Album Review: Mark Knopfler - Privateering

It's refreshing to see an elder statesman of the music biz not only survive but continue to thrive without sacrificing his integrity, and more importantly, the sound that made him in the first place, especially one as immediately recognisable as former Dire Straits' frontman Mark Knopfler's. While the affable gent has been no stranger to forays into all manner of genres and production capacities over the past two decades, his voice is still that same straight drawl and is most welcome on an album as inviting and richly diverse as Privateering.

This double-disc outing traverses an all-encompassing plain, exploring various soundscapes that are both worldly and deeply personal. It's a bit schizophrenic, lurching from dirty blues to country to Celtic folk, but it makes all the sense in the world when paired with Knopfler's expressively humble delivery. Opening track Redbud Tree is the first clue – its rolling kick drum and sea shanty guitar strums are a common theme throughout, continuing in the hauntingly atmospheric title track. Things get a bit cinematic too with flourishes of flute and fiddle on Kingdom Of Gold and romantic piano lines and muted trumpet on Radio City Serenade. At the other extreme is the Brit's penchant for honky tonk, indulging himself with dirty 12-bar blues in Hot Or What and I Used To Could. The horns here are so lazily breathy they're debaucherous. And inherent overall is the creamy, arching guitar solos we've always known and will continue to revel in.

These split personalities shouldn't work, but with such an experienced deft hand and heritage like Knopfler's, it does, making for a memorable listen from one of the business' most respected treasures.