CD Odyssey Disc 501: Dire Straits

Back from the gym (and sore from our first game of Ultimate for the season) it is time to exercise my musical muscles and unbutton this next fly review.  Get it?  Get it?  Man, I crack myself up.

Disc 501 is… Dire Straits (Self-Titled)

Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1978

What’s up with the Cover?  Looks like a blurry photo of a woman in an empty apartment, or maybe a dance studio.  It does not inspire.

How I Came To Know It:  Everyone my age grew up listening to “Sultans of Swing” on the radio, but the album itself was just me drilling through the Dire Straits collection many years ago shortly after I met Sheila and she rekindled my love for Dire Straits.

How It Stacks Up:  We have six studio albums by Dire Straits and one live album.  Of the six studio albums I’d put this one second or third, alongside “Brothers in Arms” – it just depends on what mood I’m in.

Rating:  4 stars

Some people are born to lead, others are born to play football, or paint pictures.  Mark Knopfler was born to play guitar, and on Dire Straits’ debut album he finally got the chance to show that to the world at the not so tender age of 29.

This is my fourth Dire Straits review (I seem to get one a year), and it is very unlike the other records.  On their first album more than anywhere else, Knopfler’s guitar is front and centre, laying down blues-inspired rock riffs that fill a room with emotion-laden notes that fit seamlessly in and around songs.

Knopfler always knows how to make his guitar improvisation fit in with the song being played; something many players never understand no matter how proficient they get.  The solo should serve the song, not the soloist and Knopfler gets this.

In later albums, I would provide equal focus on the lyrics of the some of the songs, but Dire Straits’ first album is so much about the music, it would be disingenuous to highlight what they’re singing about.  In fact the lyrics to the most famous track, “Sultans of Swing” are about a band playing music, and to one degree or another that’s what this whole album is about.

The riffs are evocative of old blues without being derivative of them.  They are also played at a faster tempo – there must be a word for this blues style played faster…ah, yes – I believe it is called rock and roll.

This album is only nine songs, and at the end of this review, I’ve done my best to shortlist the five best, but there isn’t a bad one among the other four either.

“Setting Me Up” channels Buddy Holly, then super-charges it and “Six Blade Knife” has one of the grooviest bass lines I’ve ever heard.  As ever, Knopfler makes sure the guitar work serves to highlight that bass line, rather than bury it under a bunch of superfluous notes.    These are two of the lesser tracks, but still excellent enough to deserve mention.

The big hit was “Sultans of Swing” and as Sheila was pointing out to me in the car earlier tonight, it has an impact not only the first time you hear it, but every time after (and this song gets a LOT of radio play).  The rolling rhythm guitar of Mark’s brother David, and everything jumping along as the band “plays Dixie, double-four time” (which I think means fast, and slightly in front of the beat – at least that’s what I hear).

The whole arrangement gives Mark lots of room to lay down little solos all over the place, like nuggets of gold glowing in the gravel under a clear, fast-flowing river.  You don’t need the extended solo that hits you at around the 3:30 mark of the song, but damn are you glad it’s there when it shows up.  The noodling that leads you out of the end of the song can only end in a fade out, because to cut if off abruptly would be a crime against music.

Not every song on the album is the immaculate construction of “Sultans of Swing” but the other tracks hold up strong against it, and deserve a sizable share of the glory for what makes this record good.  “Down to the Waterline” and “Southbound Again” are also up tempo guitar masterpieces that keep the record’s energy up at just the right places.

Slower songs like “Water of Love” and “Wild West End” establish a laid-back vibe that perfectly plays off those bigger and brighter rocks songs.  Both are playful, with “Wild West End” just slightly more introspective, as befits its presence near the end of Side Two (this was an important consideration in the vinyl era).

This album doesn’t really inspire me at some deeper level – which I need to award five stars – but it does pretty much everything else.  The musicianship is as good as anything in my collection, and that is saying something.  Knopfler’s voice will never blow anyone with power, but his understanding of where the vocals fit into the construction of a song makes everything he does sound just right.  He sings free and easy, rolling on and off the beat so smoothly you don’t even notice he’s messing with it.

Sure you can buy it for “Sultans of Swing” if that makes you happy, but you’ll keep it for everything else as well.

Best tracks:  Down to the Waterline, Water of Love, Southbound Again, Sultans of Swing, Wild West End