Mark Knopfler

Cal is a soundtrack album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 24 August 1984 by Vertigo Records. The album contains music composed for the 1984 film Cal, produced by David Puttnam and directed by Pat O'Connor. Puttnam also produced the film Local Hero (1983). In his review for AllMusic, Steven McDonald gave the album four our of five stars and called it a "quiet, reflective set of cues that eschew false dramatics in favor of supporting the story." In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the album "an exceptionally lovely and haunting score."

This 22-cut double-disc set finally gets at it. Issuing a single disc of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler would be a silly thing at best and a hopelessly frustrating one at worst. When the band burst on the scene with "Sultans of Swing," there was a lot happening in rock music, but most of it was under the radar and remains forgotten except in the historic annals of music fanatics. Knopfler and his band were full of rock & roll romance and proved it through their first four recordings time and again. They couldn't help but become superstars and mainstays of MTV. But there is another story told on this best-of, which begins with "Telegraph Road."

You won’t be seeing Mark Knopfler in melodramatic newspaper headlines or on talent show panels. The much-travelled craftsman prefers to reside wherever the song takes him, from writing room to rehearsal space, recording studio to concert hall. He is, as tirelessly and inquisitively as ever, on the trail of some musical truth, just as he has been since the 45s of Ricky Nelson and Lonnie Donegan, or the playing of Hank Marvin and Duane Eddy, sent him down a path that led to 125 million record sales.

Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler's intricate, introspective finger-picked guitar stylings make a perfect musical complement to the wistful tone of Bill Forsyth's comedy film, Local Hero. This album was billed as a Knopfler solo album rather than an original soundtrack album, with the notation "music … for the film." Knopfler brings along Dire Straits associates Alan Clark (keyboards) and John Illsley (bass), plus session aces like saxophonist Mike Brecker, vibes player Mike Mainieri, and drummers Steve Jordan and Terry Williams. The low-key music picks up traces of Scottish music, but most of it just sounds like Dire Straits doing instrumentals, especially the recurring theme, one of Knopfler's more memorable melodies. Gerry Rafferty (remember him from "Baker Street"?) sings the one vocal selection, "That's the Way It Always Starts."

A follow up to The Studio Albums 1996-2007 release in October 2021, is a second collection of Mark Knopfler studio albums, including Get Lucky (2009), Privateering (2012), Tracker (2015) and Down The Road Wherever(2018) plus a collection of studio b-sides and bonus tracks and two previously unreleased songs – ‘Back In The Day’ and ‘Precious Voice From Heaven’.  Audio has been overseen by original mastering engineer Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering. This is a mini-vinyl style 6CD collection in a clamshell-style box. Original studio albums housed in gatefold sleeves with folded printed lyric sheets. Bonus disc in single sleeve wallet with lyrics insert, plus 5 art cards.

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.

Mark Knopfler's fine soundtrack to the film Metroland nicely evokes the picture's wistful, nostalgic atmosphere. Rounding out the collection are late-'70s classics from Dire Straits ("Sultans of Swing"), Elvis Costello ("Alison") and the Stranglers ("Peaches"), in addition to left-field inclusions like Françoise Hardy's "Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles" and Django Reinhardt's "Blues Clair."

Mark Knopfler's 6-track mini-album "True Love" was released on Valentine's Day. Mark Knopfler is known as a genius guitarist, singer and writer whose new take on country, folk and British roots launched Dire Straits' meteoric rise and kept them at the top as musical tastes changed. Knopfler's vision never wavered. Solo albums and work on classic soundtracks run parallel in Mark's life. This album "True Love" includes 6 of the best songs about true love from different Knopfler albums.

Nine albums into a remarkably consistent post-Dire Straits solo career, Mark Knopfler has little to prove aside from living up to his own high standards. That's not to say he's incapable of surprises or the occasional left turn, but the general trajectory of his non-soundtrack output as far back as 2004's Shangri-La has continued to cut a pleasingly familiar groove that fuses his myriad preferences (country, jazz, blues, pub rock, folk, Celtic) into the distinctive brand of understated English roots rock that has become his bailiwick.