Mark Knopfler
Sailing to Philadelphia (Warner)
Mark Knopfler, former lead singer of Dire Straits, is not scared to blaze a new trail. In Sailing to Philadelphia, the indignant, muted, yet invitingly incomprehensible lyrics of "Sultans of Swing" are absent. Most of the songs are fairly transparent paeans to episodes of America's folk past, never mind Knopfler's British extraction. The title track features Knopfler and guest James Taylor in a mock-up of a very awkward conversation between Mason and Dixon of Mason-Dixon line fame, but the song holds together if you don't pay attention to the lyrics. Unfortunately, Knopfler seems to have lost the ability to choose exactly the right words for a situation that he displayed so brilliantly in that other Straits staple "Romeo and Juliet." "Who's Your Baby Now" hints at the zydeco-tinged strains of Straits standards like "Walk of Life" without any of the latter's grip. The album benefits from Knopfler's breezy guitar licks, especially in "What It Is," but the whole effect comes across as something better suited to a National Public Radio road show than to MTV or any other non-niche venue.
As if the record needed any more validation as a piece of Americana, Van Morrison appears on "The Last Laugh," with saxophones on hand to cue him in. It doesn't help the Pollyanna feel of a record that loses itself somewhere between Johnny Appleseed and Randy Newman.
B+
-Richard Worf
Young Dubliners
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