition of the live album
In November 2022, we had an intriguing reissue of the fourth (and my personal favourite) Police album, 1981’s Ghost in the Machine. The physical edition was released in the form of a vinyl picture disc with the three digital figures of the original front cover on side A and the inner sleeve artwork on side B. Most interestingly however, this reissue features an alternative tracklist which was apparently the planned running order of the songs before the tracklist that was ultimately released was decided upon. It also features three bonus tracks including non-album B sides ‘Once Upon a Daydream’ and ‘Shambelle’, plus a previously unreleased (and excellent) mix of ‘I Burn for You’, recorded originally for the Brimstone and Treacle soundtrack in 1982. Having been so used to the original tracklist for so many years, listening to the songs in this alternative running order did feel a little strange. Especially with ‘Omegaman’, ‘Secret Journey’ and ‘Darkness’ all placed on side A. Being arguably three of the finest songs each of the band members wrote for The Police, I always felt they were the perfect way to close the album. Another unusual feature is the inclusion of count-ins on a number of the songs. As is often the case with picture discs, there is some surface rumble as the stylus glides over the grooves but once each track starts, it is barely noticeable and the sound quality is absolutely fine. One problem I do have with this release, however, is the presentation. Given that this is a special release which, at around £35.00, is not exactly cheap, I would have expected a better sleeve design than the one we got. The disc simply comes in a clear plastic bag with a sticker showing the album name, credits and tracklisting. That is it. There is no outer sleeve. This is especially odd, since an alternate front cover was in fact designed for this release and has been used for the artwork with the digital editions. How hard would it have been to produce a normal cardboard sleeve with that design for the vinyl edition? It is very awkward to retrieve your disc from the plastic bag without rubbing the grooves against the inside of the plastic or, worse, scratching it against the edge of the plastic when you do eventually manage to pull it free. For a more practical and safer storage option, I have now placed the disc in a proper poly-lined sleeve (packs of these are available online or in record stores) and have slotted it in with the regular edition of the album in my Every Move You Make boxset. Although the standard album sleeve is only designed for a single disc, the extra disc thankfully slots in very comfortably and doesn’t cause any space issues in the box. I have kept the plastic bag it came in separately. But, it must be said, for a special, limited edition release like this, to simply present the disc in nothing more than a plastic bag does seem somewhat lazy.
The new ‘alternate tracklist’ picture disc edition of Ghost in the Machine, and the redesigned front cover unfortunately not utilised for the physical release.
I cannot be sure of what upcoming projects may be planned for The Police during 2023, however Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland have both mentioned that a special expanded edition of Reggatta de Blanc may be on the cards. This was first suggested perhaps two or three years ago but no official news on this project has surfaced as of yet. It seems that, after many years of reluctance, the three members of the band are now more open to the idea of expanded reissues and releases of previously unavailable archive material. 2023 will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Synchronicity, which of course represented the zenith of the band’s success so I would not be surprised to see some sort of reissue of that album in the next six months or so, perhaps similar to the picture disc edition of Ghost in the Machine. It should be noted, however, that because The Police were quite efficient in the studio and kept their recording time down to a relative minimum, there is not necessarily going to be a great deal of unreleased studio outtake material lurking in the archives. The aforementioned expanded version of Reggatta de Blanc may therefore turn out to be very much a one-of-a-kind project. Nonetheless, Andy has talked about a programme of upcoming Police releases, so it will be interesting to see what might surface over the course of the next few years.
Onto Sting solo matters, November 2021 saw the release of his newest studio album The Bridge, which I said at the time was in my opinion perhaps his best work for something in the region of 25 years. Just over a year later, my view has not changed and I honestly believe the album is up there with the quality of such classic Sting albums as The Soul Cages (1991), Ten Summoner’s Tales (1993) and Mercury Falling (1996). With veteran artists finding it increasingly difficult to get their new material heard, it is unfortunate that this wonderful album passed by without many people really noticing it, because with such strong compositions as ‘Captain Bateman’, ‘Rushing Water’, ‘The Hills On the Border’ and the title track, it is absolutely as worthy of any music fan’s attention as any of Sting’s previous work. Nonetheless, a repackaged edition of The Bridge was issued in June 2022. Somewhat flatteringly described as the ‘super deluxe’ edition, it includes the original 13 track deluxe edition of the album along with a bonus disc featuring live recordings from Sting’s performance at the Panthéon, Paris, around the time of the album’s original release. All of the songs on this disc are both performed and recorded beautifully and are an absolute pleasure to listen to. The package was made available both on CD and vinyl. Personally I only bought the CD package since I already own the record store exclusive double vinyl edition released back in November 2021, and as good as the new bonus disc is, I don’t feel that I need it on vinyl as well – which would of course mean accumulating yet another copy of the original album!
Front and inside covers of the super deluxe CD edition of The Bridge
Throughout 2022, Sting has been continuing his My Songs world tour. The beginning of this year’s programme of shows faltered somewhat due to members of the band coming down with Covid, but the tour got up and running properly again with a series of shows at the London Palladium. I had a ticket for one of these shows, and an excellent seat it was too. I was very much looking forward to seeing Sting live at such a special venue…unfortunately though, I ended up having to sell my precious ticket due to a combination of family and financial reasons. Happily however, Sting recently announced a series of outdoor UK concerts for summer 2023 and I will now be seeing the show at Cardiff Castle in July. It will of course be of a very different nature to that of an intimate venue like the Palladium, but I am glad of a second opportunity to see the tour in person and you can expect both a written and video review on my YouTube channel upon my return from the show. With over 100 shows played during 2022 and the My Songs tour now extending into 2023, the must be the most extensive solo tour Sting has undertaken since the Brand New Day tour in 1999-2001. It is wonderful that, now into his 70s, he is evidently still so keen to be out on the road performing for people. My only slight complaint here is that there was never a tour directly associated with The Bridge. With the exception of 2013’s The Last Ship, Sting has always toured behind his newest studio album. With such a brilliant album of entirely new songs now out in the world, you would think that he would want to rebrand the tour to align it with that album rather than continuing to tour behind My Songs – an album of re-recorded and remixed hits that is now approaching four years old. It will be interesting to see whether any of the few songs from The Bridge that he has been playing live are still in the setlist by the time the tour swings around to the UK next summer. There is no doubt in my mind that the album deserves a tour of its own, even if it hasn’t necessarily set the charts alight.
Sting live on the My Songs tour (Photo credit: Torsten Reitz)
Meanwhile, March 2023 will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of Sting’s classic album Ten Summoner’s Tales. I am hoping and praying that this wonderful album will receive the full-on expanded reissue that it so richly deserves. With songs such as ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith in You’, ‘Fields of Gold’ and ‘Seven Days’, it is an utterly timeless set of recordings that represents Sting at the absolute top of his game. It is still held in high regard to this day and is considered by many to be the definitive Sting album. Recent Sting album anniversaries have unfortunately been marked by digital-only reissues with assorted bonus tracks and disappointing remixes. Sting’s albums deserve so much more – but if there is one Sting album that warrants a properly expanded reissue with plenty of bonus content, then it is Ten Summoner’s Tales. I will try to temper my expectations, but to simply throw another digital edition of the album out there with no fanfare as happened recently with The Soul Cages and …Nothing Like the Sun would be quite a disappointment for such a classic album. Whatever the case, I will definitely be celebrating the anniversary myself with a written appreciation and YouTube videos amongst other activities, so do stay tuned Sting fans!
PAUL McCARTNEY
With the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns hopefully behind us, 2022 heralded somewhat of a return to relative normality with artists returning to the road in earnest for the first time in two or three years. Paul McCartney had last played live shows during 2019 as part of his Freshen Up tour, with the last show of that year taking place at the legendary 56,000 capacity Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The tour was due to continue into 2020 with shows planned across Europe, but with all these dates being cancelled due to the lockdowns, one could have been forgiven for wondering whether Paul would ever tour again. Indeed, he turned 80 during 2022 and surely nobody would begrudge him taking a step back from live performances to perhaps focus more on recording work. Nevertheless, the all-new (and appropriately named) Got Back tour was announced early in the year with shows taking place across the US from April to June. A headliner performance at Glastonbury, held over from the cancelled event of 2020, was announced subsequently. Now, with Paul’s voice not quite, in all reality, being the force that it once was, some fans may have been a little concerned as to how a performance at such a huge event being broadcast around the world might come across. But we needn’t have worried. Paul and the band absolutely nailed it. Whilst the voice may not be a strong as it used to be in years gone by, at 80 years of age he is clearly as dynamic a performer now as he ever was. The British public are often dismissive of older rock stars, but to see a live show of Paul’s being so well received across the board was really quite refreshing.
Paul McCartney performs at Glastonbury, 27th June 2022 (Photo credit: Matt Cardy)
In other activity, many fans were anticipating another addition or two to the Paul McCartney Archive Collection during 2022, especially since 2021 drew a blank where this series is concerned. Launched in 2010, these reissues are always something for Paul’s immediate fanbase to look forward to. Thirteen of these significantly expanded albums have surfaced thus far, each one remastered perfectly, bringing the best out of the sound while preserving the spirit of the original recordings. There is invariably bonus audio ranging from stand-alone singles of the given era to non-album B sides and previously unreleased recordings. Visual content included on DVDs will often feature previously unseen footage or documentary films amongst various other material. And as if all that wasn’t enough, the deluxe editions of these archive sets have all, without exception, been presented beautifully with new write-ups and interviews with Paul, high quality period photography and facsimiles of hand-written lyrics and magazine articles amongst many other artefacts. They are expensive for sure, but clearly a great deal of effort is put into designing and producing each of these sets and they really are worth every penny. The latest of the sets was the Flaming Pie reissue of 2020. As all but two albums from the 1970s have now been covered by the series, the general expectation among fans seems to be that the next sets will be the final two Wings albums – 1978’s London Town and 1979’s Back to the Egg. These two have been hotly anticipated for some time and it would make very little sense for the series not to at least cover the remainder of the 1970s, so here’s hoping that this will happen at some point during 2023. This just leaves 1986’s Press to Play and 1993’s Off the Ground, though I feel this depends very much on commercial viability since these are both relatively obscure albums. At the very least, I would like to think we will eventually at least see remastered and expanded archive editions of these two, even if not in the form of big lavish boxsets, though this is unlikely to happen during 2023.
Will we finally see Archive Collection editions of London Town and Back to the Egg in 2023?
What was slightly frustrating in 2022 was the fact that potential opportunities for further Archive releases were missed. First, we had the McCartney box set. This set includes Paul’s three self-titled, self-produced albums McCartney (1970), McCartney II (1980) and McCartney III (2020). And to be honest, I struggle to see exactly what the point in these release was. It was clearly aimed at the immediate fanbase, yet it contained nothing new or previously unreleased to entice us. It was just the three albums in one boxset with no extra content, and since most fans are highly likely to already own these albums in multiple formats, one has to wonder where the market was for this release. Surely this window could quite easily have been used to get the next Archive set(s) onto the market…but alas, it was not to be the case. Later in the year we had a reissue of the Beatles’ Revolver album, which for obvious reasons being a fairly major event, took more breathing space away for any potential Archive releases. And then, right at the back end of the year, something rather unexpected and slightly bonkers happened.
In November, rumours began circulating of an imminent announcement. What could it have been? Could it finally be the next Archive sets? No. A new album? No. A live release? No. As it turned out, it was a huge boxset of 7” vinyl singles spanning Paul’s entire post-Beatles career from 1970 to the present day. Eighty discs containing a total of 163 songs, all presented in a large wooden crate limited to a total of 3000 copes for the small matter of £614.99. Bearing in mind that the release date was in the run-up to Christmas, and in the middle of an ongoing cost of living crisis, you could easily argue that releasing a set like this at this juncture was absolute madness, and possibly even a little callous towards long-term fans who would love to own the set but simply could not afford it. Nonetheless, the set sold out within twelve hours of it going on pre-sale, no doubt resulting in the cancellation of many McCartney fans’ Christmases and quite possibly a good few divorces. Personally, I’d have loved to own such a special item but the cost was unfortunately well outside of my budget constraints. Looking at the official Paul McCartney fan group of Facebook, you would think that the whole world and his dog had bought it what with all the images of the set appearing there. It certainly looks like a beautiful set, but not being able to get my own hands on it will grate for a while and, for me at least, the release of a new Archive set would have been much preferable! Super fan Andrew Dixon was lucky enough to get his hands on the 7” Singles set and you can check out his ‘deep dive’ unboxing video of it here: https://youtu.be/ODjou8VfOVQ
The slightly bonkers 7” Singles box set
As for 2023, we don’t really know what plans Paul and his team might have for sure, though hopefully the Archive series will resume. There will no doubt be other minor rereleases such as the half-speed remasters that have been celebrating the 50th anniversaries of his 1970s albums – Red Rose Speedway and Band On the Run would be the two albums celebrating those anniversaries in 2023. Will there be yet another reissue of Band On the Run? It remains to be seen, but if there is, it would have to include quite a sizeable carrot for fans to buy it all over again, especially as it has already been covered by the Archive series, albeit not in as lavish a presentation as some of the more recent sets. No touring has been announced, though knowing Paul, he may be 80 years of age now but he is not the kind of person who likes to stay idle for too long, so I would not be at all surprised if we see a continuation of the Got Back tour. He has very recently talked about working on new recordings with producer Andrew Watt, so one would assume a new studio album is in the works, though whether or not the result of this work will see the light of day by the end of 2023 is another matter.
MARK KNOPFLER & DIRE STRAITS
As we await Mark Knopfler’s next studio album, there have been numerous treats to keep us going in the meantime. In late 2021, bass player John Illsley’s book My Life in Dire Straits was published. This book was my companion for the first few weeks of 2022 and it is an excellent account of what life was like inside the bubble of what, from rather humble beginnings in the late 1970s, ultimately became the biggest band on the planet by the mid-1980s. I learned many things about the inner workings of the band of which I wasn’t necessarily aware. With stories of their very earliest gigs, their first meeting with manager Ed Bicknell, the departure of Mark’s brother David, concert-goer shenanigans in Italy and dealing with the comedown after the final world tour, it is a fascinating read from start to finish and if you haven’t read it yet, I can thoroughly recommend it. It is available now in paperback from all good book stores, as they say.
2022 marked the 40th anniversary of Dire Straits’ fourth album Love Over Gold. To celebrate this, a special half-speed mastered vinyl edition was made available exclusively for Record Store Day in April. I was keen to get my hands on this as I was never hugely enamoured with the conventionally remastered edition included in the Studio Albums boxset. It always sounded too quiet to me – particularly at high end frequencies. I was hugely impressed by all the half-speed mastered vinyl albums I already owned – the Police albums included in the Every Move You Make set, for instance, all sound superb. Miles Showell, who had also remastered the first volume of Mark Knopfler’s solo albums boxset released in 2021, was once again recruited to handle the mastering of Love Over Gold. So, Record Store Day came along and I duly hauled myself out of bed at sparrows fart to join the queue at my local record store in the hope of grabbing my copy. It’s always a bit of a risk when you only want one album out of this event because there is always a possibility that other music fans are after the same item and you might well return home empty-handed. Thankfully however, I was successful and managed to grab the last copy available. The sleeve of this new edition is presented beautifully. It has a gloss finish and the lightning bolt of that iconic cover shot is reflective so it stands out in the light. It looks fabulous. As well as the album itself, the package also contains a new interview with Mark Knopfler and John Illsley reflecting on the album and that early-eighties period of the band. I have to be honest however. As impressed as I have been with all the other half-speed mastered albums I own, I could not detect a marked improvement in the sound of this particular edition. Indeed, I listened to the conventionally remastered edition not long afterwards and was hard pressed to hear any significant difference. Normally, higher frequency sounds tend to come out better with half-speed mastering as more sonic detail is cut into the acetate due to the slower mastering speed, but unfortunately, to my ears at least, it doesn’t seem to have worked as well as usual in this instance. Which is a tad disappointing, but nonetheless the release remains a very nice collectible, if only for its packaging and the new interviews with Mark and John.
The gloss-finished sleeve of the newly half-speed mastered edition of Love Over Gold
June saw a remastered reissue of Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing compilation, originally issued in 1988 to commemorate ten years since the release of their eponymous debut album. This would be the first time the complete album has been released on vinyl, as the original was only presented as a single album with ‘Telegraph Road’ omitted due to space constraints. Although it is a ‘best of’ compilation, Money for Nothing remains of some interest because of a number of alternative versions of songs that are exclusive to the album. ‘Telegraph Road’ is a remix of the live recording from 1984’s Alchemy, ‘Twisting By the Pool’ is also a remix, ‘Where Do You Think You’re Going’ is a rough demo version and there is a live recording of ‘Portobello Belle’ unavailable elsewhere. For this revised reissue, an alternative live performance of ‘Portobello Belle’ from a different show has been newly mixed by Mark’s long-term bandmate and producer Guy Fletcher at British Grove Studios and, as you might expect going by Guy’s standards, it sounds wonderful. Other than that, however, the reissue turned out somewhat botched. Instead of the remix of ‘Twisting By the Pool’, the original has been mistakenly included. And in the most glaring of errors, the remixed live version of ‘Telegraph Road’ has been substituted for an evidently discarded and incomplete studio mix of the song which, presumably, was never intended to see the light of day. How errors like these could possibly be made is a mystery, since one would assume that the acetates have to be checked and approved before copies are manufactured and put on sale to the public. How did nobody in the production chain notice? Very strange indeed. Still, it certainly makes for a unique addition to the collection!
It was perhaps no great surprise but in October, we received the second volume of Mark’s solo Studio Albums boxset, encompassing all of his albums from 2009’s Get Lucky, up to and including 2018’s Down the Road Wherever, his most recent studio effort. Unlike the first set however, this second volume includes two previously unreleased outtakes ‘Back in the Day’ and ‘Precious Voice from Heaven’, both recorded during the Down the Road Wherever sessions. There had been some production quality issues with the first set (Mark and Dire Straits’ vinyl releases are currently manufactured by the GZ Media pressing plant in the Czech Republic where production quality has been known to be inconsistent), however this new set seems to be of a better quality and I have experienced no major issues with it thus far, though I am yet to make my way through all of the records. There was perhaps more excitement surrounding the first volume due to it containing the first vinyl issues of Golden Heart and Sailing to Philadelphia, but the collection would not have felt complete without the second volume so although I initially resisted it, I felt compelled to order myself a copy! You can see my ‘unboxing’ video of the set here: https://youtu.be/jiNzB98eDMg
Mark Knopfler: The Studio Albums – 2009-2018
Perhaps the biggest highlight of my year was finally getting to see the Local Hero musical for myself. Having initially been staged at the Edinburgh Lyceum during 2019, the production was due to move down to London’s Old Vic in 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic intervened and the run was ultimately cancelled entirely, leaving the future of the musical in some doubt. Happily however, it was announced in March 2022 that the Chichester Festival Theatre would be taking the production on and it was staged at their intimate Minerva Theatre during October and November. I went to see a matinee performance on 21st October and was absolutely bowled over it. The songs are wonderful, brilliantly played by a stellar band, and the performances by the cast were outstanding. It is a great tribute to the original movie and one would hope that the production will continue into 2023 and go on to other venues around the country so that it can be seen by a wider audience. It really does deserve all the success it can get. Guy Fletcher has talked about making a cast recording of the production. I can’t imagine this being released as soon as 2023, but I for one will be extremely keen to hear it. See my full review of Local Hero here: https://guitarman147.wordpress.com/2022/10/23/local-hero-minerva-theatre-chichester-21st-october-2022/
Meanwhile, two members of Mark’s touring band have been busy recording their own solo albums. Long-time colleague and co-producer Guy Fletcher released an excellent album in 2022 entitled Anomaly. This is quite honestly one of the most interesting and imaginative albums I have heard in a long while. A significant departure from his previous three albums, the songs spear off in all kinds of unexpected and unusual directions and the listener will find something different in the songs with each spin. Sadly there is no vinyl edition due to cost and production reasons, but the CD and various digital formats are available from Guy’s website. You can read my review of Anomaly here: https://guitarman147.wordpress.com/2022/11/03/music-review-guy-fletcher-anomaly/ Mark’s guitarist Richard Bennett has also released an instrumental album this year entitled Tall Tale Tunes. I must confess that I am yet to purchase this album but fear not, Richard, I intend to remedy that situation very shortly! Listening to some of the samples, one track entitled ‘The Gallows Dawn’ features Richard employing a Les Paul tone and style that is distinctly Knopfler-esque. I could quite easily have been fooled into thinking it is Mark himself. When you’ve worked with such a master for over 25 years, some of his style is inevitably going to rub off on you. Richard has a real knack for melody, so I look forward to hearing the rest of the album.
When I recorded my 2021 review / 2022 preview videos for my YouTube channel a year ago, I was working on the assumption that we would have heard a new Mark Knopfler album by the end of 2022. As time went on however, it became increasingly evident that the album will now not surface until 2023. It has already accumulated a good deal of milage at this point. Going by his message to fans at the start of the lockdowns, Mark was originally intending to return to British Grove Studios, Chiswick to start work on recording new songs sometime around spring 2020 – only six months or so after the Down the Road Wherever tour had wrapped up at Madison Square Garden. This plan was obviously scuppered by the ensuing crisis, so work eventually started tentatively after the lockdowns were partially eased, and continued on and off over the course of 2021. Eventually, the band was able to come together at British Grove early on in 2022 for four weeks of sessions. After that, the focus doubtless would have shifted to putting the Chichester run of the Local Hero musical together, delaying the album further to what one would assume would have been a release around the first half of 2023. Mark however, being the prolific writer that he is, had naturally come up with another batch of songs since the initial plan to record in 2020 and decided these also needed laying down, so in came the band once again for another week of sessions in the latter stages of 2022. So this means, at a guess, we will likely see a new album released somewhere around the Autumn of 2023 – over three years since the original recording sessions were planned! With all the time that has elapsed, the album will no doubt shape up to be quite different from what Mark might originally have envisaged. We know that there are a lot of songs in the bag – the aforementioned Richard Bennett was interviewed recently and described how they might possibly have recorded enough songs for about three albums. Will we get a double album? I certainly wouldn’t be complaining if so. It remains to be seen. Hopefully not too much material will end up being discarded. But whatever form it takes, a new Mark Knopfler album is always something special. The quality of his solo work has consistently been absolutely second to none in every aspect and I have no doubt that his eleventh post-Dire Straits effort will be no exception.
Will he tour behind the album? Nobody really knows for sure, but I get the impression that Mark is reluctant to go out on any big tours in the future. There was talk of the Down the Road Wherever tour being his last tour, though from what he was saying to audiences he seemed to change his mind over the course of it. Had the pandemic never occurred and the next album had been recorded in 2020 as planned, perhaps he would indeed have gone out on one last tour but to my mind, it seems unlikely now. I have no doubt that he will play live again in some capacity. Perhaps it could be a residency at one particular venue like the Albert Hall, or a short UK tour…once again it remains to be seen. But from my personal perspective, even if I never get to see the great man live again, I’ll always have some wonderful memories of being at his shows. Each occasion being in the presence of Mark and his brilliant band has been a precious and unforgettable experience and I have no doubt that many other fans feel the same way.
Mark Knopfler live at the Royal Albert Hall, 22nd May 2019 (Photo credit: Mike Child)
Though he does operate very much under the radar, Ron Sexsmith is perhaps one of the finest songwriters in the whole game. I first discovered him with the release of his most successful album thus far Long Player Late Bloomer back in 2011. I have continued to follow his activities ever since and he has proved to be prolific to say the least with a new album popping up generally every two years or so. In 2022 he was able to resume touring following the lockdowns which forced the postponement of his shows following the release of his newest album Hermitage in 2020. Meanwhile, a new album recorded in Nashville with Brad Jones producing had been recorded which was eventually announced in September, with the announcement accompanied by first lead single ‘What I Had in Mind’. A further single, ‘Diamond Wave’, followed some weeks later. Both tracks sound terrific and I am very much looking forward to the release of The Vivian Line on 17th February 2023.
The Vivian Line refers to a rural route near Ron’s house, which he views as “a sort of portal between my old life in Toronto and my new life here [in Ontario].”
It has been nothing if not an eventful year for former Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham. In September 2021 he released his excellent self-titled seventh solo album, and followed it up that same month with a tour of the US. A further run of US shows followed in 2022, and a tour of Europe and the UK was planned for Spring 2022. However, this ended up being postponed due to Lindsey and other members of the band contracting Covid-19 during the preceding run of US dates, rendering them unable to perform. The European tour was therefore postponed until September. Unfortunately, by the time September came around, Lindsey was not in the best of health and one by one, the shows were cancelled. Much to his credit, Lindsey managed to put on a widely well-received show at the London Palladium, though some reports suggested he appeared exhausted by the end of it. The remainder of the tour ended up being cancelled entirely. Whatever the problem was has never been revealed, and it would be unfair of me to speculate here. But clearly it would have been of some frustration to Lindsey himself and his fans, since this was to be his first European solo tour. Especially when you consider that the tour had already been postponed once, and a previously planned European tour in 2011 also had to be shelved due to one of his bandmates suffering from a back injury. It was heartening, however, to read in Lindsey’s New Year message that his health has now returned and that he has begun work on a new album. Whether or not this album will see a release in 2023 we don’t yet know, but it is good to know that he is on the mend and is still looking to continue pushing forward artistically.
Sadly, tragedy has also struck in 2022. Firstly, we lost Brett Tuggle. He had become familiar to fans as an integral member of Lindsey’s band handling keyboards, bass and guitar and it was immensely sad to hear of his passing. Then, later in the year, we heard the devastating news that Christine McVie had passed away at the age of 79, reportedly after a short illness. Having joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970, she became an immeasurably important part of the dynamic of the classic post-1974 line-up with Lindsey, Stevie Nicks, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. She had a unique, instantly recognisable voice and provided some of the band’s most iconic songs, such as ‘Everywhere’, ‘Little Lies’, ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘You Make Loving Fun’ and, of course, the beautiful ’Songbird’. A new orchestral version was included on an album of the same name released earlier in 2022 which, along with its accompanying animated video, seems all the more poignant now. It is enough to bring a tear to the eye. The wonderful 2017 collaboration album with Lindsey, recorded after Christine had come out of retirement to rejoin Fleetwood Mac, still seems fresh in the memory and it doesn’t seem possible that she is now gone. But the songs she wrote and sang will live on, and she will forever remain immortalised in those songs.
What were your musical highlights of 2022? And what are you looking forward to in 2023? Feel free to let me know by commenting here or on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@mikechildmusic
When Guy Fletcher turned up at Mark Knopfler’s door in 1984 “with a keyboard under his arm, looking for employment” (or so Mark alleges), I wonder if he could possibly have conceived that he would still be working with that same man some 38 years later. I can’t imagine he would. Nonetheless, that first project the two men worked on together – a soundtrack album for the movie Cal – would lead to Guy joining Dire Straits for the recording of 1985’s Brothers in Arms album, and prove to be the beginning of an enduring partnership that has encompassed virtually every project Mark has worked on ever since. Clearly, Mark could see that Guy would be somewhat of an asset to have around beyond simply being an additional keyboard player. He is certainly multi-talented. If you’ve ever been to a Mark Knopfler concert, Mark will often comment on his remarkable ability to play keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, Hawaiian lap steel, and perhaps even fix your watch or your bicycle. In his book My Life in Dire Straits, bass player John Illsley commented how “you could sit him down in the cockpit of a jumbo jet for half an hour and he’d probably work it out and take it for a spin.”
So, all in all, a pretty useful chap.
What Guy brings to the table is clearly evident in the music he has co-produced with Mark – particularly in comparatively recent years. Albums such as Get Lucky (2009), Privateering (2012) and the remarkable Tracker (2015) are of a superior sonic quality to the vast majority of pretty much anything else you’ll hear. Real Live Roadrunning, a DVD/CD set recorded on Mark and Emmylou Harris’ collaborative 2006 tour, remains by some margin the best mixed live recording I have ever heard. And Guy has played a central role in all of these projects. When you join the immense songwriting talents of the likes of Mark Knopfler with the vast technical know-how and good ears of the likes of Guy Fletcher, you have quite the formidable combination.
Having worked with such a master of the songwriting craft over so many years, it stands to reason that at least some of that mastery will have rubbed off on Guy. It was in 2008 that he set out on his own creative endeavours with the release of his debut solo album Inamorata. Listening to that album, it seemed clear to me that Mark’s songwriting mannerisms had indeed influenced him to some extent. But he also has a style and an approach to writing songs that is all his own and as with all the most talented musicians, that style has been honed and developed over time. Stone, an EP of outtakes and remixes, followed in 2009. A second album, Natural Selection, was released in 2010 and, as a body of work, the songs on this album held together arguably better than the first. High Roads, his third album, surfaced in 2016. The latest Mark Knopfler project at that time had been the beautifully produced Tracker, and I get the impression that the careful, thoughtful construction and delicate nature of the arrangements on that album had a significant impact on High Roads. As good as his previous albums had been, Guy took things to another level at this point. With beautiful songs such as ‘Margaret Set’, ‘Another Gale Blows’, ‘April Light’ and ‘Modern Game’, it makes for a more than pleasant and compelling listening experience.
Obviously, you can hear a development occurring over the course of those three albums – each one managing to better the previous work in one aspect or another. Then in 2020, like all of us, Guy found himself with some unexpected time on his hands. The result is his fourth album, Anomaly. And this record, released in April 2022, is a whole other kettle of fish to anything he has recorded previously. It’s difficult to know exactly where to start when evaluating Anomaly. There is a lot to unpack here. But that’s okay. I like a challenge, and it’s a great excuse to place this fascinating collection of songs in my CD player once again.
Where the previous albums were (for want of a better word) more organic, or perhaps ‘rootsier’ in stylistic terms, Anomaly takes us down a considerably more electronic and unexpectedly experimental route, with layer upon layer of sumptuous synthesisers, samples and effects piled on top of one another. It begins innocently enough with a track entitled ‘Shagpile Bed’, a song centred around Guy’s experience of sleeping underneath the console at DJM studios in New Oxford Street early on in his musical journey. The lyrics paint the scene quite vividly, and indeed you will also find references to various aspects of each song’s story in the artwork of this album – a veritable cacophony of colourful imagery customised to every song. The Troggs recorded at DJM – a nod to the band can therefore be found in the artwork.
It’s a strong opener, but with the second song, entitled ‘Last Night of the Riviera’, the more experimental, almost eccentric theme that characterises this album begins to reveal itself. Featuring appearances by fellow Mark Knopfler bandmates Jim Cox on piano and Ian ‘Ianto’ Thomas on drums (who features behind the kit on most of the album) as well as vocalist Sarah Ozelle, just about everything unimaginable has been thrown at this recording. Sound samples of archaic computer games, speech from a Cold War era American civil defence broadcast…it is a work of sonic intrigue that pervades Anomaly. The array of synth sounds are another element that feature heavily across the album. They give such atmosphere to so many of the songs, and in places almost a feeling of euphoria. The first half of ‘Airtime’ is one such example. And, being a sucker for a good synth pad myself, I find the outro of the title track a particular pleasure to listen to.
Certainly, Anomaly has many a quirky moment. It has uplifting moments too. The rousing chorus of ‘Some Place Else’, a song about the pitfalls of being in a struggling band, is a memorable stand-out that will repeat over and over in your head after the first listen. There is a touch of nostalgia on tracks such as ‘Shagpile Bed’ and ‘Seems Like Yesterday’ – which, I might add, wins my coveted prize for Lyric of the Year: “Jeans that never seemed to fit / Polypropylene was shit”. But there are also the more poignant moments, most notably on ‘Unlucky Number’, a song dedicated to Mark Knopfler’s British Grove studio manager David Stewart, who was so cruelly taken from us during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Being so integral to the very existence of British Grove, his loss must have been a huge shock to all concerned and the song is a touching tribute.
Anomaly is an album that constantly takes the listener in unexpected directions. Upon my first listen, I remember musing to myself: “What’s this? Huh? Now where’s he going?!” It is unpredictable to say the least. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Guy was constructing these songs. It would have been fascinating to witness these songs coming together and to see how on Earth he came up with all these weird and wonderful ideas. It is a fabulous album. It is extremely innovative and consistently maintains the listener’s interest. I like music that challenges the ear and even now, several months since its release, I still find something new each time I give it a spin. To come up with such a brilliant collage of sound as this requires a quite astounding level of technical knowledge and creative imagination. Who knows where he may possibly go next. While his day job, as it were, steadfastly remains being an indispensable part of Mark Knopfler’s output, Guy has become a top-class recording artist in his own right, and I for one will certainly be intrigued to hear whatever he comes up with going forward.
Copies of Guy Fletcher’s Anomaly are available in various formats from his website, as well as a 12” art book in lieu of a vinyl edition. And if you ask him nicely, he may even sign it for you! http://www.guyfletcher.co.uk
Mike's Musical Musings 