Mark Knopfler Golden Heart Warner Brothers THE ARENA-ROCK pretensions of the late Dire Straits are nowhere to be seen in this quiet album, which showcases Knopfler's longstanding affection for both Irish and American country music. Gone, too, are the guitar pyrotechnics of old; Knopfler instead adds lead lines only as seasoning to melodic, piano-driven tunes like "Nobody's Got the Gun," The Chieftains-like "Done with Bonaparte," and "Are We in Trouble Now." Knopfler seems to have been having a bad time of it lately, with lyrics speaking mostly of love lost and sorrow, from which he has crafted a moving set of songs. --Gregory McNamee Semisonic Great Divide MCA DOWN AT THE record store there was this guy who'd drive us bananas by playing Trip Shakespeare almost every day. We tried to counter with XTC, but he wasn't swayed in his conviction that his faves represented the pinnacle of pop achievement. A couple of years later we still place flowers on his grave out back. At any rate, Semisonic, comprised of two T.S. alumni and a friend, hasn't upped the ante substantially. The band's quirky, effects-happy style of arranging appears contrived, as if too many Todd Rungren albums were studied but not absorbed; too much feels tacked on, like a frenzied psychedelic guitar solo or heavily echoed harmonica, not really integrated in the mix. Plus, an annoying reliance on sampled/looped percussion comes across as outdated Manchester shtick. (Garbage does this much better.) Only the signature "Beatlesesque" vocal harmonies redeem Semisonic. And there's already a new Posies album in the bins, along with Anthology 2, so who cares? --Fred Mills MARTIN CARTHY Landfall Topic Records DEVOTEES OF BRITISH folk ought to be doing cartwheels over this reissue of Martin Carthy's 1971 solo album, out of print for two decades. Carthy, the presiding genius of Steeleye Span, favors the sparest of arrangements--tenor voice and open-tuned acoustic guitar--to deliver versions of standards like "Cold Haily Windy Night," the soldier's lament "O'er the Hills," and "January Man." His long version of "Brown Adam" is a standout, but every tune on this disc stands up to repeated play. --Gregory McNamee

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