In 1987 Dire Straits were on hiatus. Mark closed the Brothers in Arms Tour exhausted so the future for the band was a bit uncertain. During this period, Knopfler collaborated with a lot of artists, always big names, with different styles.
One of the most and remarkable collaborations is Miracle, the first Willy DeVille record using his own name. Knopfler was there as producer and session musician. That means that we can enjoy Mark´s guitar technique working for another musician. And he´s there for the whole record! Every bit of Mark´s style is there. From his trademark rythm fingerpicking to his unique use of the volume pedal or his classic clean guitar sound. It´s a master class. Mark, as producer, was also in charge of recruiting musicians for the album. And you can find a few good ones there, including the inevitable Guy Fletcher. The late master drummer Jeff Porcaro plays on the title track and the Van Morrison cover Could You Would You. Check the credits if you own the album, you´ll find a few surprises there.
The album has 10 tracks on it, including the Knopfler/ DeVille co-written Spanish Jack and the nominated for an Academy Award, Storybook Love. That song, you may know, appears on the Princess Bride Soundtrack by Mark Knopfler and was released as a single.
To add some nice goodies to this release, a couple of singles were released including two non-album tracks. The title track was released as a single with the lovely non-album track track I Call Your Name, in its original version, and later re-worked for his Backstreets Of Desire album in 1992.
The second single was Assassin Of Love which includes an Extended Version of this track (80s were the Extended Versions heaven!).
In 1994, the album was released again in Australia (Raven Records – RVCD-41) with a few bonus tracks from the film Cruising (1980) and a 1987 interview. Nothing indicates it is a remaster, so it´s only an expanded edition, with tracks non related to the Miracle album, with the exception of the 1987 interview, with Willy answering on the phone a few questions about his career, how he met Mark and his work on the album.
If you want to go for the "complete recordings" you must know there are two radio edits available, Assassin Of Love (UK, Polydor – POSPDJ 904) and Southern Politician (USA, A&M Records – SP-17528) with both appearing only on promo vinyl singles.
On the liner notes... Dedicated to Mark and Lourdes Knopfler for their support which was nothing sort of a Miracle in this of Dire Straights.
If I should have to recommend a Mark Knopfler collaboration, this would be my first choice because the wide range of Mark´s guitar playing here. And the goodies on the CD singles make it more funny and complete for the collectors.
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