The informative brevity and clarity of this review of some of the best work of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler was a pleasant surprise for me.

Commonly, I am wary of artistic reviews, regardless of the art-form on which they comment. It is not that they are all poorly written or misrepresentative, for they are not.

The difficulty I find with reviews is that art is, by its very nature, no matter how technically well formed, still received by each individual in a relatively unique way and one usually also skewed by personal likes and dislikes, conditioning, age, and other factors. In almost every case, at least in my experience, those individual factors also colour the nature of reviews, particularly, though not exclusively, of those written by non-professional reviewers.

I found this one, whilst obviously positive towards its subject, none-the-less objective and informative in supporting its conclusions.

So, thanks for this and before anyone states the obvious as a criticism of my remarks, yes, I admit that I am a strong admirer both of Dire Straits output as a group and of Mark Knopfler's mastery as an individual artist.

Mark has also shown a knack for collaborations that enhance both his own and his collaborator's talent. Two of those which stand out, for me, are his duos with Chet Atkins and Emmy Lou Harris. As someone with eclectic tastes, both of these gave me substantial pleasure and some outstanding performances.

[Neck and neck = Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins]

[All the road running = Mark Knopfler & Emmy Lou Harris]

As a final word, I have to recommend to those who don't know it already, Going Home, the theme from the film The Local Hero. It is a haunting yet comforting track that is so incredibly peaceful and yet wonderfully stimulating.