Mark Knopfler – “Beryl”
Given how much people liked the War On Drugs’ Lost In The Dream, this seems like an ideal time for Mark Knopfler to come back. Knopfler, the Dire Straits guitar wizard, was a huge influence on that floating ’80s-rock guitar tone, the “beer commerical guitar shit” that Adam Granduciel plundered so beautifully. And even if you don’t like Dire Straits, some of Knopfler’s music is probably embedded deep in your soul, since he scored The Princess Bride. Stereogum boss Scott Lapatine, the sort of person who pays close attention to Mark Knopfler solo albums, claims that “his last few albums were really slept on.” And now he’s about to drop another one. Tracker, Knopfler’s eighth solo LP, is coming in March. First single “Beryl” was inspired by the British writer Beryl Bainbridge, and it sounds like there’s no way it could’ve been recorded after 1989. Listen to it below.
Tracker is out 3/16.