The record is expertly performed and appealing but to these ears, is not Dire Straits’ best or most characteristic work. On the strength of singles like “Money for Nothing” and the bouncy “Walk of Life,” it sold a zillion copies, going platinum nine times over in the U.S., topping charts in America and many other countries, and ranking for a while as the bestselling album in U.K. The double-Grammy-winning Brothers in Arms, with its well-hooked, radio-friendly songs, sounds like a bid for greater commercial success, and it’s a bid that undoubtedly succeeded beyond the band’s wildest dreams. Much of the rest of the record isn’t quite as impressive, but the band is just getting started here.Ĭommunique has the expansive “Once Upon a Time in the West,” and Making Movies is loaded with sprawling albeit tightly constructed vehicles for Knopfler’s guitar pyrotechnics, including the gorgeous “Tunnel of Love” and “Romeo and Juliet.” The instrumental fireworks continue on Love Over Gold, which is most notable for “Private Investigations” and the 14-minute “Telegraph Road.” The group took off with a bang with their bestselling first album, which includes the fresh-sounding “Sultans of Swing,” a top-five hit, as well as “Down to the Waterline,” which leaves little doubt that Knopfler is a guitarist of major proportions.
single, where he shares composing credit with Sting, who famously opens the number by singing, “I want my MTV.”) That’s not to say that these sound like Knopfler solo records or that his musicianship is their only attraction the band was a bit of a revolving door, but the folks who went through it fit well with one another and knew how to deliver the goods. (The exception is “Money for Nothing,” the group’s only chart-topping U.S. He plays lead guitar, delivers the lead vocals, and wrote all but one of the songs himself. Mark Knopfler-the only founding member who stayed with the group all the way to the end-occupies centerstage throughout. The CDs are packaged in mini replicas of their original vinyl sleeves and come with posters that offer photos, art, and lyrics.
You’ll find essential tracks on each of the six albums in Dire Straits’ recently issued clamshell-boxed set, The Studio Albums 1978–1991, which includes the British rock group’s eponymous 1978 debut plus Communique (1979), Making Movies (1980), Love Over Gold (1982), Brothers in Arms (1985), and On Every Street (1991).