Dire Straits were inescapable in the 1980s, from Sultans of Swing’s omnipresence on rock radio, to smash-hit album Brothers in Arms smothering the charts in hit singles, Mark Knopfler and the gang were everywhere!
Despite this, we didn’t know them that well. We knew the obvious hit singles, and a couple of albums, but we didn’t know that much about the lesser-known stuff. So, in a spirit of (re-)discovery, we – clutching John Ilsley’s biography “My Life in Dire Straits” – set out to explore their six-album discography, and what we discovered was that there is very little we agree on when it comes to Dire Straits.
In each podcast episode we talk through the artist’s history chronologically, picking our favourite tracks and ranking the albums as we go, so check that out if you want to know how we came to our decisions and why we picked the playlist tracks we did.
Our ranking and track picks are a compromise of our two different personal opinions, and of course we have to consider the Jeffrey Rulebook. It is also only a snapshot in time, so don’t take them too seriously! But do please comment below with your picks.
The Dire Straits Jeffrey Podcast playlist is also available here on Deezer.
See below for the full list:
Origins
John Illsley moved from his Leicestershire home to London to study, and ended up sharing a house with guitarist David Knopfler, and naturally the two started playing together. David’s brother Mark soon got involved and the first proto-Dire Straits was born. In 1976, Mark Knopfler met drummer Pick Withers and asked him to join the band, and, after their demo got into the hands of BBC DJ Charlie Gillett, the band suddenly found their song Sultans of Swing getting a lot of air play, and a couple of month later they signed to Vertigo Records.
Line-up:
- John Illsley – bass guitar
- David Knopfler – rhythm guitar
- Mark Knopfler – vocals, lead guitar, songwriter
- Pick Withers – drums
In preparation for the podcast Gordon read Dire Straits by Michael Oldfield (not that one) a band biography that finishes before Brothers in Arms was released and we both read John Illsley’s excellent autobiography My Life in Dire Straits.
1978: Dire Straits
Our ranking: 4th
A raggedy-but-charming debut album that stakes out new territory as a very British take on American country rock – an interesting juxtaposition to punk that was raging away around this time, and perhaps the immediate success of this record suggests not everyone wanted Anarchy in the UK, some wanted a gruff man playing the guitar very well over some pleasing medium-paced bluesy-country melodies.
It is arguably a bit samey and there’s a fair few mediocre tunes that make it drift into the background from time to time, but there’s nothing to dislike here (Gordon ranked this higher than John, so its position in this list is a bit of a compromise).
The classic Sultans of Swing hints at the future direction of the band, with longer more complex songs, but we had to wait until 1980 and Making Movies for that.
Our picks: Down to the Waterline and Sultans of Swing
1979: Communique
Our ranking: Top!
The rushed and underrated follow-up to their debut is actually a very nice and chilled piece of work and the best example of their medium-paced Americana country-rock shtick. It sounds a lot like their debut, albeit in a cooler and more polished way, and in making more use of keyboards, it has more layers than its predecessor. It was recorded in Nassau, and produced by the legendary Jerry Wexler, who deliberately tried to ape the sound of the debut.
Most people rank this lower because it feels like more-of-the-same-but-without-Sultans-of-Swing rather than a stylistic advance on its predecessor, and although this is largely true, we reckon it’s smarter and more subtle and works well in its own understated little way – especially the opening track Once Upon a Time in the West.
This was Gordon’s top album, but then he’s really into that Americana malarkey. John ranked it lower but eventually succumbed to its chilled charms, hence it sneaking to top, albeit as a bit of a muddy compromise.
Our picks: Once Upon a Time in the West and Portobello Belle
Line-up change
David Knopfler left during the making of the Making Movies album following a huge falling-out with his elder sibling. Different stories stress different nuance over exactly what happened, so it’s not entirely clear, but it seems as though David’s sulky uncooperative approach following the argument reached a point where he had to go. Other stories have suggested he wanted to focus on being a producer, or was less enamoured with the musical direction … so take your pick. Illsley’s version is one we’ve gone with above.
Looking through the crafty lens of hindsight, this is the start of Dire Straits becoming an ensemble more than a band.
- John Illsley – bass guitar
- Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitars, songwriter
- Pick Withers – drums
1980: Making Movies
Our ranking: 3rd
John’s second-favourite album and Gordon’s third-favourite, Making Movies is half a splendid album and half a quite good album.
This album also sees a big change of pace in it being dominated by longer deeper more-complex songs and more use of keyboards, with hit single Romeo and Juliet arguably their best song up to this point, backed up by crackers like the gorgeous Tunnel of Love and the fun Solid Rock, a pop-rock track that became a staple of their live show from this point on.
The album might have ranked higher in our personal lists had it not been for the closing track Les Boys which, apart from being a silly throwaway song, feels lyrically dodgy-as-fuck to today’s sensitive ears, ranking as the worst track of their entire career.
Our picks: Romeo and Juliet and Solid Rock
Line-up change
Although Dire Straits proper continued to be just the original core group of Knopfler, Illsley and Withers, they acquired regular keyboard player Alan Clark and guitarist Hal Lindes on rhythm guitar:
- John Illsley – bass guitar
- Mark Knopfler – vocals, lead guitar, songwriter
- Pick Withers – drums
- Alan Clark – keyboards
- Hal Lindes – rhythm guitar
1982: Love Over Gold
Our ranking: 2nd
The deeper more-complex thing they started on Making Movies was continued on Love Over Gold, to magnificent effect in John’s opinion (his top choice), less so in Gordon’s (ranked fourth).
Side one (for those who remember vinyl) is peak Dire Straits with the wonderful Telegraph Road followed by the hit single Private Investigations.
The rest of the album is not as strong, but it’s perfectly decent, especially if one can handle the comedic Industrial Disease: Dire Straits were never ones to keep things serious for too long, and often threw in either silly songs (Les Boys, the non-album track Twisting by the Pool, maybe even Walk of Life qualifies) or humorous lyrics (Romeo and Juliet is a good example), and that cheekiness peaks here – on their most proggy album – by tackling issues such as industrial decline and the dehumanising effect of the nine-to-five routine with a flippant-sounding comedy song about someone suffering from, among other things, brewer’s droop.
Our picks: Telegraph Road and Private Investigations
Line-up change
Pick Withers left the band after recording Love Over Gold meaning they were down to just two original members. Withers plays on one track of their subsequent EP (the one with Twisting by the Pool on it) but is entirely absent by the time the live album Alchemy appears in 1984, with the drum stool occupied by Terry Williams – I used to know someone called Terry Williams, but I doubt it’s the same person.
The line-up of the band breaks down ahead of the next album, with Guy Fletcher joining as a second keyboard player, Omar Hakim taking over most of the drumming (his sound better suited the poppier direction of Brothers in Arms), and Hal Lindes leaving (being fired?), so the line-up sort of looks a bit like this:
- John Illsley – bass guitar
- Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitars, songwriter
- Alan Clark – keyboards
- Terry Williams – drums (but not really)
- Guy Fletcher – keyboards
- Omar Hakim – drums
1985: Brothers in Arms
Our ranking: 5th
A stylistic shift from its proggy predecessor, this bright poppy album is decent but uneven, both in terms of style and quality. There are top-drawer great moments (Money for Nothing, Brothers in Arms), mediocrities (Your Latest Trick, Why Worry?) and forgettable nonsense (One World) all thrown together in a jumble.
Yes, yes, it was a blockbuster award-guzzling classic and was super famous – especially as it coincided with their excellent Live Aid appearance (they were on just before Queen, and so got a bit overshadowed, but this is unfair given their strong performance and early support for Geldof’s vision) – but the album has aged worse than their other stuff.
The decision to start with the lovely but introverted So Far Way is inexplicable. It’s an underwhelming kick-off track that feels lost and in the way of the fab intro and raunchy guitar chords that start the brilliant (but overlong) Money for Nothing – both tracks suffer, as does the album, which immediately feels less coherent.
So although we didn’t agree on its position (John ranked it higher than Gordon), it hasn’t stood the test of time, nor the test of Jeffrey, as well as we expected.
Our picks: Brothers in Arms and So Far Away
We find most Dire Straits album covers a little flat and uninteresting, but the Brothers in Arms one nudged ahead as our favourite:
Line-up change
By this point Dire Straits had largely ceased to exist as both Knopfler and Illsley had moved on to other projects, both feeling the band had come to a natural conclusion – but there was a brief attempt to see if there remained any life in the old dog …
- John Illsley – bass guitar
- Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitars, songwriter
- Alan Clark – keyboards
- Guy Fletcher – keyboards
1991: On Every Street
Our ranking: 6th
Their last effort is ranked at the bottom of most people’s list because it is so obviously their worst album, so obvious in fact that even we agreed it belonged in last place.
It is nicely produced and has a good meaty sound, but apart from the opening track (Calling Elvis), and maybe a couple of others if we’re being nice, there isn’t much here to bother with. There is very little of Knopfler’s trademark guitar and the soft predictable country rock feels formulaic and not very interesting, reaching a nadir with Heavy Fuel, the follow-up single to Calling Elvis, and their second-worst track ever (after 1980’s Les Boys).
Like many albums of its time, it suffers from being overlong – with albums not restricted to two sides of vinyl, the format ran amok in the 90s and many lengthy albums were released, this being one of them: a 45-minute album might have been rated higher.
We didn’t agree on anything else in this list …
Our picks: Calling Elvis and Fade to Black
The Jeffrey Music ranking of Dire Straits albums (2023):
- Communique (1979)
- Love Over Gold (1982)
- Making Movies (1980)
- Dire Straits (1978)
- Brothers in Arms (1985)
- On Every Street (1991)
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