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<h1><em>Shangri-La</em> (Mark Knopfler album)</h1><p>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/MK_Shangri-La.jpg" alt="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/MK_Shangri-La.jpg"></p><p><br></p><p><strong><em>Shangri-La</em></strong> is the fourth solo studio album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Knopfler" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mark Knopfler</a>, released on 28 September 2004 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mercury Records</a> internationally and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Warner Bros. Records</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">United States</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-allmusic-shangri-la-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a> <em>Shangri-La</em> received generally favorable reviews.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-metacritic-shangri-la-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a></p><h2>Background</h2><p>In March 2003, Knopfler was involved in a motorbike crash in Grosvenor Road, Belgravia, and suffered a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, and seven broken ribs.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-telegraph-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a> The planned Ragpicker's Dream Tour was subsequently cancelled. Knopfler spent seven months away from the guitar in physiotherapy,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-allmusic-shangri-la-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a> but eventually recovered and was able to return to the studio in 2004 for his fourth album and supporting tour the following year.</p><h2>Recording</h2><p><em>Shangri-La</em> was recorded in February 2004 at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-gf-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a></p><h2>Composition</h2><p>The album features Knopfler's signature storytelling style of songwriting. The album's first single, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom,_Like_That" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Boom, Like That</a>", was inspired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ray Kroc</a>'s autobiography, <em>Grinding It Out</em>, and the starting of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">McDonald's</a>, using many of Mr. Kroc's exact words. "Song for Sonny Liston" is a song about the famous boxer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Liston" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sonny Liston</a>. "Donegan's Gone" is about Scottish musician and singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Donegan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lonnie Donegan</a>. "5.15 AM" tells the story of the 1967 "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-armed_bandit_murder" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">one-armed bandit murder</a>". "Back to Tupelo" is about the life of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elvis Presley</a> and his acting career. The album was released on LP, HDCD and in 5.1 Surround Sound on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Audio_CD" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Super Audio CD</a> (SACD) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DVD-Audio</a>.</p><h2>Touring</h2><p>Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_Tour" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shangri-La Tour</a></p><p>Knopfler supported the release of <em>Shangri-La</em> with the Shangri-La Tour, which consisted of three legs: South Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand; Europe; and North America. The tour started on 28 February 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and included 104 concerts in 95 cities, ending on 31 July 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The tour included a five-night run at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Royal Albert Hall</a> in London.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-mk-info-slt-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a> The tour lineup included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Knopfler" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mark Knopfler</a> (guitar, vocals), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fletcher" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Guy Fletcher</a> (keyboards), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bennett_(guitarist)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Richard Bennett</a> (guitar), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Rollings" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Matt Rollings</a> (piano), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Worf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Glenn Worf</a> (bass), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad_Cromwell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chad Cromwell</a> (drums).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-mk-info-slt-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a></p><p><em>Shangri-La</em> received generally favorable reviews.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-metacritic-shangri-la-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> In his review for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllMusic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AllMusic</a>, James Christopher Monger gave the album three and a half out of five stars, noting that on this album, Knopfler abandoned the British folk and Celtic-influenced pop that populated his earlier solo albums and chose instead a "full-blown yet quiet and considerate collection of country-folk ballads and bluesy, midtempo dirges that revel in their uncharacteristic sparseness."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-allmusic-shangri-la-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a> Instead of writing about his brush with mortality—the wry "Don't Crash the Ambulance" aside—Knopfler uses his "warm baritone and effortless guitar work" to explore everything from the plight of the modern fisherman (on the beautiful and rustic "Trawlerman's Song"), to the entrepreneurial skills of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc (on "Boom, Like That").<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-allmusic-shangri-la-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a> Monger concludes:</p><blockquote>Knopfler spent seven months away from the guitar in physiotherapy, but his melancholic slow-burn tone is as peat-smoked as ever, and his penchant for wrapping Americana-gothic folk around subjects that are uniquely English—colliers, cockneys, the one-armed bandit man who meets his maker in the atmospheric opener, "5:15 A.M."—is evident throughout. Dynamically, Shangri-La loses steam about three-quarters of the way through ... but Knopfler fans and lovers of Chet Atkins, Gordon Lightfoot, and J.J. Cale, as well as late-night poker players and early risers with an acerbic streak, will find much to love here.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-allmusic-shangri-la-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a></blockquote><p>In his review for <em>The Music Box</em>, John Metzger gave the album an "excellent" four out of five stars, writing that Knopfler has rarely sounded so relaxed and his arrangements so unassuming.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La_(Mark_Knopfler_album)#cite_note-music-box-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[6]</a> Metzger continued:</p><blockquote>His performance throughout the collection is impeccable, and beneath his subdued, folk-pop musings rests the loveliest batch of songs that he’s recorded</blockquote><p><br></p><p><br></p>