Mark Knopfler - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1996-2004

Mark Knopfler is best known as the main figure in the band Dire Straits, but he's had a long, successful solo career as well. I've already posted what little material Dire Straits did for the BBC, so now I'm turning my focus to Knopfler's BBC stuff. It turns out there's a lot more of it. I'll have some BBC concerts to post, but this is one of two albums of BBC studio sessions.

In the early 1990s, Knopfler alternated between taking more of a backing role in the band the Notting Hillbillies and putting out one last Dire Straits studio album. Then he went silent for a few years before emerging with his first mainstream solo album in 1996, "Golden Heart." (I say "mainstream" because he'd done the music to some movie soundtracks.)

Knopfler went all-in with BBC appearances to promote his album. I plan on posting two BBC concerts from 1996. In addition, he also performed for a full hour on the BBC TV show "Later... with Jools Holland." I've only included one song from that, the first one, "Gravy Train." That's because I thought it would be overkill to have two 1996 concerts and more versions of those same songs sometimes for a third time. "Gravy Train" is the only song from that show that wasn't included in either of the two concerts.

The next three songs are from a 1996 concert that was broadcast on a French radio station. These also are songs that weren't performed in either of the two 1996 concerts I'll be posting. Between all these sources, I have at least one version of the vast majority of the songs he played in concert in 1996.

Tracks five through eight are from 2000, when he was promoting his next studio album, "Sailing to Philadelphia." (I mention that "Song for Sonny Liston" is the acoustic version, because on the other volume of studio sessions I have a full band version of the same song.) 

The next session, tracks nine through 12, is an unusual one. It happened in 2001, and Knopfler wasn't promoting a new album at the time. He appeared on a jazz-themed show, and played with the house band. As a result, all of the songs were unusual choices, with none of them appearing on his studio albums. Two of the songs, "I'll See You in My Dreams" and "The Next Time I'm in Town," came from a 1990 album co-billed to him and guitarist Chet Akins.

The final two songs are from another session in 2004.

This album is an hour long.

01 Gravy Train (Mark Knopfler)
02 Water of Love (Mark Knopfler)
03 A Night in Summer Long Ago (Mark Knopfler)
04 Long Highway (Mark Knopfler)
05 Baloney Again (Mark Knopfler)
06 Marbletown (Mark Knopfler)
07 Song for Sonny Liston [Acoustic Version] (Mark Knopfler)
08 What It Is (Mark Knopfler)
09 Blues Stay Away from Me (Mark Knopfler)
10 Dallas Rag (Mark Knopfler)
11 I'll See You in My Dreams (Mark Knopfler)
12 The Next Time I'm in Town (Mark Knopfler)
13 Brothers in Arms (Mark Knopfler)
14 Going Home [Theme From 'Local Hero'] [Instrumental] (Mark Knopfler)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16003967/MarkK_1996b-2004_BBSessonsVolum1_atse.zip.html

The cover photo of Knopfler was taken at a concert in Hamburg, Germany, in June 1996.