Tag Archives: Mark Knopfler

Bergenfest, Concert Review

Bergenfest 2013: The first day – a nice warm-up

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It was good to be back in Bergen for another Bergenfest. The Festival area is upgraded and it looks nice and the enhanced  Magic Mirrors  is especially welcome. This Wednesday was just a warm-up with only two acts on the bill. The headliner was former Dire Straits man, Mark Knopfler. He is a solid performer, but maybe not so inspired these days… The be brutally honest [Egil] found the gig a bit boring… solid but boring nevertheless.

Our award for best concert on the first day goes to the Oregon band, Larry and his Flask. Its not an easy task to start a festival as the early act, and almost as a “support act” to Mark Knopfler. We have to be honest, almost everyone out this night came to see the famous guitar picker & thus Magic Mirrors was not packed.

Larry and his Flask gave it all and they won the audience over (after a bit of a uncertainty in the beginning). They would have benefittet with a more varied set and the two highlights for us was a good (and interesting) cover version of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On and the one that came right after it, Slow it Down (…at least we believe that was the title). Lot’s of energy – Ian Cook (lead vocal & guitar) was literally on his toes the whole set..

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Mark Knopfler, Bergen 2013:

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-Hallgeir & Egil

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan recording sessions, Music Calendar

Today – Bob Dylan – 15th Infidels recording session in 1983 – 30 years ago

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infidels

…..I did the album, and I call it that, but what it means is for other people to interpret, you know, if it means something to them. Infidels is a word that’s in the dictionary and whoever it applies to… to everybody on the album, every character. Maybe it’s all about infidels.
~Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder in March 1984)

Foot of Pride:

 “Bob’s musical ability is limited, in terms of being able to play a guitar or a piano,….. It’s rudimentary, but it doesn’t affect his variety, his sense of melody, his singing. It’s all there. In fact, some of the things he plays on piano while he’s singing are lovely, even though they’re rudimentary. That all demonstrates the fact that you don’t have to be a great technician. It’s the same old story: If something is played with soul, that’s what’s important.”
~Mark Knopfler

“I’ve made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot”
~Bob Dylan (from “I and I”)

Studio A
Power Station
New York City, New York
27 April 1983

Produced by Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan

  1. From Paul
  2. Foot Of Pride
  3. Foot Of Pride
  4. Foot Of Pride
  5. Foot Of Pride
    ….Composing it was alright, it probably had a bunch of extra verses that probably… most likely weren’t necessary, they should have been… they should have been combined. But, the reason why it was never used was because the tempo speeded up, but there wasn’t any drum machine used on that, the tempo just automatically took off, for some vague and curious reason.
    ~Bob Dylan (to Eliot Mintz – March 1991)
    –
    Foot of pride is in fact, in the words Dylan used to describe the composition “Like A Rolling Stone,” “a long piece of vomit”. … it’s about how pride destroys us and turns us into monsters.
    ~Paul Williams (BD performing artist 1974-86)
  6. Union Sundown
  7. Union Sundown
  8. (Unidentified Song)
  9. (Harmonica)
  10. (Unidentified Song)
  11. I And I
  12. I And I
  13. I And I
  14. I And I
  15. I And I
  16. I And I
    …according to author/critic Tim Riley, “updates the Dylan mythos. Even though it substitutes self-pity for the [pessimism found throughout Infidels], you can’t ignore it as a Dylan spyglass: ‘Someone else is speakin’ with my mouth, but I’m listening only to my heart/I’ve made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot.'” Riley sees the song as an exploration of the distance between Dylan’s “inner identity and the public face he wears”.
    ~Wikipedia
    –
    “I and I”, the other epic from these sessions, is a beautiful song, powerfully sung, with a wonderfully moody and evocative instrumental setting….
    ~Paul Williams (BD perfroming artist 1974-86) 
  17. I And I
  18. I And I
  19. I And I
  20. Julius And Ethel
  21. Julius And Ethel

infidels back

Musicians:

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, harmonica, keyboards & guitar)
  • Mark Knopfler (guitar)
  • Mick Taylor (guitar)
  • Alan Clark (keyboards)
  • Robbie Shakespeare (bass)
  • Sly Dunbar (drums)

6, 7, 20, 21 Clydie King (backing/shared vocal)

Related articles here @ JV:

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Bob Dylan, Music Calendar

Today: Bob Dylan released “Slow Train Coming” in 1979 – 33 years ago

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Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can’t help but wonder what’s happenin’ to my companions
Are they lost or are they found
Have they counted the cost it’ll take to bring down
All their earthly principles they’re gonna have to abandon?
There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend

From Wikipedia:

Released August 20, 1979
Recorded April 30-May 11, 1979
Genre Rock, gospel, Christian rock
Length 46:19
Label Columbia
Producer Jerry Wexler
Barry Beckett

Slow Train Coming is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan‘s 19th studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 1979.

It was the artist’s first effort since becoming a born-again Christian, and all of the songs either express his strong personal faith, or stress the importance of Christian teachings and philosophy. The evangelical nature of the record alienated many of Dylan’s existing fans; at the same time, many Christians were drawn into his fan base. Slow Train Coming was listed at #16 in the 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.

The album was generally well-reviewed in the secular press, and the single “Gotta Serve Somebody” became his first hit in three years, winning Dylan the Grammy for best rock vocal performance by a male in 1980. The album peaked at #2 on the charts in the UK and went platinum in the US, where it reached #3.

Track listing:

All songs were written by Bob Dylan.
Side one

  1. “Gotta Serve Somebody” – 5:22
  2. “Precious Angel” – 6:27
  3. “I Believe in You” – 5:02
  4. “Slow Train” – 5:55

Side two

  1. “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking” – 5:25
  2. “Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others)” – 3:50
  3. “When You Gonna Wake Up” – 5:25
  4. “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” – 4:23
  5. “When He Returns” – 4:30

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5 best songs.. according to me:

  1. Slow Train
  2. Gotta Serve Somebody
  3. When He Returns
  4. I Believe In You
  5. Precious Angel

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Country, Music Calendar

Today: The late Buck Owens was born in 1929 – 83 years ago

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr.
Born August 12, 1929
Sherman, Texas
Died March 25, 2006 (aged 76)
Bakersfield, California
Genres Country, Bakersfield sound
Occupations singer, bandleader, TV host
Instruments vocals, guitar
Years active 1945–2006
Labels Capitol Records, Sundazed Records
Associated acts The Buckaroos, Susan Raye, Rose Maddox, Dwight Yoakam, Roy Clark
Website Owens’ Web site

Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), better known as Buck Owens which then was one of the most enthusiastic musicians in country music history, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos. They pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound—a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American music.

While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of rock and roll. His signature style was based on simple storylines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a drum track placed forward in the mix, and high two-part harmonies featuring Owens and his guitarist Don Rich.

From Allmusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine):

Buck Owens, along with Merle Haggard, was the leader of the Bakersfield sound, a twangy, electricified, rock-influenced interpretation of hardcore honky tonk that emerged in the ’60s. Owens was the first bona fide country star to emerge from Bakersfield, scoring a total of 15 consecutive number one hits in the mid-’60s. In the process, he provided an edgy alternative to the string-laden country-pop that was being produced during the ’60s. Later in his career, his musical impact was forgotten by some as he became a television personality through the country comedy show Hee Haw. Nevertheless, several generations of musicians — from Gram Parsons in the late ’60s to Dwight Yoakam in the ’80s — were influenced by his music, which wound up being one of the blueprints for modern country music.

More on->  allmusic.com

Loves Gonna Live Here:

Act Naturally:

Album of the day:

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