POLLIN' for nothing and yer chicks for free - Dire Straits - BROTHERS IN ARMS

I listened to this a couple of nights ago... I still think 'Walk of Life' is a complete piece of shit that threatens to set off my gag reflex, but it's also the worst thing on here by miles. 'One World' isn't a highlight either, but at least it's inoffensive.

Knopfler sounds as if he's straining to sing on 'Why Worry', too... the song sounds as if it was recorded in the wrong key for him.

At the moment I'm thinking either 'So Far Away' or 'Your Latest Trick', which is a beautiful use of the saxophone.

I pretty much lump together "Why Worry" and Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush's "Don't Give Up."

May vote "Ride Across The River." Really like the "Your Latest Trick" lyrics.

"So Far Away" is the only single I'm not sick of, and it's pretty.

how's the title track?

The title track isn't too bad, I can see why those fond of earlier Dire Straits work like it.

Also, I heard the vinyl version of this album long before I ever heard the CD version. When I eventually did, I was surprised by things such as the extra intro on 'Your Latest Trick' and the long outro on 'Why Worry' - there's parts of the LP here and there which feel a little padded. On one hand, I guess they were taking advantage of the extra run-time that CD's offered, but on the other they gave birth to the type of CD bloat that was common in the '90s where everyone seemed hell-bent on making 55-79 minute long albums.

Massive #1 MTV-baiting single, a sense that their moment had come after a few years of success, "CD-era curiosity," blah blah, but how the hell did this album wind up so huge?

almost diamond-certified in America, nine weeks at #1

the title track is a long epic thing that's probBly been used in some TV show finale by now

Didn't someone on here recently post a behind-the-scenes studio making of? Iirc it told of the band being suitably impressed that session pro Omar Hakim flew down to the Caribbean and knocked out all the drum parts in basically three days. Also, Mark Knopfler allegedly did many of his vocal takes with a cigarette actually in his mouth.

XP IIRC, it did such a deed in an episode of Miami Vice

Ah yes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtw_4eKowN0

So Far Away, I think. Can't deny those first three tracks.

Between Walk of Life and the title track for me. I was driving in Italy a couple years ago, listening to the radio, and Walk of Life came on--it took that random bit of happenstance for me to remember how much I loved that song, and its rollicking rockabilly and its cheesy stadium organ.

The title track is just an incredible melody and chord progression, with Knopfler's best vocal and guitar performances on the album. The hushed way he sings perfectly complements the overwhelming atmosphere--it's one of those songs that will always change the chemistry of whichever room it's playing in.

It's not happenstance, it's cosmic design!

http://www.wolproject.com

Anyway, I like that song a lot, but Mark was definitely listening to Bruce.

"Money for Nothing," but why the hell did they stretch it out to eight minutes??? The whole intro I'm just thinking "Okay, when are they gonna get to the fucking DRUMS!!!"

I never realized how ugly that album cover is.

First 5 tracks are superb. Intro to Money For Nothing is utter ledgebagosity

Worth listening to "Private Dancer" in the context of this album — written by Knopfler around the same time, same languid tempo, lyrics setting a scene close to "Your Latest Trick."

So Far Away - that riff is so good, i love it. also i amuse myself singing "SOFA away from ME" etc yknow, sofas

But Brothers in Arms is beautiful so it might get my vote. So atmospheric & tender & gives me goosebumps

I saw Metallica cover Brothers in Arms at Bridge School & it was so good, idk if ppl itt give a crap about Metallica tho

https://youtu.be/NfPxU88Qqkg

I can't hear the opening lick of "So Far Away" without seeing the silver edge of a spinning CD in a Technics CD player.

I like Omar Hakim's contributions to this record (and Neil Dorfsman was less than complimentary towards Terry Williams drumming in some "making of" article I remember reading somewhere) but a part of this bands soul died when Pick Withers left... his drumming on the first four Dire Straits albums is OTM.

v otm

Like, there's this one fill on 'Sultans of Swing' which is just perfect.

his fills are super weird but effective. Drumming on self-titled may be my favorite on any album.

aaah I remember my dad bought this CD upon release and played it all the time in a "listen how GREAT this modern CD thing sounds !"
he also thought MK was the greatest guitarist of that time.
I haven't cared listening to the whole album ever since but for all the hating for this band/album, "Brothers in arms" is clearly classic and a beautiful and moving song.

oh and the album is only 9 tracks !
funny how in those days, huge acts could release 9 tracks albums (ditto "Thriller")...
nowaday it would be 15 !

Wasn't BIA the first CD to be certified platinum?

also i amuse myself singing "SOFA away from ME" etc yknow, sofas

omg twinsies!!

I wish "Money For Nothing" would crawl under a rubbish bin and set itself on fire.

I don't mind it, even if it is a little overinflated. The 3D effects in the video haven't aged well, though... and of course there's the controversial verse...

I like the bit where Knopfler's vocal drops out on one of the choruses and you just hear Sting's harmony.

Listening to "so far away" : it reminds me of... the go-gos !

It's like an alternate version of "our lips are sealed" !

who was it that called Invisible touch the bald thriller? this record…is thriller with a headband…

I think 1986 was the point at which AOR radio yielded to classic rock…and at least in Louisville Ky, several of these cuts were played on the AOR station in town circa '85, '86… I know "the man's too strong " and "One world" without ever having listened to the record per se…the only ones I don't know are "Why Worry" and "Ride across the river"…

BiA and Hysteria are outliers in the UK. In the mid 80s, absolutely enormous records concerned with genres —expensive roots rock, pop-metal— that would continue to be big business in the US for several years, but were so hideously unfashionable and counter to the Smiths and whatever else the NME approved of that that any existing or nascent pop metal or roots rock movements din't make it out of the gate. Like, it's unlikely that Simon Reynolds has a fondness for Knopfler, much less Steamin' Steve clark…

Btw I didn't even know sting was on "money for nothing" ! What's the story ?

Listening to it now with that in mind it's almost a duet ! Should have been "a featuring Sting" credit !

Was So Far Away a single in the UK? The title doesn't ring any bells but fucked if I'm going to listen to it to find out. Walk Of Life is a crime against humanity. Title track is corny but the guitar playing is lovely.

sting was everywhere in 1985

Sting sang the line "I Want My MTV" on "Money for Nothing", a 1985 hit by Dire Straits ... In 1985, Sting provided spoken vocals for the Miles Davis album You're Under Arrest, taking the role of a French-speaking police officer. He also sang backing vocals on Arcadia's single "The Promise", on two songs from Phil Collins' album No Jacket Required, and contributed "Mack the Knife" to the Hal Willner-produced tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

xxxpost:

He was apparently on holiday on Montserrat - The Police had already recorded a couple of albums there at AIR. So it was pretty much a "same place at the same time" kinda thing, but NickB is right... Sting was everywhere as much as Phil Collins was.

'So Far Away' wasn't just a single in the UK, it was the lead single.

Dream of the Blue Turtles was recorded in Barbados at around the same time as BIA, so only a short hop away. that also had Omar Hakim on drums btw

I've totally forgotten it. Hum it for me (xp)

xpost:

It's kinda funny how neither album sounds as if it was recorded in the Caribbean!

Cover version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ihqk7iapM8

Compass Point Monserrat is the New Jersey of recording studios

Seriously. Remain In Light like the least recorded in the Caribbean album ever.

Btw I didn't even know sting was on "money for nothing" ! What's the story ?

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 15:03 (fifty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Listening to it now with that in mind it's almost a duet ! Should have been "a featuring Sting" credit !

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 15:05 (fifty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

meant to say, you probably noticed he's basically singing 'don't stand so close to me' right?

xps: when i relistened i sort of thought 'one world' was a bit zz toppish too, reminded me of i dunno... tv dinners perhaps? the character in that song sounds like he stepped out of a top song anyhow

I really hope there is an earnest academic treatise out there on the Geordie creation of late 20c adult oriented pop rock - from Ferry through Sting to Knopfler and Mcaloon. If not I may have to write it.

don't leave chris rea out stevie!

McAloon and Rea aren't geordies, for one thing...

but Neil Tennant is!

Yes, he is, although you wouldn't think it by the way he speaks. Same with Sting.

Ferry isn't a geordie, but TGPT is.

there goes my idea for a geordie aor tribute act, dire rea

lol

Rea is a smoggie.

Scott OTM re: the first side of Making Movies - it's perfect. Yeah, there was already a poll for it and unsurprisingly 'Les Boys' didn't win.

Listening to this album again now and... the bass playing on 'One World' is slap-tastic... I don't seem to recall any slap bass on any other Dire Straits LP... is that really Illsley or some session player?

wiki sez that Tony Levin is on the record, and that sure as hell sounds like him on "One World." sessioneer Neil Jason is on it too, so that means that John Illsley, the only other guy to stay in the band and one lucky-ass dude as such, probly got the gas face for most of the record.

"stay in the band the whole way"

Yeah, now that you've mentioned it, I think 'One World' is Levin... and I'd guess that Neil Jason played on 'Your Latest Trick' and the outro to 'Why Worry' ...

I think Illsley and Knopfler are still friends, whereas Knopfler and his brother who played on the first two (possibly three) Dire Straits records still haven't spoken since he left the band. There was some article only 2 years ago about David Knopfler where he mentioned they were still estranged.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I really like all of Dire Straits total Gilmour/Floyd type epics like "Brothers in Arms".

I recall this being THE album for showing off how pristine those newfangled CD players sounded back in 1985.

And everyone OTM about Making Movies - one of the all-time worst album closers blighting an otherwise exquisite record.

nick cave should do an ep of dire straits piano covers. think romeo & juliet would work really well, brothers in arms too. also les boys in the style of nick the stripper

This is my favorite album to play at a maximum volume setting of "2" when I want music playing but don't care very much about what the music is.

future ILM poll right there

Anyone else find it weird that the first song on the album is So Far Away rather than Money for Nothing, which seems almost designed to start a record?

'So Far Away' is more representative of the record, though...

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

Five votes for 'Walk of Life'!

Anyone else find it weird that the first song on the album is So Far Away rather than Money for Nothing, which seems almost designed to start a record?

definitely ! I wonder how they could decide otherwise since MFN is basically just an intro... a bit like the THX opening big sound test !

As a kid I had this album as a tape copied by my uncle with an edited version of the Money for Nothing compilation on the other side and had assumed (up until now!) that the weird running order of BIA was an artefact of his editing.

I wish "Money For Nothing" would crawl under a rubbish bin and set itself on fire.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 6, 2017

This one too.

boooooo

Nope

FUN HATER

Would have voted "So Far Away", love how Knopfler can just toss off a cool little lick over 3 chords and have it be as epic as Springsteen ever did.

jsut the thought of that timeless synthline makes me wanna dance :P

good work alfred

to quote Knopfler, WOO HOO

"Walk of Life" is not the worst song Dire Straits released, it's the worst song anyone's released.

Walk of Life reminds me of everyone stomping their feet to it on the coach on our year 7 trip to Normandy in 1991, much like The Lost Boys it's a pleasant memory from that week which I have absolutely no need to revisit.

Again, the versatility!

http://www.wolproject.com

Alfred OTM. That keyboard lick makes me gag.

There's a blank steel-y nothingness to "so far away" that I find vaguely conpelling

compelling

I have no fondness for "Walk of Life," though my sister's longtime hatred of it might have colored my reaction.

There's a blank steel-y nothingness to "so far away" that I find vaguely conpelling

― brimstead,

otm

Alfred's baseball theory checks out, this was a song that was used as bumper music back in the corny '80s and even into the '90s on the local Cubs broadcasts (along w/Centerfield and, uh, a Beach Boys re-recording):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ann

In 1987, the group re-recorded the song as "Here Come the Cubs" with re-written lyrics about the Chicago Cubs.[3] It became the team's official theme that year, replacing "Go, Cubs, Go".[4]

Maybe not the best place to post this, but whatever. Heard this song on classic rock radio today at work, and noticed that they bleeped the word "faggot." My immediate reaction, at least after noticing it (as this is a song I would otherwise not notice), was "whatever, no one needs to hear that stupid fucking word." But then I started to think about what a hollow gesture it is for the station to censor a lyric in a song that literally every person has already heard a million times. I tried to imagine any kind of person I know--queer or otherwise--feeling better, or safer, hearing that word omitted, and I could not think of a single example. I imagine the sudden omission of the word after decades of hearing it on radio and MTV could potentially alienate and even incense the core classic rock radio demographic--and maybe that alone is a good thing, I dunno--but is there a brain on Earth that does not automatically mentally fill in the blank when that verse comes up?

Don't get me wrong: I am very happy we live during a time in which we are beginning to more carefully consider the way words like "faggot" are hurtful while at the same time no longer bleeping Tom Petty singing about "roll(ing) another joint" or Pink Floyd singing about "goody goody bullshit." But something about this gesture seemed insincere to me, like a pandering concession to something that has nothing to do with social justice (and not just because Knopfler is writing not as himself but "in character," which is a cop out defense I am tired of hearing).

Does the word "faggot" in "Money For Nothing" bother you? I ask about this song in particular simply because it is so ubiquitous, and I have literally never heard a person in real life question the use of the word in this song. (I believe there are other threads to discuss similar slurs in songs by X and The Fall and Patti Smith and...)