serinde

Well, I'm only halfway through it (now that I am in fact listening to the album in question, rather than Mark Knopfler; never mind), but so far I'm disappointed. Part of it may be that I like the wild edge that was apparently Nick Oliveri's contribution (even if it lead to less-felicitous offerings like "Six Shooter"), but I think that the songwriting itself is suffering. I can see most of the components of what I loved on Songs for the Deaf, but they never seem to quite gel, except maybe on "Little Sister". Also too too much much one-line one-line repetition repetition--e.g., I really wanted to bump the needle on "Everybody Knows That You're Insane". Yes, everybody certainly did know by the end of it, thanks Josh, we're clear on that now SHUT UP kthxbye. --In general it almost feels like the musical equivalent of when a writer or filmmaker gets Too Big for anyone to dare to edit them, which clearly they need. And maybe that's in fact what happened?

I also have a certain sense that their replacement rhythm section is lacking. Obviously you can't just walk into the nearest bar and grab some drummer at random & expect him to replace Dave Grohl, but in parts I had that Danny Thompson cringe. (I'm less good at judging bassists, and I haven't a clue how Oliveri rates, but intuitively I felt the rhythm lack was extending beyond the drumming, so.)

I'm certainly going to give the album several more listens. It may grow on me. But so far, no Snoopy Dance for any track.