Classic albums # 10 Dire straits brothers in arms

[wonderwall]

A very good list of albums and could of gone for oasis as it is my favourite album of all time.One album stood out for me though which is this one it was the first album that I really got into I would of only been 8 at the time.My dad had it on vinyl and I would hear it countless times through 1985-1987

Tracklisting

1 so far away
2 money for nothing
3 walk of life
4 your latest trick
5 why worry
6 ride across the river
7 the mans too strong
8 one world
9 brothers in arms

I do like nearly every track on the album I would not of chosen so far away as lead single as I think it is not a great track from there cannon.Money for nothing classic track which obviously was a important moment in the rise of MTV.My favourite track though is the title track think it is a amazing tune wonderful guitar work and emotional vocal to boot.This was the first cd sold back in 1986 and for me remains a all time classic and is there finest moment timeless.

[Shireblogger]

Great choice. This was on my shortlist for my next selection.

[wonderwall]

Really have a emotional tie to this album so simple but so powerful amazing is all I can say I love it.

[o]

Good choice, I listened to this when I was younger as my older brother had it and will enjoy revisiting it. Surprised you didn't go for an Oasis album

[wonderwall]

Think this choice will interest people more what more can be said about oasis what's the story really that hasn't already been said.

[vastar iner]

OK, this will be interesting. Back in the day I thought DS were boring, but that was based on their singles, so there may be better stuff on their albums. Plus "Private Investigations" has stood up to the test of time very well - a much better single than I thought as a 9 year old.

[thehitparade]

Another album I've heard but don't own personally (and in fact I heard 'Walk Of Life' on the radio this morning. I think it'll have to be the CD version we review, the vinyl edits presumably aren't online.

[greendemon]

oh YES!!

the first month i have time to do an album, and it happens to be one of my favourite albums i shall look forward to this, and to participating in the monthly reviews from now on...

[o]

Had a listen to this and then went and listened to some tracks on their other albums, and made me realise what a beautiful song Romeo & Juliet was, absolutely gorgeous and has stood the test of time...

[wonderwall]

Alchemy is a great live album well worth checking out and love over gold is really good

[vastar iner]

Putting this on to start with, I would have thought it was Roxy Music. It has the same sort of louche, lounge-lizard stylings. The thing that ruins it is Mark Knopfler’s voice coming in; he can’t really sing, can he? Scratch that, he really can’t sing. He sounds like a lazy Dylan impression. There’s no emotion in the voice, it’s a mundane recitation of being far away rather than the heart-render it ought to be; if he hits a note it’s incidental. It’s a damn shame. Because the backing, with the interspersed guitar trills, is quite pleasant. I wouldn’t go any more than that on it. The 1980s top tens thread is instructive in this regard - Graham Bonnet would have killed this. But it doesn’t half go on a bit. It’s as if they can’t work out how to finish it, so they keep repeating the title and the accompaniment until the tape runs out. Song could have finished at 3 minutes dead; it finally finishes at...waiting...still waiting...STILL waiting...STILL BLOODY WAITING...oh, it doesn’t actually finish, they cop out with a fade-out. 5 and change. That was one hundred and twenty two seconds of utter pointlessness.

OK, Sting gets the most undeserved credit on a hit since Colonel Tom Parker made Elvis co-writer of everything. I don’t remember the introduction going on this long. Bloody hell, a minute and “Money For Nothing” still has not started. Make that 90 seconds. God al-MIGHTY. It works when it’s Sigur Ros. Finally an attack of drums and the keyboards go mental before the guitar kills it all with that ultra-familiar riff. It’s interesting to hear such a familiar song with an unfamiliar introduction. It does give it a new context, but not that flattering a one; it sounds like the intro is tacked on, or the song tacked on to the intro. Not a coherent artistic whole.  If anything, it’s a Dire Straits apology for daring to do something commercial and popular, so they put the meandering muso start as a sop to their fans. The key-change to the “we’ve got to install microwave ovens” is really nice, though. Had not really heard that before. Again, though, it’s a song going nowhere. Jazz, I suppose; they put in variations on a theme. Not my cup of tea. I am now 12 minutes into the album and it’s still the second song. Prog by the back door. But those 12 minutes could easily have been compressed into five. Quantity is not quality. But it is populist, isn’t it, Dan Brown? Make that 13 minutes. ****  this, have I got the special lengthy 12 inch for every song album version? And another cop-out. Knopfler is still shredding 30 seconds after the START of the fade.

“Walk Of Life”. Nice organ intro, reminiscent of a funeral. Then it sounds like a merry-go-round. Jaunty jollity. It’s a lot better than I remember. Knopfler’s voice spoils it slightly, but because it’s slightly more buried in the mix, and at a slightly different pitch to the other songs, it works a little better. Otherwise not much to say. It’s a nice and decent pop song. Deserved to be a hit. Maybe not quite no. 2, perhaps at 8 or 9.

OK, what’s this? We now get something saxy. Ugh. It’s one of those yuppie party soundtracks. Like Sade or Blow Monkeys. Or Simply S***e. The sort of thing people put on to make them sound sophisticated. An offcut of a Galaxy advert. And again there’s a lack of artistic coherence as it’s changed abruptly into a more conventional track, none of the Gershwin edge. God, Knopfler is “singing” now. He’s trying to get some sort of late night downtown vibe. Moonlighting. But this is distinctly straight-to-cable. And guess what? It goes on and on and on. The song continues for 1 minute 53 seconds after the final word. This time with the same sax riff repeated over and over and over again. And yet again they can’t find a way to finish it. Yet another long fade-out.

It’s funny, but many of these ‘classic’ albums are totally one-trick ponies, when one gets down to it.

“Why Worry” is an acoustic opening. No drum. Meanders along in the same sort of vein. Sounds like a rip-off of “Love Is Strange”. Nothing to concern anyone. Moving on. Oh, no, we’re not moving on. It’s still going. God al-****ing-MIGHTY. IT’S STILL GOING ON!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!! AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!!! CHRIST ON A BIKE!!!! FOUR MINUTES OF MEANINGLESS MEANDERING GUITAR!!!

At last, four and a half minutes after the song finished, the instruments finish. And we start with something of Africa. Top Gear special? A soldier of freedom in the army of Amin? What? Knopfler is the least convincing sounding soldier ever. Danny La Rue would make a better private. I think this is meant to be meaningful, a satire on war, but this is clunky fourth-year trope. And we get yet another lengthy orchestral break through the middle. And again at the end. For four and a half interminable minutes. ****ing hell. Have they ever heard of variation?

And now we have something that seems to approximate to country music. Dire Straits are to musical styles what Les Dennis is to impersonation. You can work out what it’s meant to be, but only by straining yourself to the extremes. And guess what? A long instrumental break at the end.  ****  OFF.

Oh God. Now he’s trying to be funky. “One World”. How patronising is that? It’s a dull track too.

And finally the title track. Interesting placement. Put the two best-known songs in the first three, so people are in a good mood for the rest of the album, and then fill it with cack. Are they going to finish on a high? Well, it’s an interesting start as well, a bit Disney volcano. Then it’s the calm after the storm, which is a problem, as Knopfler’s voice ruins the tender and gentle atmosphere. This is at least one song decently constructed, as although it has an instro break at the end, it builds up to it, with a proper crescendo. There is a point to the lengthy instrumentalism. But, surprise surprise, it fades out.


After listening to the first three or four songs, I was going to give this album a 4 or 5 out of 10, because of the undoubted quality of musicianship on it, and because there was some interesting stuff going on with the music. But then I began to resent it totally. Where the hell was the editor? The self-indulgence grated. Many of the songs had half-an-idea and then ran out - but they carried on regardless. No idea how to conclude them. Instead, let’s use the space on the CD to show how brilliant we are. But so often it was the same bloody refrain repeated ad infinitum with the tiniest of variations. It worked on “Private Investigations”, so therefore evidently it had to work every bloody time.

Cut every song down to 3 minutes and it would have been a decent enough album. But no, they had to make everything roll on for longer than the song itself. By the time it came through to the last three tracks, I was gritting my teeth trying to get through it. It was becoming positively painful.

Why is this seen as a great album? I have almost literally no idea why. The only things I can think of is groupthink. The same idiocy that seems to think Williams is some sort of musical genius rather than the gurning tw*t he obviously is. Emperor’s new clothes. Nobody wants to go against the common herd.  Because they are all obviously great musicians, and indulging in it, it’s heresy to say that, actually, for the most part they have no clue at all what makes a good song. But I can see why it sold so many. It’s the yuppie factor. You can stick it on in the background at soirees and it wouldn't get in the way. Just a meandering noise to accompany the parsnip crisps. As well as making other people think “yes, we are sophisticated, we listen to Dire Straits”. Self-fulfilling. The sort of attitude that led to the financial crisis.

And Knopfler just.  Can.  Not.  Sing.  AT.  ALL.

I do get the impression that it's an album that would reward further interrogation.  That you could listen to it and hear more in it as time goes on.  Explore the musical complexity.  But for me life's too short.  I can't devote any more time to something that aggravated me so much.  The Pipettes could say more in 2 minutes than Dire Straits could say in this entire hour.

According to wikipedia, Q magazine placed the album at number 51 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Well, Fur Q. For p*ssing me off no end, it gets a 1. 

[thehitparade]

Does it really work for Sigur Ros, or is it just not socially acceptable to admit when they're boring? Worth reiterating that Dire Straits were quite openly using the capacity of the CD to show off though - the vinyl version of the album is about ten minutes shorter and it's the same songs just in more edited versions.

[vastar iner]

Oh. So I must have been listening to the 12 inch version of everything then. Would certainly have been more generous had I got the vinyl version.

Definitely a case in which less is more.

[thehitparade]

As I recall it, at the time Mark Knopfler was a big evangelist for the CD format and digital recording, hence the self-conscious expansive stuff, although in fairness they weren't the only act expanding their tracks for vinyl at this time. At least you can find the shorter edits of some singles on compilations whereas the single version of 'Sultans Of Swing' has never made it to CD or download.

Anyway, must get round to this album sometime.

[vastar iner]

I just looked at the wikipedia entry. Five songs - the last four and "Walk Of Life" - were exactly the same length on album and CD. Of the others, "So Far Away" knocks a minute off, "Money For Nothing" 90 seconds (presumably the intro), "Your Latest Trick" just short of 2 minutes and "Why Worry" 3. Which suggests they knew that much of the stuff was filler, and the cuts are still not enough to make it a reasonable album. I would in turn suggest that if they want to fill up a CD they should do more songs.

[greendemon]

i adore this album but will happily admit that many of the songs are too long. i am deeply sentimentally attached to the title track, for reasons which will become apparent when my review is posted (probably tomorrow...)

[raliverpool]

Sometimes in pop music it is all about being in the right place at the right time. This album is the very definition of that statement. This album was released 13th May 1985, exactly two months before Live Aid, and the pop climate was undergoing one of its occasional seismic shifts. Posts AIDS, and famine in Ethiopia, and suddenly the general public were less interested in frivolous pop records by post punk New Romantics (Duran Duran, Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, Human League, FGTH, Adam Ant, ABC, Soft Cell, etc) who had either bland-ed out, or went OTT pretentious to out do themselves whilst creatively burning themselves out on too much cocaine (or worse), and they wanted more worthy music to listen to again, as Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA, and Tina Turner's Private Dancer albums had recently proved. The problem was the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Eagles, The Police ... had disbanded; the likes of Bowie, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, Dylan, McCartney, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, etc had largely lost their creative & commercial abilities; U2 were an album and a Live Aid appearance from being huge; and Genesis & Fleetwood Mac were on sabbaticals due to their members undertaking solo careers.

Queue the release of this state of the art move to digital recording came from Knopfler's constant striving for better sound quality using the most expensive and highest quality sound recording equipment available at the time. As a result it was the perfect vehicle for the music industry to market their new medium the Compact Disc, to enable you to buy the same records on a new format a decade or two later.

I remember some years ago under another moniker comparing Dire Straits with Oasis and get much abuse for it. But I still think the analogy perfectly applies. Both acts were hugely successful, whilst making unoriginal recordings where the biggest fun was working out what the recording was a rip off inspired by. Whilst Oasis strength was having a great vocalist, added to Noel's great Slade meets The Beatles songwriting earworm anthems over a rather less great musical pallet; Dire Straits were hamstrung by Mark Knopfler's awful Geordie Dylan voice, but were compensated by superb musicianship (especially Knopfler's guitar playing), and the ability to occasional produce superb songcraft gems whilst failing to push the boat out musically.

Hence we come to this album (#. "Track" length - Rating out of 10):

1. "So Far Away" 5:12 - 5.5 late period Roxy Music by numbers ruined by Knopfler's voice where Bryan Ferry's vox would have improved it immensely.
2. "Money for Nothing" (Mark Knopfler, Sting) 8:26 - 4.5 This track was inspired when Mark Kopfler was in New York and stopped by an appliance store. At the back of the store, they had a wall of TVs which were all tuned to MTV. Knopfler said there was a man working there dressed in a baseball cap, work boots, and a checkered shirt delivering boxes who was standing next to him watching. As they were standing there watching MTV, Knopfler remembers the man coming up with lines such as "what are those, Hawaiian noises?...that ain't workin'," etc. Knopfler asked for a pen to write some of these lines down and then eventually put those words to music. The first-person narrating character in the lyrics refers to a musician "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee" (apparently it was www.youtube.com/watch?v=N66cGvR5yvU) and another female musician "stickin' in the camera (which was www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThHz9wlBeLU), man we could have some fun". He describes a singer as "that little faggot with the earring and the make-up" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hDbpF4Mvkw ), and bemoans that these artists get "money for nothing and chicks for free". Obviously Sting's credit is for the use of "Don't Stand So, Don't Stand So, Don't Stand So Close to Me". Much like the album itself the state of the art video which propelled this track to USA #1 is now as horribly dated as the sexist, racist, and homophobic lyrics. And two points have been deducted for the flab added to the single recording.
3. "Walk of Life" 4:12 - 1.5 This take Shakin Stevens' You Drive Me Crazy gone wrong, add a Cajun twist and a sprinkling of Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days and you are left with this earworm horror which has been used in Guantanamo Bay detention camp by being played in repetition (presumably if they used SAW's Greatest Hits they'd be in breach of the Geneva Convention!)
4. "Your Latest Trick" 6:33 - 8.5 Finally a great track, this sounds like late period Steely Dan collaborating with Leonard Cohen.
5. "Why Worry" 8:31 - 4.5 Apart from the lovely guitar motif, this sounds like Phil Collins at his most patronising.
6. "Ride Across the River" 6:58 - 3.0 Oh dear. This sounds like a typical 80s Genesis filler track which always ends up on the middle of side 2.
7. "The Man's Too Strong" 4:40 - 10.0 Out of nowhere comes THE best song Mark Knopfler has ever written. The ambigious lyrics are written from the perspective of the narrator being Rudolf Hess who helped put Hitler into power in Nazi Germany and was beside him all the way. In 1941 he flew to Scotland to cut a deal with Britain and was put in jail. After the war he was convicted of war crimes and put in Spandau prison. Of all the high ranking Nazis he was the only one to not get the death penalty at Nuremberg. Repeated attempts by family members and prominent politicians to win him early release were blocked by the Soviet Union, and he committed suicide, still in custody in Spandau, in 1987 at the age of 93.
8. "One World" 3:40  - 4.0 If ever their was such a thing as a filler track, this is it. Sounding like the Grateful Dead going all 80s technology.
9. "Brothers in Arms" 7:00 - 9.5 An anti-war song written from the perspective of a First World War soldier. Powerful stuff which resonated in the aftermath of the Falklands War; sectarian killings in Northern Ireland; and the ongoing Cold War. A magnificent Roger Waters singing over a panoramic David Gilmour soundscape Pink Floyd like effort.

The problem with this album is it's all so very ... oh I'll let a Scouse alternative comedian tell you ...


To me it reminds me of numerous dull but worthy Princes Trust Concerts from the 1980s/early 1990s with Phil Collins on drums; Ray Cooper on percussion; Elton John & Jools Holland on piano/keyboards; Mark King on bass; and Mark Knopfler & Eric Clapton on guitars fronting numerous dull but worthy singers like Marti Pellow; Mick Hucknell; Sade; Bryan Adams; etc... Its all so very 50 shades of Beige ... give me Dare; Kings Of The Wild Frontier; Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret; Lexicon of Love; Rio; etc any day of the week.

Overall 5 (51 / 9 = 56.67% (56%-63%) category).

My recommendation for a similar album just has to be Peter Gabriel - So (1986) www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQkFTsf_bzg


The Dire Straits Studio album rates (Yes I've Spotified them over the past few weeks):

Dire Straits (1978) 7
Communiqué (1979) 4
Making Movies (1980) 7
Love Over Gold (1982) 6
Brothers in Arms (1985) 5
On Every Street (1991) 4

But for me Mark Knopfler produced two better recordings outside of his band where his vocals are absent:

[o]

1 so far away - A reasonable start, but it does drag a bit 4/10
2 money for nothing - Just for that riff it deserves a 6, bit overplayed now, but still sounds good.
3 walk of life - S'ok, nothing special 4/10
4 your latest trick - Like the sax, but it's a bit MOR, 5/10
5 why worry - I did like this when it came out, bit dated now though, 5/10
6 ride across the river - Better, but I do get he's going to ride across the river, to get to the other side!!! 5/10
7 the mans too strong - Very good, and love the slide guitar, 8/10
8 one world - S'ok, filler, 5/10
9 brothers in arms - Worth the cost of the cd alone imo, awesome. 9/10

A bit dated in places now, so 5.5/10 for me, but it encouraged me to go and listen to some other songs by them, and so I rediscovered Romeo & Juliet!

I also guess I'd better look and see who is due to do May's album!

[wonderwall]

If you want to hear what dire straits are all about alchemy the live album is great

[Shireblogger]

Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms

Context
“Making Movies” and “Love Over Gold” were already amongst my favourite albums by the time “Brothers In Arms” was released. But my first impressions weren’t especially favourable, as the album seemed too long and over-indulgent.
7/10

General Overview
Definitely an album of two parts. We get the three upbeat, radio-friendly singles at the start, and then almost 40 minutes of emotional drama to follow. And some of the slow songs are unnecessary, meaning they swamp the better epics.
7/10

Intro & Outro
First impressions matter. “So Far Away” is a good pop song, and sets strong expectations for the album. At the other end, “Brothers In Arms” is justifiably the title track, and sits proudly alongside Dire Straits’ other epics such as “Telegraph Road” and “Tunnel Of Love”.
8/10

Music
This album was created for sports stadia. The band knew they’d be on the road for a long time, playing to tens of thousands of fans every night, and the music reflects that. There are quiet moments, where one of the musicians would step into the spotlight, interspersed with a maximum force rock show, where the enlarged touring band could pound along in full flow. And plenty of segments designed for fans to hold up their lighters, sing along and become part of the Dire Straits experience.
7/10

Lyrics
The heart wrenching anti-war poem, “Brothers In Arms” must be Mark Knopfler’s best work. I don’t feel he gets the credit he deserves for it, possibly because few people listen to Dire Straits for the words. There are good lines in some of the other songs – “looking so bereaved and so bereft”, “you played robbery with insolence” – and I love the observed humour of “Money For Nothing”.
8/10

Production & Sound
Part of the reason for “Brothers In Arms” extraordinary sales was the fact that its release coincided with the widespread launch of the CD. Dire Straits generally appealed to middle-aged men, who were exactly the type of people who might want to splash out on a CD player. And the album quickly gained a reputation for its sonic quality, giving the buyer the opportunity to show off his new toy to his friends. The production was perfect for its time, and, whether deliberately or accidentally, was one of the main reasons the album sold millions.
10/10

High Points
I love “Walk Of Life”. A great song to drive to. And whilst “Money For Nothing” has become over-familiar, and deliberately misunderstood, it remains a clever concept well executed.
9/10

Low Points
If the album ditched “Ride Across The River” and “One World”, it would actually be better. It’s not that they are especially bad songs, but the album simply doesn’t need them. Their elimination would give “Why Worry” and “Brothers In Arms” more room to breathe. I’d also change the track listing, pushing “Money For Nothing” and “Walk Of Life” further down the running order.
3/10

Packaging
I never liked the album sleeve. The pink text on pale blue doesn’t work for me. And the guitar floating in front of the clouds is way too pretentious.
3/10

On balance
For me, it is only Dire Straits’ third best album. Eventually, it destroyed the band, burdening them with an unreasonable weight of expectation. The fact that the follow-up, “On Every Street”, is rubbish, is not surprising. Having said that, “Brothers In Arms” has some fine moments, and gets a spin once or twice a year on my iPod.
7/10

TOTAL SCORE
Let me tell ya, them guys ain’t dumb.
69/100.

For Haven:
7/10