Lindsey Buckingham vs. Mark Knophler

[madformac]

My phone line went dead first time around so here we are again!

This debate is back on by agreement so let's get in the ring!

Firstly, Seteca makes some valid points.

Lindsey does repeat and recycle his work but so do many many other artists, especially guitarists.
If I listen to 3 seconds of a solo I can usually tell who the guitarist is from both the tone and the choice of notes he plays. Call it a signature if you like. This is true of Clapton, Hendrix, Slash, Lindsey and Knopfler.
I love most of Lindsey's work and as a record buyer it's great. As a guitarist and musician of sorts sometimes I wonder where he is going, musically.
If you are a musician and you create a piece of work, the public will vote with their money. If they love it it will make you rich and sucessful. When you come to a follow up, what do you do? Take the original work, add in a few new chords, new lyrics, change the basic notes of the solos around a bit and there you have it. Hit record number 2.

And what if you don't?

Unfortunately, Lindsey decided his fate when Tusk was released. A truly great record but one the record buying public was not prepared for. The fickle record buying masses decided against it and Lindsey has paid for this ever since.
Lindsey loves to state he wasn't going to run the formula into the ground and release a Rumours 2.
Why then now do a lot of his pieces sound so similar? Did he or somebody else change his mind after Tusk? Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind! Ha!

Nice to hear Wondergirl9847 say Lindsey inspired her to pick up a guitar. I'm sure this would please him as much as adulation for his music would.
Sometimes I feel like playing after watching him too, as I do with others as well.

His ability as a guitarist is not under question, his musical soundness of mind maybe is, then again this may trigger something unexpected in his upcoming work. Time will tell.....