Knopfler, Mark - Shangri-La

Жанр: Pop/ Rock, Blues, Folk, Country
Стиль: Album Rock, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Pop/Rock, British Blues, Blues-Rock, Folk / Country Rock, Pop / Rock, Singer / Songwriter, Soft Rock, Rock & Roll / Roots, Contemporary Singer/ Songwriter
Страна: ГЕРМАНИЯ (GERMANY)
Дата первоначального релиза: 2004-09-27
Дата релиза: 2004-09-27
Лейбл: Mercury/ Universal Music
Кол-во носителей: 1
Штрих-код: 602498677155
Кат. номер: Mercury ‎– 9867715
Количество треков: 14
Длительность: 01:06:14
Состояние пластинки: New! ( Sealed/ Sealed)! Новый! Запечатан!

1. 5.15 a.m. - 5:54
2. Boom, Like That - 5:49
3. Sucker Row - 4:56
4. The Trawlerman's Song - 5:02
5. Back To Tupelo - 4:31
6. Our Shangri-La - 5:41
7. Everybody Pays - 5:24
8. Song For Sonny Liston - 5:06
9. Whoop De Doo - 3:53
10. Postcards From Paraguay - 4:07
11. All That Matters - 3:08
12. Stand Up Guy - 4:32
13. Donegan's Gone - 3:05
14. Don't Crash The Ambulance - 5:06

Cтудийный альбом Марка Нопфлера 2004 года в формате Hybrid SACD Multichannel ( 5.1 Surround Sound ) с 27-страничным красочным буклетом производства Германии ( играет на всех CD&SACD Players! как SACD на SACD Players воспроизводится и в многоканальном режиме).
Альбом пользовался заслуженным успехом и признается у профессионалов и музыкальной критики одним из лучших в сольной дискографии великого музыканта.

Personnel:
Music:
Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitars
Richard Bennett – guitars
Jim Cox – piano, organ, harmonica
Guy Fletcher – piano, organ
Glenn Worf – bass
Chad Cromwell – drums
Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
Production:
Mark Knopfler – producer
Chuck Ainlay – producer, engineer
Guy Fletcher – engineer
Rupert Coulson – assistant engineer
Bob Ludwig – mastering.

Рейтинг:
Metacritic: 65/100
AllMusic: 3.5*/5  
The Music Box: 4*/5  
MusicTap: 4*/5
Rolling Stone: 3.5*/5
Muzon-Market ( MM): 7*/10

         *****
Марк Нопфлер родился в Шотландии в 1949 году. Популярность он приобрел в составе группы Dire Straits, позже выступал с такими мировыми знаменитостями как Стинг, Боб Дилан, Эрик Клэптон и Чет Аткинс. Сегодня он занимает 27-ю позицию в рейтинге журнала Роллинг Стоун "100 величайших гитаристов всех времён".

     *****
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Will D. Side Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Will D. Side Ltd.
Licensed To – Mercury Records Ltd.

Notes:
Total playing time: 66'22"

A release in regular CD jewel case with 16-pages booklet and clear tray.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode (Text): 6 02498 67715 5
Barcode (Compact Text): 602498677155

     *****
Composition.
The album features Knopfler's signature storytelling style of songwriting. The album's first single, "Boom, Like That", was inspired by Ray Kroc's autobiography, Grinding It Out, and the starting of McDonald's, using many of Mr. Kroc's exact words. "Song for Sonny Liston" is a song about the famous boxer, Sonny Liston. "Donegan's Gone" is about the Scottish musician and singer Lonnie Donegan. "5.15 AM" tells the story of the 1967 "one-armed bandit murder". "Back to Tupelo" is about the life of Elvis Presley and his acting career. The album was released on LP, HDCD and in 5.1 Surround Sound on Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio.

Touring.
Knopfler supported the release of Shangri-La with the Shangri-La Tour, which consisted of three legs: South Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand; Europe; and North America. The tour started on 28 February 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and included 104 concerts in 95 cities, ending on 31 July 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The tour included a five-night run at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The tour lineup included Mark Knopfler (guitar, vocals), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Richard Bennett (guitar), Matt Rollings (piano), Glenn Worf (bass), and Chad Cromwell (drums).

Shangri-La received generally favorable reviews. In his review for AllMusic, James Christopher Monger gave the album three and a half out of five stars, noting that on this album, Knopfler abandoned the British folk and Celtic-influenced pop that populated his earlier solo albums and chose instead a "full-blown yet quiet and considerate collection of country-folk ballads and bluesy, midtempo dirges that revel in their uncharacteristic sparseness." Instead of writing about his brush with mortality—the wry "Don't Crash the Ambulance" aside—Knopfler uses his "warm baritone and effortless guitar work" to explore everything from the plight of the modern fisherman (on the beautiful and rustic "Trawlerman's Song"), to the entrepreneurial skills of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc (on "Boom, Like That"). Monger concludes:
Knopfler spent seven months away from the guitar in physiotherapy, but his melancholic slow-burn tone is as peat-smoked as ever, and his penchant for wrapping Americana-gothic folk around subjects that are uniquely English—colliers, cockneys, the one-armed bandit man who meets his maker in the atmospheric opener, "5:15 A.M."—is evident throughout. Dynamically, Shangri-La loses steam about three-quarters of the way through ... but Knopfler fans and lovers of Chet Atkins, Gordon Lightfoot, and J.J. Cale, as well as late-night poker players and early risers with an acerbic streak, will find much to love here.

In his review for The Music Box, John Metzger gave the album an "excellent" four out of five stars, writing that Knopfler has rarely sounded so relaxed and his arrangements so unassuming. Metzger continued:
His performance throughout the collection is impeccable, and beneath his subdued, folk-pop musings rests the loveliest batch of songs that he’s recorded since Love Over Gold. For the most part, the tunes on Shangri-La unfold slowly, blowing past like whispers in the wind ... The problem, then, is that ... Knopfler's many muted statements begin to blur together, and one becomes lost within his deep baritone as well as his sparse, ethereal accompaniments.

In his review for MusicTap, George Bennett gave the album four out of five stars, calling Knopfler's Shangri-La the "best album of his solo career". Bennett writes that Knopfler has produced "the most melodic, tasteful, laid-back yet wholly engrossing tunes" of his solo career. Bennett concluded that Shangri-La contains the best music and lyrics of Knopfler's solo career—the first album to "stand up solidly to anything Dire Straits did."

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