Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly
Mark Knopfler /
Kill to Get Crimson
Warner
There are signs here
that Mark
Knopfler’s brilliant guitar
skills are
intact, but the evidence
is scarce.
His songwriting
skills are intact
too, but what seems to
be missing
is any desire to move
at anything
but a very stately
pace.
To be fair, there
are several very
good, evocative songs
here. Had
they been interspersed
with
something a little more
upbeat,
the end result might
have been
much improved. “We Can
Get
Wild,” Knopfler’s look back at the
beginning of his music
career, is
the best of the lot,
and “Punish
The Monkey” takes a
scathing
look at situations in
which low
level functionaries take
the fall
for the higher-ups.
I think it’s
reasonable to expect
more from this rock icon.
Hopefully
we’ll get it the next
time out.
In A Word: Somnambulent
Grade: B-
—by Ken Shane