924 Dire Straits - Dire Straits (1978)

 924 Dire Straits - Dire Straits (1978)

Studio Album - Blues Rock





About the Act:

Dire Straits were a British Blues/Rock band who are one of the most successful bands in the world. They existed from 1977-1988 and again from 1991-5. They are known for their musicality, and the strength of the guitar playing, storytelling songs, and the seemingly half-huttered, half-sung vocals. Front-man Mark Knopfler is from the North East of ENgland and references to the area appear in several of their songs.


About the Album:

This was the first album by Dire Straits. It went double-platinum in the UK and the US.


My History with this Album:

I've had a copy for years but don't play it that often. If I feel like some Dire Straits I usually go for one of their later albums.


Review:

This does not feel like a debut album. It's really together, and the music is really strong and confident. Musically this is blues-laden rock, with a prominent role for Mark Knopfler's guitar playing, especially his sparse but exquisite lead lines, with  non-distorted tone that has a great sound and a percussive edge. The songs are a mixture of stories with occasional relationships songs, with strong metaphors and imagery. 

Mark's vocals are a curiosity in some ways, he kind of growls and grunts and mumbles, sometimes spoken, sometimes half-sung, but with a passing relationship to any kind of tune. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but in fact it's really effective, and surprisingly I find it really easy to pick out the words. The vocals coupled with the clean guitar sound immediately identify this as Dire Straits.

The best-known song on the album is "Sultans of Swing" which was a massive hit, and their debut hit. The other song I know really well is "Setting Me Up" which was covered by Eric Clapton on one of his live albums.

You are probably getting the impression I like the album. You would be right, it is rich and expressive and I really should listen to it more often.


8/10



Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2rCS6Xwx32V27pvgFzLzlT

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5LlGBkh2rZN-GLWBO4c6Bb3paqOAxHm7

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Straits_(album)


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