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Mark Knopfler
Kill to Get Crimson
(Warner Bros.)
First Appeared in The Music Box, February 2008, Volume 15, #2
Written by John Metzger
Mon February 25, 2008, 07:30 AM CST
At this stage of his career, Mark Knopfler’s fans can purchase his albums and
know precisely what to expect from them. His consistency, however, ought not be
confused with complacency. Aside from his hit-and-miss set Sailing to
Philadelphia, where he not only seemed unsure of himself but also was
distracted by his guests, Knopfler has assembled a string of understated, yet
remarkably inspired endeavors that have expanded upon the character studies that
he once delivered so forcefully while fronting Dire Straits. Sounding a lot like
an outtake from his sessions for All the Roadrunning with Emmylou Harris,
opening cut True Love Will Never Fade is an ideal entree to his latest
endeavor Kill to Get Crimson. As the set progresses, it becomes clear
that Knopfler’s desire was to refine the subtle gracefulness and beauty that he
brought to bear on Shangri-La. Not surprisingly, then, the effort slowly
reveals itself to be another stunning affair.
For certain, each of the outings in Knopfler’s solo canon has followed a
similar pattern, and at its core, Kill to Get Crimson isn’t terribly
different from what had preceded it. Once again, Knopfler placed a British twist
upon his distinctive convergence of blues, folk, and rock styles. Yet, as he has
moved from one album to the next, he also has made subtle changes to his
approach. Over the course of Kill to Get Crimson, he toys with melodic
structures while continuing to demonstrate immense restraint in his performance.
He chose to shade rather than splatter his work with color, and the result is
that he has pushed himself further outside his familiar comfort zone without
ever alienating himself from his past.
Thematically, from the heartbroken tattoo artist in True Love Will Never
Fade to the fall guy whose tale is told in Punish the Monkey to the
painter who is struggling to be creative in Let It All Go, Knopfler
crafts impressionistic portraits of working class people who have been pushed
into corners and situations that are less than ideal. While it hasn’t been
silenced completely, their yearning has been diminished to the point where they
simply have come to accept their lot in life. They hope for something better,
but they don’t expect the rewards will ever really come.
All 12 of Kill to Get Crimson’s tracks settle effortlessly into their
slow-to-mid-tempo gaits, which magnifies the gray-skied, melancholy air that
hangs over the endeavor. It’s only upon close inspection that Knopfler’s
playfully clever nature truly is revealed. When he sings, "All my yesterdays
broken" during Heart Full of Holes, for example, the music delightfully
becomes Beatle-esque in tone, if only for a moment. Likewise, the preparations
for a boarding school dance that are depicted in Secondary Waltz evoke
another time and place long before he slyly makes mention of "D-Day," which is
done not specifically in reference to World War II but rather to the boys’
unavoidable meeting with the girls.
Undeniably, it is the manner in which Knopfler’s lyrics and his music collide
that makes Kill to Get Crimson such a magnificent affair. Although there
are plenty of tasty guitar licks woven into the collection’s rich, sonic
tapestry, Knopfler’s solos tend to slip quietly alongside the rest of the
instrumentation rather erupt in a blaze of glory. Essentially, he completes the
thoughts, ideas, and moods that he sketches with his words by subtly giving them
shape and texture through his arrangements. Where he goes from here is anyone’s
guess, of course, but by applying to his typically epic narratives the knowledge
and experience that he had gleaned from his work composing film soundtracks,
Knopfler maturely has turned Kill to Get Crimson into the cinematic
culmination of his 30-year career. 
Kill to Get Crimson is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2008 The Music Box
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