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DJPuffyLemon
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Topic: Dire Straits Posted: July 25 2008 at 03:06 |
So apparently every band except Dire Straits are in the archives, making me start this thread which wants to ask which their best albums are. I only have Love over Gold (album w/ lightning on cover).
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Queen By-Tor
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 03:09 |
Well, they ain't prog so that's probably why they're not here. Love
Over Gold is really as close as they got. I recommend their debut
because it's one of my favorite albums of all time, although that one
is heavier on the blues guitar and less on the experimental side.
Sultans Of Swing and Water Of Love are two amazing tracks but the rest
are fantastic as well.
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Chicapah
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 08:26 |
To me "On Every Street" is amazing. I have four of their albums but that one gets into my changer more often than any of the others.
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"Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain
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Blacksword
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 08:40 |
I've heard three or four of their albums. I have Love Over Gold and Brothers in Arms (both on vinyl), although I have no recollection of buying the latter.
To coin a phrase once levelled at ELP, I think they were mostly a waste of talent and electricty. Knopfler was a tedious vocalist and a predictable (although clearly talented) guitarist. I remember marvelling at the crystal clear production on 'Telegraph Road' but after a couple of albums, their pluckety pluckety twang twang sound starts to grate.. Does on me anyway.
They were one of the bands who really embraced the launch of the CD. In the late 80's you'd go into a HiFi shop and the sales assistant would always demo speakers and amps with a Dire Straights CD. At one time, in the UK they were apparently the band of choice for most A Level students, along with U2 and Simple Minds. I think at the time I preffered Hawkwind and Motorhead..
Maybe I'm being too mean. They are not without their merit, I guess. I just find them excrutiatingly boring.
Edited by Blacksword - July 25 2008 at 08:41
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Sean Trane
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 08:46 |
King By-Tor wrote:
Well, they ain't prog so that's probably why they're not here. Love Over Gold is really as close as they got. I recommend their debut because it's one of my favorite albums of all time, although that one is heavier on the blues guitar and less on the experimental side. Sultans Of Swing and Water Of Love are two amazing tracks but the rest are fantastic as well. |
Right on the button
LOG is their proggiest
Their debut is fantastic (In The Gallery and Six Blade Knife)
Andif you listen to side 2 ofthe vinyl of Brothers In Arms, the songs are fairly proggy as well.
But that probably not enough to get them in PA
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Certif1ed
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 09:42 |
Blacksword wrote:
I've heard three or four of their albums. I have Love Over Gold and Brothers in Arms (both on vinyl), although I have no recollection of buying the latter. |
Dire Straits albums are like that - I'm sure they have lives of their own.
Unlike you, I do like them, though, and find them extremely listenable when I'm in the right mood. Knopfler is a very talented soloist and a very poor singer - but seemingly contradictorily, a pretty good vocalist, IMHO, with a great ear for melody and soul.
Prog?
I think not.
But these days, it seems, you just can't tell...
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The important thing is not to stop questioning.
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Queen By-Tor
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 10:38 |
Sean Trane wrote:
King By-Tor wrote:
Well, they ain't prog so that's probably why they're not here. Love Over Gold is really as close as they got. I recommend their debut because it's one of my favorite albums of all time, although that one is heavier on the blues guitar and less on the experimental side. Sultans Of Swing and Water Of Love are two amazing tracks but the rest are fantastic as well. |
Right on the button
LOG is their proggiest
Their debut is fantastic (In The Gallery and Six Blade Knife)
Andif you listen to side 2 ofthe vinyl of Brothers In Arms, the songs are fairly proggy as well.
But that probably not enough to get them in PA |
I've always thought that (of course the songs from the first side are more pop). That's another fantastic album, although some people I know can't stomach "Walk Of Life" for some reason.
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chopper
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 10:43 |
I have never owned a single Dire Straits album but I do have a copy of Sultans of Swing somewhere. I was put off them when everyone bought a copy of Brother in bloody Arms and you couldn't get away from it, especially the annoying Walk of Life. Also a few years of playing Money For Nothing in a covers band didn't help either.
Edited by chopper - July 25 2008 at 10:44
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DJPuffyLemon
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 10:43 |
Poor singer? How so I think he's got a very good voice, which as you say has a capacity for melody and soul. I only heard love over Gold, and don't know of the rest of their catalogue, but I assumed people saw them as a prog band, at least in the beginning of their carreer.
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Queen By-Tor
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 10:47 |
I don't think he's a poor singer in context. He ain't no Freddy Mercury
or Ian Anderson, but he gets the job done. Excellent guitar player
though.
I've never really seen them as a prog band other than Love Over Gold
(like I said before)... if you hear other albums you'll see what I
mean. Some prog moments but nothing overly prog.
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Blacksword
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 11:07 |
chopper wrote:
I have never owned a single Dire Straits album but I do have a copy of Sultans of Swing somewhere. I was put off them when everyone bought a copy of Brother in bloody Arms and you couldn't get away from it, especially the annoying Walk of Life. Also a few years of playing Money For Nothing in a covers band didn't help either. |
'Walk of Life' is truly awful
It's one of the few songs I've been drunkenly arm twisted into performing at Kareoke nights. Whilst down in Cornwall for the eclipse in '99, I got a standing ovation at the campsite bar for singing that bloody song!
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Certif1ed
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 12:06 |
DJPuffyLemon wrote:
Poor singer? How so I think he's got a very good voice, which as you say has a capacity for melody and soul. I only heard love over Gold, and don't know of the rest of their catalogue, but I assumed people saw them as a prog band, at least in the beginning of their carreer. |
Each to their own, taste-wise - but I did make the distinction between singer and vocalist.
A singer uses learned singing techniques, and a vocalist uses feelings. Anyone can sing a song, not everyone is a true singer, though.
Knopfler vocalises, Ronnie James Dio sings, and Freddie Mercury does both and the kitchen sink.
Not quite sure where Bob Dylan fits on the spectrum - he just seems to make this kinda monotonous, detached drawly sound - but Knopfler's voice is remarkably similar to Dylan's at times, IMHO, and not at all similar to RJD or Mercury ever.
Anyway, that's why I think Knopfler's a reasonable vocalist, but a poor singer.
Can't think why anyone would think of them as the same sort of band as King Crimson, though.
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The important thing is not to stop questioning.
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NotAProghead
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 13:02 |
IMO "Brothers In Arms" is a masterpiece. Essential record.
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Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour)
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jammun
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Posted: July 25 2008 at 22:33 |
Dire Straits (and Mark Knopfler solo) is great. I've loved their music since I first heard Sultans of Swing on the radio way back in wha? '78? However they are decidedly not prog, with the exception of some proggy moments on Making Movies and Love Over Gold.
That being said, I would not want to be without their studio albums. Knopfler's vocals are derived from Dylan, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. I'd rather listen to his Dylan-derived singing than Freddie Mercury any time, any day. Lyrically there's also a Dylan influence, which in my view is a good thing. For those who dislike Dylan's vocals/lyrics, well maybe Dire Straits is not a good choice. As a guitarist, Knopfler has few peers.
Listen to the songs (I'll pick oen from each album):
Down to the Waterline
Once Upon a Time in the West
Tunnel of Love
Industrial Disease
Brothers in Arms
Calling Elvis
Search through your average rock band discography and you'll not find six finer songs.
"Sitting on the fence is a dangerous course,
Might take a bullet from the peacekeeping force."
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