Mark Knopfler - Metroland (1998)

Metroland is what locals call the suburbs surrounding London's Metro rail system. It's also novelist Julian Barnes's metaphor for middle-class complacency, the refuge the film's Christian Bale somehow finds himself in by the late '70s after a hedonistic '60s Parisian interlude spent rebelling against traditional mores. Those are also the geographic and chronological poles Mark Knopfler's score orbits, from wistful title music that edges perilously close to Kenny G-Land to playfully cheesy, tongue-in-cheek cocktail jazz and riff-rock. Along the way Knopfler also pays homage to gypsy jazz-guitar great Django Reinhardt (who's also gratifyingly represented here by two vintage cuts, "Blues Clair" and "Minor Swing") as well as serving up the quiet, melodic melancholy familiar to admirers of Local Hero and Cal. The balance of the collection is devoted to a motley collection of period-pop (The Stranglers' droll "Peaches," Hot Chocolate's "So You Win Again," Elvis Costello's breakthrough "Alison," Knopfler's own "Sultans of Swing," and Francoise Hardy's "Tous les Garcons et les Filles"). Knopfler's done stronger work

Track List:
A1 - Mark Knopfler - Metroland Theme (Instrumental)
A2 - Mark Knopfler - Annick
A3 - Françoise Hardy - Tous Les Garcons Et Les Filles
A4 - Mark Knopfler - Brats
A5 - Django Reinhardt - Blues Chair
A6 - Mark Knopfler - Down Day
A7 - Mark Knopfler - A Walk In Paris
A8 - Mark Knopfler - She's Gone
A9 - Django Reinhardt And The Quintette Du Hot Club De France - Minor Swing
B1 - The Stranglers - Peaches
B2 - Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
B3 - Hot Chocolate - So You Win Again
B4 - Elvis Costello - Alison
B5 - Mark Knopfler - Metroland