POLLergirl, don't worry: Dire Straits MAKING MOVIES

can i just vote for the first side? i look at the first side as one big long great song.

i know, i feel the same way.

"expresso love" and "solid rock" are both fine too, and really only "les boys" is an outright dud. but tunnel->romeo->skateaway really is like this great urban-romantic suite.

xgau, a little bit right and a whole lot wrong:

Making Movies [Warner Bros., 1980]
If any up-and-coming rock-and-roller aspires to auteur status it's Mark Knopfler, and among those with a taste for his rather corny plots (Romeo and Juliet, fancy that) this establishes his claim. Me, I note that this third album closes with his second gay-baiting song, and that I wasn't surprised . Better he should work on somebody else's stories--his guitar has emerged from Eric Clapton's shadow into a jazzy rock that muscles right past Larry Carlton and ilk. Steely Straits, anyone? Or would that be Dire Dan? C+

can't believe nobody took the Dire Dan name for their band. great idea.

daaaaamn

it's really got to be tunnel of love, but skateaway's groove is pretty compelling

"Dire Dan" sounds like a mid seventies Elton John song.

I still get confused by the way this band went from semi-obscure treasure to all over MTV, or at least that's how it seemed at the time. At 12 years old, Skateaway was one of a handful of "mystery" songs where I had no idea who was behind it but was riveted when it came on classic rock radio. Never saw the video until just now. Funny to recall how liberating it was when walkmen came out. And the song seems pretty tight for something that goes on for 6:22.

For all of Knopfler's guitar heroics ("Telegraph Road" being the prime example), his solo at the end of "Skateaway" is understated and tremendous.

Tunnel Of Love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWX5yXMqxeA&feature=related

always loved the rhyme of "whirligig" and "girl i dig."

OTM x2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQBKUPwG_Gk

pick withers was a good drummer with a light touch and a great name.

otm. Whatever became of him after he left DS?

These guys were one of the last of the true classic rock bands.

pick withers was a good drummer with a light touch and a great name.

And I can't believe Terry "Rockpile" Williams took over at the end. Other than "Twisting by the Pool," what a waste of a bash-tastic drummer.

otm. Whatever became of him after he left DS?

Plays jazz exclusively these days. I love this quote from Wikipedia:

Withers left the band in summer 1982 soon after the completing the Love Over Gold sessions to spend more time with his family and to pursue jazz music. He reportedly told an interviewer that he had succumbed to a growing feeling that there was nothing left in the music for him, that he was in danger of "becoming a rock drummer."

Anyway, he plays drums for Pauline Black (there's a lot of YouTube clips out there)

Recentish interview here: http://www.adcdrums.co.uk/news.asp

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

drum break w/halting guitar in "tunnel of love" is so so good. i always have to turn it up at that point. such a terrific song for speeding away in your car while pissed off

"Romeo and Juliet".
Will "Les Boys" get any votes? :)

"solid rock" is really the most obvious precursor to "money for nothing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLqg3_K7cKM&feature=related

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

maybe the most definitive side A trouncing of side B in ilx poll history.

Since nothing on side 2 got a single vote, it's hard to argue with that.

That said..... No wonder....

les boys do cabaret
les boys are glad to be gay
they're not afraid now
disco bar in germany
les boys are glad to be
upon parade now

les boys got leather straps
les boys got ss caps
but they got no gun now
get dressed up get a little risque
got to do a little s & m these days
it's all in fun now

les boys come on again
for the high class whores
and the businessmen
who drive in their mercedes benz
to a disco bar in old munchen

they get the jokes that the d.j. makes
they get nervous and they make mistakes
they're bad for business
some tourists take a photograph
les boys don't get one lough
he says they're useless

late at night when they've gone away
les boys dream of jean genet
high heel shoes and a black berret
and the posters on the wall that say
les boys do cabaret
les boys are glad to be gay

Me, I note that this third album closes with his second gay-baiting song

stay tuned for more gay baiting songs folks!

I guess 'Money For Nothing' was the next one in the series.

Steely Straits, anyone? Or would that be Dire Dan?

Was always hoping they'd hook up with Chris Rea instead tbh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io35CNOLUcI

Greg Calbi mastering Making Movies and performing edits on 'Tunnel of Love'

"Hand In Hand" was used really well in Everybody Wants Some!!.

"tunnel of love" is the shit, one of my favorite album openers. a natural adrenaline boost, such a heavy atmosphere.

great find, turrican, btw!

It's no Making Movies, but a friend of mine just posted to link to the making of Brothers in Arms: http://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-dire-straits-money-nothing

Interesting to hear the story of Omar Hakim just going in there and cranking out the drums, though they kept Terry Williams' intro fills on "Money for Nothing."

Side one is such a vibe.

Came across this while looking up the Springsteen connection, which somehow I just made for the first time today:

the band would never record anything that sounded like this again. Somehow by simply adding Iovine and Bittan, drummer Pick Withers begins to sound a lot like Springsteen’s powerhouse drummer Max Weinberg. John Illsley starts to anchor the rhythm like Springsteen bassist Gary Tallent.

semi-obscure treasure

At least on Denver AOR radio, their first album, and of course especially "Sultans of Swing," were inescapable.