In 1984, the album received a BAFTA award nomination for Best Score for a Film.[3] The final track of the album, "Going Home", is played before every home game of Newcastle United F.C.[4] Knopfler re-recorded the song as a charity single for the 2014 Great North Run in his home city.[5]
Background
Following a string of three multi-platinum albums with Dire Straits—Dire Straits (1978), Communiqué (1979), and Making Movies (1980)—Knopfler, the group's lead singer, guitarist, songwriter, and producer, began to look for new musical challenges and opportunities. In early 1982, his manager wrote to several film directors indicating that Knopfler was interested in writing film music. Producer David Puttnam responded, and after reviewing the Local Hero project, Knopfler accepted the job.[6][7] Following the completion of Dire Straits' fourth album, Love Over Gold, recorded from 8 March to 11 June 1982, Knopfler began work on the film's music. He invited Gerry Rafferty to be the lead vocalist on the song, "The Way It Always Starts". In 2000, Rafferty invited Knopfler to provide rhythm guitar and lead fills on what would be his final studio album, Another World.
Recording and re-recording
The Local Hero album was recorded in 1982 at The Power Station in New York, and Eden Studios in London.[8] The Ceilidh scenes were recorded at Hilton Women's Royal Institute Hall near Banff, Scotland on 19 June 1982.[9]
In his retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann gave the album four and a half out of five stars, noting that Knopfler's "intricate, introspective finger-picked guitar stylings make a perfect musical complement to the wistful tone of Bill Forsyth's comedy film."[2] Ruhlmann continued, "The low-key music picks up traces of Scottish music, but most of it just sounds like Dire Straits doing instrumentals, especially the recurring theme, one of Knopfler's more memorable melodies."[2]
Rolling Stone magazine's contemporary review called Knopfler's film music debut an "insinuating LP of charming, cosmopolitan soundtrack music—a record that can make movies in your mind."[13]
For the Local Hero soundtrack, Knopfler received a BAFTA award nomination for Best Score for a Film.[3]
^The Acetones are a group that perform in the Ceilidh scenes in the film Local Hero. The Acetones are Alan Clark (piano), Alan Darby (guitar), Roddy Murray (guitar), Jimmy Yuill (whistle), Mark Winchester (violin), Dale Winchester (accordion), Brian Rowan (bass), and Ed Bicknell (drums).
^Young, Andrew (17 July 1982). "On the right track". The Glasgow Herald. p. 7. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^Hunter, Alan; Astaire, Mark (1983). Local Hero: The Making of the Film. Edinburgh: Polygon Books. p. 39. ISBN978-0904919677.
^Making of Local Hero Soundtrack (Television). Scotland: AMIT TV. 1983.
^ abcLocal Hero (booklet). Mark Knopfler. Burbank, California: Warner Bros. Records. 1983. pp. 2–4. 23827-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
