Shangri-La (CD - 2004)

Personnel: Mark Knopfler (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bottleneck guitar, Spanish guitar); Mark Knopfler; Paul Franklin (pedal steel guitar); Jim Cox (harmonica, melodica, piano, organ); Glenn Worf (bass instrument, upright bass); Richard Bennett (guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, tiple); Guy Fletcher (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, harmonium, Clavinet, organ, Wurlitzer organ); Chad Cromwell (drums, percussion).

Recording information: Shagri-La Studios, Malibu.

Mark Knopfler's first excursions outside of Dire Straits were film soundtracks, where his guitar mastery served him well. Starting in the mid-1990s, he embarked on a proper post-Straits solo career. By the time of 2004's SHANGRI-LA, Knopfler had almost entirely left behind the expansive instrumental textures of his former band in favor of a more straight-ahead singer/songwriter approach, which works wonderfully here. Knopfler keeps things low-key throughout most of SHANGRI-LA, with quietly intoned, often drolly sardonic lyrics, supple finger-picked guitar lines, and songs full of subtly crafted surprises.

There's a wealth of unusual topics on offer here; "Boom, Like That" is a first-person monologue by Knopfler in the voice of Ray Kroc, the man behind the McDonald's fast-food empire. The bluesy "Song for Sonny Liston" chronicles the famed boxer's brushes with the underworld. "Donegan's Gone" laments the passing of British folk/skiffle pioneer Lonnie Donegan, a key influence on Knopfler and scores of other British rockers. Departing from the more folk-oriented sound of its predecessor, THE RAGPICKER'S DREAM, SHANGRI-LA more fully develops the detail-oriented, irony-laced songwriting style Knopfler first hinted at in Dire Straits tunes like "Money for Nothing." minimize