CD Odyssey Disc 556: Dire Straits

I’m feeling kind of tired today, but I’m also excited to write this review and finish off another band on the CD Odyssey.

Disc 556 is…. Brothers in Arms

Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1985

What’s up with the Cover?  This cover answers the question “where do guitars go when they die?”  Guitar heaven, of course.  Either that or this guitar has learned to fly.  Sometimes when I can’t make my guitar make the sounds I want it to I consider seeing if it can fly, but fortunately the feeling quickly passes.

How I Came To Know It:  If you’re my age and you don’t know this album, you probably live in a cave.  I never owned it until Sheila bought it mind you, so I really only knew half the songs until then, but now it has been in our collection for a long time, and is like an old friend.

How It Stacks Up:  We have six of Dire Straits studio albums, plus one live album.  Of the six studio albums, I rank “Brothers in Arms” second, narrowly beating out their self-titled debut by the thinnest of margins.

As this is the last Dire Straits album I currently have for review, tradition dictates a quick recap in order of preference:

1. Making Movies: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 245)
2. Brothers in Arms: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Self-Titled: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 501)
4. Communique:  3 stars (reviewed at Disc 375)
5. Love Over Gold:  3 stars (reviewed at Disc 79)
6. On Every Street:  2 stars (reviewed at Disc 547)

And in addition to these was their live album, Alchemy, which doesn’t really stack up but garnered 3 stars back at Disc 527.

Rating:  4 stars, but almost 5

Sometimes a song can be so big it can overshadow not only an album, but a band’s entire career.  On their 1985 “Brothers in Arms” album, “Money For Nothing” came close to doing that to Dire Straits.  Fortunately, in the long run the album was able to resist that pressure due to its many other good songs.

When I first heard “Money for Nothing” I wanted to hate it, if for no other reason than the stupid but incomprehensively popular music video it spawned.  The video did nothing for the song, and everything to underscore how bad computer graphics were in 1985.

However, when Sting finally stops asking for his MTV, and one of most classic rock riffs ever written launches, I was converted.  Here is a song about a bunch of ignoramus’ talking while they move appliances around.  The lyrics are ridiculous, and at times offensive (and should remain so, I should note).  But when that riff hits, played by history’s greatest rock guitarist Mark Knopfler, there is no resisting this song’s charm.

And for some, that is where it ends.  Well, that and the occasional appearance of their earlier hit “Sultans of Swing” on FM radio.  While “Brothers in Arms” released five songs as singles only “Money for Nothing” and “Walk of Life” were top ten hits.  Two others barely cracked top forty, and the fifth didn’t even manage that.  This shows once again how useless radio is at determining what great music is about.

Of course the other hit, “Walk of Life” does have that organ riff that puts a spring in your step before Knopfler ever plays a note.  I love this song and the feeling of euphoria it gives me, but we all know how much fun it is, so let’s move on.

The record actually starts with “So Far Away.” This is a song with a laid back vibe, beautiful guitar and a big, echoing sound that sets the mood for the whole album.  This is Dire Straits in their later years; no longer feeling the need to wail away with speed, but happy to fill your groove trough going slow and easy.  Overall “Brothers in Arms” has less noodling than any of their previous albums, but it doesn’t take away from its impact.

If anything, some of the longer instrumental sections are part of the reason this record falls short of perfection.  “Why Worry” and “Ride Across the River” both have long trails on them that could easily be cut in half.  On both their self-titled debut and their live album, “Alchemy”, the solos didn’t bother me as much because they blew me away with sheer brilliance.  On this record they tend to be mood pieces that don’t fully develop into anything, or add much to the songs.

That said, I forgive “Why Worry” simply because the rest of the song is so gorgeous.  Knopfler’s guitar feels like it is just picking random notes out of heaven as the mood hits him, but in fact the melody is intricately constructed.  Where “Walk of Life” gives you a feeling of ebullience and energy, “Why Worry” lets you know that it is OK to just chill out and relax.

As with their other later records, the band can’t seem to resist eighties monstrosities like excess saxophone and what I’ve previously referred to as “gumshoe blues.”  “Your Latest Trick” is as bad an offender as any.  If I could do one thing for this album, I’d remove this song. 

My favourite song on the album, is the title track, “Brothers in Arms.” Sure the title track painfully rhymes “world” and “worlds” in its penultimate stanza, and yes it has some guitar and organ work that doesn’t go anywhere quickly.  However, in this case the guitar is perfectly placed, and the organ fills in the silence in between as unnoticed and powerfully as gravity.  The whole effect serves to heighten the intensity of the topic; the honour of the individual soldier, juxtaposed against mankind’s inexplicable need to kill one another.

“Brothers in Arms” is a five star song.  Knopfler pulls all the pain and hope of our sorry species out of his guitar strings and turns it into a blanket for the lyrics to fall into. I’ve heard this song a hundred times but every time this final stanza hits me the hairs stand up on the back of my neck:

“Now the sun’s gone to hell

And the moon’s riding high

Let me bid you farewell

Every man has to die.

But it’s written in the starlight

And every line on your palm

We’re fools to make war

On our brothers in arms.”

Here we have a weary soldier, finished with his day of war. Looking up to the night sky he sees not insignificance, but rather a vast universe looking back down with a combination of disappointment and hope. The song then fades away into some transcendent guitar so you can decide for yourself what the new day is going to bring.

This album is unified in sound, yet runs through a range of emotion and subjects.  If it weren’t for a couple of minor bumps in the road it could easily be a five star album.  As it is, I’m going to mark it just short.  Besides, it is always good to have something to hope for.

Best tracks:   So Far Away, Money For Nothing, Walk of Life, Why Worry, The Man’s Too Strong, Brothers in Arms

CD Odyssey Disc 547: Dire Straits

After a crazy day at work I am about to be rewarded with the start of the NFL season!  Yeehaw – football, the greatest sport ever invented.  As thoughtful as a championship chess match, but where each move ends in a violent collision.

Before I do though, I’m taking advantage of my PVR to delay the game an hour and write this review. 

Disc 547 is…. On Every Street

Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1991

What’s up with the Cover?  It looks like the eighties puked on a nineties graphics program.  This is a pair of shoes on a desk and a guitar in the background, done a second time as an inset because a) you could have missed it the first time and b) that is the kind of lame effect nineties graphics programs are capable of.

How I Came To Know It:  As an avowed Dire Straits fan, this was just me drilling through their collection.

How It Stacks Up:  We have six studio albums by Dire Straits, which I believe is all of them.  Something had to be last, and regrettably “On Every Street” is it.

Rating:  2 stars

No matter how great the band, it is rare that their last album is their best.  Most rock acts die with a whimper.  “On Every Street” is Dire Straits’ death knell, and it is by far their weakest effort, but it does show the glimpses of what would become an amazing solo career for Mark Knopfler that continues to this day.  As average as “On Every Street” is, it still has some bright spots; you just can’t keep a great band like Dire Straits down.

The first and most famous song on the album is “Calling Elvis” is sadly not one of the album’s best.  It is a gimmick song, determined to fill itself with as many strained Elvis references as it can.  It is supposed to be a moody blues rock piece but it just sounds like the band is desperate for a runaway pop hit (it was more of a walkaway pop single).

“Calling Elvis” (and many other songs on the album) suffer from long boring fadeouts.  In previous albums, this part of the song would be filled with some classic Knopfler guitar solos, but on “On Every Street” it just feels like they don’t know how to end the songs and so they settle for repeating the riff as they turn the volume down to zero.

Also, there is far too much saxophone and piano action on parts of the song where on earlier albums Knopfler would play some guitar licks.  Is it apparent yet that this album doesn’t have enough of Knopfler’s guitar?  When you have the world’s greatest rock guitarist, let him wail!

All this saxophone and piano too often morphs into what I would call “gumshoe blues.”  These are songs that sound like they’d be at home as background music for a TV show like “Moonlighting” or in that Kathleen Turner flop, “V.I. Warshawski” (also released in 1991).  “Fade to Black” and “You and Your Friend” are the two worst offenders for this effect, but others are guilty to lesser degrees.

The title track, “On Every Street” starts off with a bit of this eighties gumshoe sound, but it is such a good song it recovers itself into respectability, if not actual excellence.

In many ways this album reminded me of “Love Over Gold” with its obvious love of detective imagery, but without that album’s level of songwriting.

When I first listened to this album, the songs that appealed to me were the driving rock of “Heavy Fuel” and the laid-back humour of “My Parties” but after repeat listens both of these started to have the same novelty feel of “Calling Elvis.”

“The Bug” is a passable song, but in a strange twist of fate I learned the Mary Chapin Carpenter version first and found on comparison, I liked it better.  Sorry, Mark!

Despite all this criticism, there is some good stuff.  Even though the songs are simple, the musicianship is excellent, and good playing will elevate any song.  Also, there are legitimately good songs.

The two best hint at the direction Knopfler’s solo album is going to go, starting with “Iron Hand.” “Iron Hand” is a Coles Notes version of the epic “Brothers in Arms” off of their earlier album of the same name.  “Iron Hand” is Knopfler exploring his passion in military history, and the lessons it teaches us.

I don’t know what historical event “Iron Hand” is referencing (we're told early on that the soldiers wear blue, but that doesn’t help much) but the lyrics are evocative:

“Oh the iron will and the iron hand

In England’s green and pleasant land

No music for the shameful scene

That night they said it had even shocked the queen”

Followed by the reminder that we’re no better as a species now:

“Well alas we’ve seen it all before

Knights in armour, days of yore

The same old fears, and the same old crimes

We haven’t changed since ancient times.”

Knopfler sings it in a wistful and haunting tone, and lets his guitar punctuate here and there to add emotional resonance without overpowering the basic tune.

Also memorable is “How Long,” a Blue Rodeo-esque track (who have a totally different song also called “How Long”).  Knopfler’s shows his burgeoning love for western music and guitar styles that continue to enrich his playing today.  In “How Long” these western constructions are forged into a song where a man gently chides the woman of his desire to give him a little attention before he loses interest and moves on.  The description sounds a bit petulant but the tune makes it emotionally light and even a little playful.

Hearing both “Iron Hand” and “How Long” put a smile on my face after other tracks had left me with a grimace.  Even if they were few and far between, hearing these songs provides the bridge to classic Knopfler solo efforts like “Golden Heart” and “Sailing to Philadelphia” and shows that a band can still spawn something beautiful, even in its last moments.

Best tracks:  On Every Street, Iron Hand, How Long

CD Odyssey Disc 527: Dire Straits

This next album will be my third straight double album.  A strange coincidence indeed, but that is how the dice roll sometimes.

Disc 527 is…. Alchemy

Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover?  Bad eighties modern art.  There was a lot of this stuff kicking around back then, and the vast majority was just as bad as what you see here.  I think I see a guitar with lips and the vague outline of what I hope is a woman’s leg.  Also, there is an ear and some suspect cartoon drawings.  What a hot mess.

How I Came To Know It:  Sheila got me heavily into Dire Straits, and this was a very important album for her.  She heard most of the songs on “Alchemy” before she heard the studio versions.  In addition to being introduced to Dire Straits through this live album, Sheila has also been fortunate enough to see them live herself (during their “Brothers in Arms” tour).  This wasn’t my Dire Straits introduction, but I like that it has so much meaning for her.

How It Stacks Up:  Live albums don’t really stack up, except with each other, and this is my only live album by Dire Straits, so I can’t really compare it to anything.

Rating:  3 stars.

Dire Straits is a band that likes to noodle, and so I braced myself for very long, drawn-out versions of their songs when I started listening to “Alchemy.”

I certainly got those versions.  Most of the tracks are at least twenty five per cent longer than their studio versions and some – like “Once Upon a Time In the West” and “Sultans of Swing” are twice as long as the originals.  If you are expecting to hear a perfect rendition of the studio version you are going to be disappointed.

On prior listens that is exactly the feeling I took away from “Alchemy” but this time was different.  Maybe it was listening on quality headphones, or maybe it was knowing in advance what I was in for, but the longer versions annoyed me far less than I expected.  In fact some – like “Romeo and Juliet” and the aforementioned “Sultans of Swing” – were brilliant reworkings of classics.

Strangely, the song I enjoyed the least was “Telegraph Road” and it was 49 seconds shorter!  That is partly because I love the studio version so much, partly because I felt they rushed it a bit on “Alchemy” and partly because it was still 13:30, and came immediately after a bloated 14:34 version of “Tunnel of Love.”  After 28 minutes and only two songs, I was knackered!

Overall, though, I enjoyed the long, drawn out noodle sessions.  They aren’t that complicated when you break them down, but the musicianship they display is amazing.  I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating; Knopfler is my favourite guitar player of all time.

As with all Dire Straits albums, “Alchemy” is designed to show off his exceptional talents.  The other members of the band lay down a tempered and precise groove that gives him the freedom he needs to come in and out of the song, and create on the fly.  Remember friends; behind every great lead guitar there is a dedicated rhythm section, actively taking a back seat (I say actively because trust me, you’ve got to pay attention when you’re playing rhythm).

The track selection is a good one, and I expect the audience was happy with the choices, which span all four of their previous albums with a heavy lean to their 1980 masterpiece “Making Movies” (reviewed way back at Disc 245).  “Making Movies” lays claim to four of the eleven songs, which is just about right.  The band also throws in a song from their terribly titled 1983 EP, “ExtendedancEPLAY” and from Knopfler’s soundtrack for the movie “Local Hero.”  Overall you get a little something for the casual fan, a little something for the purist – just how a live show should be constructed.

To be good, a live album should immerse you in the concert and – as much as is possible – make you feel like you are there.  Too many live albums draw tracks from too many different venues, and the variations in the crowd energy, the playing and the acoustics of the different rooms makes it feel artificial.  Dire Straits wisely took all these tracks from two consecutive nights at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in July 1983.  The only gripe I have is with the fans’ propensity to start clapping at weird times.  It always seems to me that fans are too eager to start clapping just so they can feel they are participating rather than letting the music soak over you.  True beauty steals best into quiet souls people – give it a chance to get in.

I know most of these songs first from the studio albums and truth be told that’s how I prefer them.  The echoed sound of the concert hall takes away some of the sound separation that they need.  Also, unless I’m at the show myself, I can only handle so many extended guitar noodles without losing a bit of my auditory focus.

The band plays strongly enough, and the songs are good enough that it is a minor complaint, but I’d rather listen to my own ‘best of’ Dire Straits compilation if given the option (yes, I’ve made one).

Still, as live albums go “Alchemy” is a strong entry in our music collection.  The next time Sheila pulls it out for a listen (and she inevitably will) I’m going to enjoy it just a little more than I did the time before, and that’s all you should ask of a record.

Best tracks:  Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing

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

CD Odyssey Disc 375: Dire Straits

It's been cold around here lately, which has made me appreciate my new headphones that much more. They are the big, cushion kind as opposed to the earbuds. Not only is the sound a lot more natural sounding, they keep my ears warm.

Do they look a little silly? Maybe a little, but all the kids are doing it.

Disc 375 is...Communique

Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1979

What’s Up With The Cover?: This is one of those ultra-modern (for the time) pastel drawings that you'd find festooning the walls of early eighties bachelor pads. This one is by some guy named Geoff Halpin, and is designed to look like a beach inside the design of an envelope. Not my style, but passable for a Dire Straits album cover, given their other offerings.

How I Came To Know It: I've known Dire Straits a long time, but "Communique" came to me fairly late, while digging through their collection. In the mid-nineties Sheila had introduced me to "Making Movies" (reviewed back at Disc 245) and I was in awe of its greatness. "Communique" was just me drilling through their collection.

How It Stacks Up: We have all six Dire Straits studio albums. "Communique" is in the middle of the pack - I'll say 3rd or 4th best.

Rating: 3 stars, but almost 4.

Mark Knopfler is the finest rock guitarist of his generation. In fact the hardest part about trying to review Dire Straits' "Communique" is separating his guitar out from the rest of the record.

Lyrically, this album is not particularly memorable. The best offering on that front is "Portobello Belle" a song about a tough girl acting pretty, or a pretty girl acting tough - or a bit of both:

"She sees a man upon his back there
Escaping from a sack there
And bella donna lingers
Her gloves they got no fingers
Yeah, the blind man singing Irish
He get his money in a tin dish
Just a corner serenader
Upon a time he could have made her, made her
Yeah, she thinks she's tough
She ain't no English rose
Ah, but the blind singer
He's seen enough and he knows
Yes and do a song about a long gone Irish girl
I got one for you, Portobello belle."

It is a song about a lost Irish girl that could be in turn of the century New York or modern London depending on the verse - because tough, but vulnerable girls have gotten lost in big cities many times over the decades. Mark Knopfler reminds us not to forget them.

Musically, this album has the usual big bluesy rock guitar that has made Mark Knopfler famous. In particular, "Lady Writer," and "Single Handed Sailor" are master classes in how to fill a room with the warm groove of an electric guitar. Although "Lady Writer" was the single that was released, I would've gone with "Single Handed Sailor." Knopfler sings:

"On a night when the lazy wind is wailing
Around the Cutty Sark
yeah the single handed sailor goes sailing
Sailing away in the dark."

And accompanying the words, his guitar paints a night sky in your mind and fills it with a lazy wind of sound. Knopfler's guitar speaks to the soul and gives his voice a resonance far beyond what it deserves.

On "Communique" Knopfler also expirements with his traditional sound. In songs like "Where Do You Think You're Going?" he adds in western guitar elements that would be equally at home in a Johnny Cash song ten years earlier. What makes Mark Knopfler my favourite guitar player is partly that he is always growing his style and incorporating new ideas. "Communique" steps away from the pure blues-rock of Dire Straits' debut album, and likely hurt them commercially in the process. However, without this bravery they would never have grown their sound out of being an excellent bar-jam blues band and into a sound all their own.

Which is not to say "Communique" is simply a stepping stone to other records. It is good on its own as well, if not the masterpiece that "Making Movies" would be a year later. However, "Making Movies" is without weakness. On "Communique" there are moments ("Lady Writer" and "News" come to mind) where it is Knopfler's genius on the guitar alone that is holding together the song, and that's too bad, because it keeps the album from being great.

This album is best when it is working on their new sound, which fortunately they have the bravery to do often. This is a good record that sneaks up on you in a good way. I wouldn't start my Dire Straits collection here, but I would go here pretty quickly after I had an ear for their later sound, because it is a joy to hear that sound being born.

Best tracks: Once Upon A Time In The West, Communique, Portobello Belle, Single Handed Sailor

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.

CD Odyssey Disc 79: Dire Straits

The next disc features what I consider to be the greatest guitar player alive, Mark Knopfler.

Disc 79 is...Love Over Gold
Artist: Dire Straits

Year of Release: 1982

How I Came To Know It: I've known the band for many years - but didn't know this album until Sheila introduced me to it.

How It Stacks Up: Together, we have all of Dire Straits albums - which are 6 studio and 1 live album. It's not that I don't like this album, but I've got to put it 5th out of these 7 albums. There are some strong albums holding it down, but I'll talk about those when I roll them.

Rating: 3 stars.

This album is strong because Dire Straits is such a good band, but when it is compared against other albums of theirs, I think it is a bit weak.

The first thing most people notice is the album only has five songs - and four of those are noodle-fests that range from 6:16 to 14:15 in length. Most of these I could probably cut about 1-2 minutes out of if Dire Straits had invited me into the studio and let me help. I mean - who puts a restraining order on a 12 year old? I think they totally over-reacted.

Anyway, the longest song on the album, "Telegraph Road" is also the best. This song is a rock and roll epic, which follows the fortunes of a town, from when the first person decided to settle there:

"A long time ago came a man on a track
walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
and he put down his load where he thought it was the best
he made a home in the wilderness"

All the way through as the town grows, becomes a mining town, and becomes a metropolis, as demonstrated by one of my favourite lines:

"There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow."

Just as the town is fully developed, the song morphs into the story of just one person in the town, who's fallen on hard times along with the town's economy:

"I used to like to go to work but they shut it all down,
I've got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found."

Until our character just decides to bundle up his woman and head out of town for something better - with another one of the best closing rants in music:

"but believe in me baby and I'll take you away
from out of this darkness and into the day
from these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
from the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
and I don't wanna see it again."

This last bit really reminds me of Bruce Springsteen, and there are even musical elements that are quite similar to what Bruce was doing around the same time (The River).

The song goes from being about the fortunes of a town, to the fortunes of a man in that town. I really like how through both words and music, Mark Knopfler shows how we are emotionally intertwined with our community, and how even at its largest, a city is just a collection of individual stories.

"Telegraph Road" is one of my all time favourite Dire Straits songs, yet when I did my own best of albums I had to leave it off...because it was over fourteen frickin' minutes long! Unlike some of the other tracks though, I wouldn't cut it anywhere, and the fact that most of this review is about this one song isn't an indictment of the other four as much as a statement of the quality of "Telegraph Road".

In other news, the hit on this album was "Industrial Disease". Sheila likes it, but I think it is kind of silly - I prefer "Walk of Life" for this jumpy aspect of Dire Straits' music. Personally, I think at 5:49 it was the only song short enough for radio play. Good thing they didn't try to press this record in the sixties.

I would say this album is for Dire Straits completionists only. It is solid on its own, but there are just too many other better records to get first.

Best tracks: Telegraph Road, It Never Rains.