Mark Knopfler – Get Lucky (Buy it now)

Mark Knopfler, former front man of Dire Straits, has had a fascinating solo career, and wrote the score for a number of movies, including The Princess Bride. Get Lucky is a decent offering, not one of his best works, but it still has some outstanding individual tracks. If you’re looking for a Dire Straits album, this is not it. Still, Knopfler is well versed in more than just the rock he is best known for, and it shows. Now, I’ll be honest. I love his work with Dire Straits. I’ll give any of his work a chance. Get Lucky doesn’t quite do it for me.

Kicking off the album is Border River, which has a very Celtic feel to it, reinforced by references to “Glasgow town”, is a slower tune about having pride of Britain. “‘Sure as the sunrise’, that’s what they say about the Albion”, Albion being apparently the oldest known term for the Isles of Britain.

You Can’t Beat The House, one of the high points of the album, is an excellent blues number, seemingly about hitting rock bottom “Even the piano player, man, he don’t care who he shoots”, seems to be more a metaphor about life in general; it is the lament of a man who has been there, noting the folly of others and wanting to keep others from making the same mistakes he did says “Tell that man somebody, you can’t beat the house.”

For you Dire Straits fans out there, title track Get Lucky is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, at least at the melody level. Lyrically, it’s about the working stiff, worried about rent and bills (The one about happiness and money – tell it to the bread line), who yearns for something better, and the admonition that “you might get lucky now and then, yeah, you win some”

All in all, it’s a decent album. It’s great that Knopfler is doing what he wants, musically, but of his past works, Get Lucky is not his best. It’s mostly going to be of interest to his hardcore fans, and more power to them. Still, some of the tracks are fantastic, and merit at least a listen.

George Harrison – Brainwashed (Buy it now)

Ah, George Harrison. Beatle, Wilbury, solo artist… this late and lamented guitar legend was incredibly versatile, and while most people recognize his work with the Beatles, his solo work is unbelievable. His posthumous 2002 release Brainwashed is no exception, showing just how versatile he was until the very end. While left not-quite-finished, his extensive notes allowed his son Dhani and fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne to look at what was left to do, and they were successfully able to finish the album, leaving a legacy which should be noticed.

From opening track Any Road to the moving Pisces Fish to title track and closer Brainwashed, this is a very solid album, and a fitting tribute to (in your humble narrators opinion) one of the guitar greats.

Any Road, with the lyrics “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there” seems at first to be suggesting that you should figure it all out, but upon repeat listenings, it’s much deeper than that. Any Road suggests that it’s not necessarily a bad thing, to take life as it comes, and to enjoy the ride. To quote an unrelated band, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” It’s got a great tempo, and it’s catchy. One thing I can tell you for sure, Any Road has earned a permanent spot in my road trip mixes.

The mildly surreal Pisces Fish… hmm. I’m not sure exactly how to summarize. With references to finding the next Pope in a brewery, and finding tranquility on a river, the lyrics “I’m a living proof of all of life’s contradictions, one half’s going where the other half’s just been” point out the absurdities of everyday things, and it’s ok to accept that.

Title track Brainwashed closes the album on a tranquil note, beginning with the various ways people are being brainwashed and that truth is within the self, and ending on a very tranquil, relaxing Hindu chant/mantra.

This is a fantastic album left behind by a fantastic guitarist. I’ve been unable to stop listening to it, and as I’ve mentioned, there are tracks that have earned a permanent spot in my road trip music list.