basic information musicians tracks note reviews

basic information

release date	13.01.98
recording	Ocean Way Studios, Nashville USA
mastering	Purcell, Danny / Russell, Jonathan (Georgetown Masters Inc., Nashville USA)
editing	Cobb, Don
production	Ainlay, Chuck / Knopfler, Mark / Ralston, Mark
credits	″My thanks to Chuck and the band again and again as always. May you ever be allowed out of the house to play with me. Thank you also to Ed Bicknell, Jean Seal and John Horwood at Damage Management and to my assistant Robyn Becker.″ - MK.

bennett, richard	guitars
cox, jim	piano, hammond organ
cromwell, chad	drums
fletcher, guy	keyboards
knopfler, mark	guitar, vocals
worf, glenn	bass

1. Wag The Dog (04:42)
2. Working On It (03:23)
3. In The Heartland (02:40)
4. An American Hero (01:59)
5. Just Instinct (01:31)
6. Stretching It Out (04:14)
7. Drooling National (01:50)
8. We're Going To War (03:23)

unreleased tracks

9. One Old Shoe [approx. 3:00]
10. Limbo ?
11. A Cheeky Wee Pint ?
12. A Song About Love ?
13. Wag The Dog Cues ?
14. Wag The Dog ?

For that movie Mark produced the song "One Old Shoe"; however, this song was not used for that movie. Chances are that he chose it later on for a succeeding album but then with another title or it was not published at all.

Promo video: wag the dog

atlanta journal
tate, nick - 05.02.98

″By definition, movie soundtracks are rarely the main attraction. But Mark Knopfler's score for 'Wag the Dog', Barry Levinson's new satire, is so insubstantial it barely qualifies as even background music. All but one of the tracks on this mini CD are pale New Age instrumentals that do little more than create a mood (usually somnolent). Knopfler's voice has never been his strongest suit, but the vocals he applies to the title track are a cut below a hoarse moan. Nothing even hints at Knopfler's genius for building spare, soulful guitar solos - a skill that made Dire Straits an enduring pleasure of 1980's rock radio. Too often, this former Sultan of Swing seems content to be the Sultan of Sleep.

Grade: D″

canberra times
walmsley, stuart

″Mark Knopfler has dabbled in a broad range of musical areas, as diverse as last year's classical versions of old favourites Brothers In Arms and Sultans of Swing. His new release which is a compilation of music from the film Wag the Dog which features Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. It's yet another step in Mark Knopfler's experimental career. Some die-hard Dire Straits fans might say he's going soft in his old age. But the truth is that Dire Straits was never going to be all that Knopfler achieved.

This album is an instrumental collection, with the exception of the feature single Wag the Dog. Most of the tracks are sombre but still pack a punch, and are very Knopfler. His distinctive style shows strongly through the album, and is well suited to its bluesy feel.

While Knopfler's influence can be detected throughout, this album also has great variety. Its eight tracks have quite a Latin American feel to them. It bears a fair resemblance to Dire Straits final album On Every Street. In that album he explored his Celtic origins and continues his interest in all types of music from all different cultures on this current effort. Knopfler has shown a fancy for Russian music of late and track five, Just Instinct, reflects this interest and adds to the appeal of the project.

This is not just an album for fans of Mark Knopfler but for anyone who appreciates a master at work.″

filmtracks publishing
clemmensen, christian - 21.01.98

″Good music, but very poorly produced. This CD suffers from the lack of imagination and very short length. If you thought the 30-minute Varese releases were atrocious, wait until you get a load of all 19 minutes of score on this one! With the title song, the CD only creeps above the 24-minute mark. This isn't Knopfler's fault, however... the film didn't have much score to begin with.

Many of you may be familiar with Knopfler's enormously popular music for The Princess Bride. This score doesn't have the same diversity, but instead offers some very low-key guitar music with a soft band accompaniment. It is very unobtrusive, and the 20 minutes of it will slip by before you know it. It is hardly noticeable in the film --being completely overshadowed by the songs created by the film's characters.

Which brings me back to the poor production of this CD. Wag the Dog, more than any film in the past few years, is rich with hilarious songs and quotes performed by the main characters. Why not fill in the extra time on the CD with these great moments? At least twenty minutes could have been added with such material. For instance: one or more of Willie Nelson's silly songs... he plays a dim-witted country singer in Nashville (gee...) who conjures up funny, misguided songs with wretched lyrics whenever Hoffman or De Niro bring up a new subject. The dark, patriotic songs used by the government to brainwash the public are just as enjoyable --especially if you know their context in the film. And do not forget that Wag the Dog is a black comedy (and I don't mean Afro-American!)... it has a plethora of wickedly entertaining lines performed by Hoffman and De Niro. I'd love to have a few of these on CD, simply because their performances are so mind-boggling. It's like Dr. Strangelove... where would a CD of the film's music be without some lines from the film?

So if you're in search of having some the comical songs from the film on CD, don't be fooled by this release. The Wag the Dog soundtrack has only the most basic background music in the film. Knopfler is not to blame... but with all the rich possibilities that existed with this film and its soundtrack, the CD is a major disappointment.″

mr. showbiz
remstein, bob

″Sure things are rarities, especially in popular music, where artistic judgement and public interest can so easily waver, making this year's blockbuster artist next year's has-been. But Mark Knopfler has escaped such perils, at least as far as his film scores are concerned. For nearly fifteen years now, the Dire Straits singer and guitarist has achieved a remarkable consistency in his on-screen endeavours, creating lovely, evocative soundtracks to movies as varied as Local Hero, The Princess Bride, and now Wag the Dog.

The film, which stars Robert De Niro as a Washington, D.C., spin doctor who enlists the aid of a Hollywood insider (Dustin Hoffman) to help boost the popularity of an unscrupulous president by creating a fake war, could have been sunk by an overblown score. Knopfler, though, is too canny to fall into that trap, and instead he weaves a lightly witty, heart-of-the-nation kind of musical tapestry, ranging from the two-beat, somewhat Greek folk of 'Just Instinct' to the cool, languid 'Stretching Out,' with its Dylan-ish high organ part. And on the title track, the disc's only vocal number, he pulls off a deadpan, bluesy update of one of those 'Land of 1000 Dances' numbers from the sixties.

Frankly, the only disappointment is that the Wag the Dog soundtrack contains a mere eight tracks. Knopfler's guitar playing remains as alluring and distinctive as ever, and it seems a bit of a tease to release only a mini-album. Still, that's but a small quibble when what you do get feels so good.″

q
05.98

″The film, a political satire about a White House spin doctor, was intended by director Barry Levinson and writer David Mamet to be low-key release (knocked up during downtime on sci-fi blockbuster Sphere), which may explain why the accompanying album is a low key 24 minutes long. Knopfler's bluesy noodling are instantly evocative of Wag The Dog's effortless, laid-back, knowing strokes - further proof that the Notting Hillbillies is a home-grown Ry Cooder when it comes to twangy cinematic scores - so perhaps purists should applaud the integrity of a soundtrack that eschews MTV filler in favour of a true musical companion. These seven instrumentals and one title song say a lot in a short time.

Rating: 4/5″

yahoo!
graff, gary

″With Dire Straits in mothballs, possibly forever, guitarist and frontman Mark Knopfler turns in another of his tasteful and well-played soundtrack albums. The title track is the only vocal piece, a wry, swampy mix of guitar and organ that paints an aural picture of a Bayou roadside. The seven instrumentals that follow are showcases for Knopfler's exceptional musicality, layering acoustic and electric guitars, slides, dobros and other stringed instruments into evocative soundscapes that range from the Sergio Leoneish drama of 'An American Hero' to the jaunty pick 'n' grin of 'Drooling National.'

Score: 3.5 (4 = buy it at your leisure, 3 = borrow a friend's copy first)″