Dire Straits is one of those feel good bands that can lift up my mood anytime I listen to them.
The two albums we had at home growing up were Brothers in Arms (1985) and On Every Street (1991).
Brothers in Arms is one of those rare albums where almost all the songs on it appealed to me.
The opening track ‘So Far Away’ was my go to song for the months leading up to my wedding because Priya was in Bengaluru and I in Mumbai. The sentiment may be altered but the song by itself in Mark Knopfler’s silken voice is still lovely. :-)
Money for Nothing begins with Sting singing 'I want my MTV' in falsetto and a synthesised sound in the background that reaches a crescendo at which point Mark Knopfler breaks into a guitar riff that stays in the background right through the song. For me, it is one of my all time favourite songs to get myself going. This is also THE song I absolutely must listen to in order to test the quality of a stereo system. It also has a zany video which won several awards at the time for the use of animations. Check it out here
While Walk of Life is now a classic Dire Straits song, I particularly enjoy two more songs of this album. Your Latest Trick which starts with a soothing tune of the saxophone and Brothers in Arms. The latter was written during the Falkland Wars between Argentina and UK and is about the experience of soldiers during war time. It has a wonderful para that goes
“There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones”
One Every Street was the last studio album of Dire Straits and wasn’t as successful as the above but some of the songs worth listening to are
a. Calling Elvis - The voice
b. On Every Street - A nice song that slowly builds tempo
c. Heavy Fuel - To be listened loudly
d. Iron Hand - Completely opposite of the above. :-)
The most popular song of Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing - however only reached my ears during college when a friend was carrying a tape and couldn’t stop raving about the song Romeo & Juliet. I finally got my hands on this album ‘Sultans of Swing - The very best of Dire Straits’ which is a nice compilation of their hits. The guitar work on Sultans of Swing is absolutely magical and probably allows Knopfler to showcase his guitar skills that he is known for.
I would however still recommend listening to the entire album of Brothers in Arms if the music appeals to you.
The collection is available here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiYwJm3Pb8i9gpZnjOQ2TAnoebaemQ?e=VPCKDL
Cheers,
Avi
My entire music library (uploaded so far) can be accessed here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiYwJm3Pb8i9gpERwAPLpYGKDZor2w?e=mEs5lG
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