In his review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann gave the album three out of five stars, writing that "in one song after another on this album, you get the feeling that he started out playing some familiar song in a specific genre and eventually extrapolated upon it enough to call it an original." In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, David Wild gave the album three and a half out of five stars, writing that the album is "a welcome flashback" to Knopfler's earlier work with Dire Straits. Wild continued: By 2002, the album had sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide. In some territories—Western Europe for example—the album was released as an HDCD and a 5.1 Surround Sound DVD-A.
Touring
In 2001, Knopfler supported the release of the album with his Sailing to Philadelphia Tour, which started on 27 March 2001 in Mexico City, Mexico, included 80 concerts in 68 cities, and ended on 31 July 2001 in Moscow, Russia. The tour consisted of three legs: Mexico and South America, North America, and Europe and Russia. The tour lineup included Mark Knopfler, Guy Fletcher, Richard Bennett, Glenn Worf, Chad Cromwell, Geraint Watkins, and Mike Henderson. The Madrid concert on 2 July 2001 was filmed but never released. The Toronto concert at Massey Hall on 3 May 2001 was also recorded, but only four tracks were officially released: "Speedway At Nazareth", "Who's Your Baby Now", "Sailing to Philadelphia" and "Brothers in Arms".
Track listing
All songs were written by Mark Knopfler. ;International version ;United States version
"What It Is" was the first single from the album. An extended version of the song released in Mexico contains an additional verse: The instrumental portion of the song serves as the theme music for the CBC Radio One radio show, Dispatches. ;Track listing All songs were written by Mark Knopfler.
Sailing to Philadelphia
"Sailing to Philadelphia" was the second single from the album. The song is a duet between Knopfler and American singer-songwriter James Taylor. The song is written in an autobiographical style, and is the story of Jeremiah Dixon and Charlie Mason, a "Geordie boy" and an astronomer, respectively, who sailed to America from the United Kingdom. Dixon predicted that there was a "land of opportunity" to the west, which Mason, the "stargazer" does not believe. Towards the end of the song, the lyrics suggest that Dixon was correct. ;Track listing All songs were written by Mark Knopfler.
"Silvertown Blues" was the third and final single from the album. It was released as a commercial single in the Netherlands and Belgium only, but it received radio airplay in several European countries, notably in France. The song was not performed live during the Sailing to Philadelphia Tour. Silvertown is an industrial district on the north bank of the River Thames in London, and the song partially deals with the construction of the financially unsuccessful Millennium Dome. It was constructed on a site contaminated by toxic sludge from East Greenwich Gas Works that operated from 1889 to 1985. ;Track listing All songs were written by Mark Knopfler.
