Afterbach Matinee

“This very special period made me think and put a lot of things into perspective. I said to myself, finished the superfluous, if this is to be my last album, I do not want to put anything unnecessary, the watchword is therefore: Straight to the essential! Hence the title of this album ”.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Mark’s debut solo release Golden Heart in 1996, a new box set, Mark Knopfler - The Studio Albums 1996-2007, will be released on 1st October Worldwide, and 10th December in the US.
Gathering his first five post-Dire Straits solo albums (not counting film scores), and a bonus disc of B-sides titled The Gravy Train, this collection is as sleepy and nonchalant as an old friend’s affable shrug. Knopfler does what he does, blending folk, blues, country and rock into a tension-free take on Americana that’s faintly personal but more about delivering a carpet atmosphere of reflective rumination.
The audio of each album has been newly remastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios in London.

"The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings" is a 2-Disc set released by Styx in 2005. The compilation contains remastered versions of Styx's first four albums, Styx, Styx II, The Serpent Is Rising, and Man of Miracles, which were released by Wooden Nickel Records. It also includes "Unfinished Song", which was previously released as the B-side to the single "Best Thing" and on the 1980 RCA reissue of Man of Miracles (which was entitled Miracles).

On Moscow, the Keith Emerson Band includes ace session guitarist, vocalist, and composer Marc Bonilla (who's toured before with Toy Matinee), bassist Travis Davis, and drummer Tony Pia, who, while currently a member of the Doobie Brothers, has also played with Edgar Winter and Brain Setzer. The program features numerous Emerson, Lake & Palmer nuggets (including a 35-plus-minute "Tarkus"), some brief Emerson originals (film cues from his soundtrack work), a pair of Bonilla pieces, and two co-writes between Bonilla and Emerson. Filmed August, 2008, at Central House of Cinema, Russia…

Mark Knopfler's second solo album might as well be called Dire Straits' eighth studio album, though Knopfler abandoned the group name back in 1996, dispensing with hefty sales in the process. There was never much doubt that the fame and lifestyle coincident with platinum sales made him uncomfortable, and discontinuing the Dire Straits billing was a means of walking away from all that. It also allowed him to indulge his love for various musical genres more, and that process continues on Sailing to Philadelphia…