CD Odyssey Disc 245: Dire Straits

It is the nature of the human mind to find patterns even in randomness, and so it is that I note this is my third straight review of an album that my lovely wife Sheila introduced me to. This is one is head and shoulders the best of the three - and has come to be one of my favourite albums.

Disc 245 is...Making Movies
Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1980

What’s Up With The Cover?: Not much. Is it supposed to be a film frame? I honestly have no idea.

How I Came To Know It: As noted in the teaser, Sheila introduced me to this album. I think she bought it when it came out on remastered CD in the mid-nineties. I've loved it ever since.

How It Stacks Up: We have all six of Dire Straits studio albums, as well as one live album. "Making Movies" is my favourite of the lot.

Rating: 5 stars.

"Making Movies" is a classic rock album, short, powerful and perfectly balanced. I consider it a must-have in a CD collection.

The record begins with the eight minute epic, "Tunnel of Love" a song about love discovered at the fairground. Strangely, Bruce Springsteen does a song much later in the eighties also called "Tunnel of Love" and also about love at the fairground, albeit a little more focused on one ride. Springsteen's is pretty good as well, but nothing compared to this song.

What I love about "Tunnel of Love" isn't the topic, so much as the construction of the song. Piano and drum holds down the basic melody, as Mark weaves the story, sometimes with the lyrics, but even more so with his signature guitar sound. I personally hold Mark Knopfler at the top of the top in terms of guitar players. Iommi, Hendrix or even Dharma come close, but my money is on Knopfler.

Many of the songs on "Making Movies" have an artful fade out of a Mark Knopfler solo. Unlike the overlong noodling of their live album, "Alchemy", the songs on "Making Movies" have guitar moments that are just long enough to explore the space (minus cowbell) but not so long as to be masturbatory. It is a fine line, and on every song on this album, Dire Straits walks it perfectly.

The second song, "Romeo and Juliet" is a modern reinterpretation of the star-crossed lovers. I first heard this song as an Indigo Girls remake, and because it is so different from that reinterpretation, it took me quite a while to accept the original.

Now I love it. Not that I've abandoned Amy and Emily - I still like their acoustic effort, but Dire Straits' version is equal to it, and moreover - it is original, which breaks the tie in their favour. "Romeo and Juliet" has so many good lines, but I'll just share one stanza that is grabbing me on this listen:

"When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin
Now you just say 'oh Romeo - yeah you know I used to have a scene with him."

While "Romeo and Juliet" is inspired by an earlier work of art, "Skateaway" in turn went on to inspire a movie (or so I believe). The song is about a girl who loves to rollerskate through traffic and making movies. I can't see how this wasn't the inspiration for Heather Graham's character of "Roller Girl" in "Boogie Nights".

Unlike my previous review for "Exciter" I've heard "Making Movies" countless times over the past fifteen years or so, and I've never tired of it. I even enjoy the lesser tracks like "Solid Rock" and "Les Boys". I particularly get a kick out of "Les Boys" which is about the gay leather scene. It pokes gentle fun, but clearly comes from a place of respect well ahead of its time. Good for you, Dire Straits.

"Making Movies" has no bad songs, features exceptional musicianship, makes consistently good production decisions, first rate lyrics and keeps you interested from the first listen through the hundredth - all the while weighing in at only seven songs. In short, it is how music should be made.

Best tracks: All of them, but I guess "Solid Rock" is the runt of an impressive litter.