Rate the band: Dire Straits

[The Dice Man]

I guess its an old band and showing my age but in the mid 80s it was these guys, Michael Jackson and then the rest.

Brothers in arms, even today stands up.. The riff is iconic of walk of life, and the filmclip for all it's cheesyness is iconic as well. The sax in Latest trick,...

They formed in 77.

Thoughts?

 

[JimDocker]

I loved their first album, Dire Straits and Sultans of Swing holds up very well even now.
Liked Communique as a follow up, but Making Movies was magnificent.
Love Over Gold had the brilliant Private Investigations and was almost brilliant, apart from the awful Industrial Disease.
Unfortunately, the cheesy 80s sound became the standard for Brothers in Arms. Walk of Life and Money for Nothing meant that I have never listened to Brothers in Arms as an album.
Those 2 singles represented everything that I hated about music in the 80s. I did go and see them on the Brothers in Arms tour and they were great live.

I recently listened to a whole heap of Mark Knopfler solo stuff on Spotify and it was fantastic.

 

[Cruyff14]

One of the greatest of all time.

Mark Knopfler is already one of the greatest guitarists in history and his legacy will only grow the longer time goes on.

Awesome band.

 

[Papa G]

I loved their first album, Dire Straits and Sultans of Swing holds up very well even now.
Liked Communique as a follow up, but Making Movies was magnificent.
Love Over Gold had the brilliant Private Investigations and was almost brilliant, apart from the awful Industrial Disease.
Unfortunately, the cheesy 80s sound became the standard for Brothers in Arms. Walk of Life and Money for Nothing meant that I have never listened to Brothers in Arms as an album.
Those 2 singles represented everything that I hated about music in the 80s. I did go and see them on the Brothers in Arms tour and they were great live.

I recently listened to a whole heap of Mark Knopfler solo stuff on Spotify and it was fantastic.

Whilst no classic, I always liked Industrial Disease.

 

[Partridge]

Don't do it for me sorry. Rock and roll with a PG rating. They've at least got their own sound and style, but nah, pass.

 

[Macca19]

One of my all time favourites.

 

[bunsen burner]

Don't do it for me sorry. Rock and roll with a PG rating. They've at least got their own sound and style, but nah, pass.

That's a pretty fair perception but if you dig a little bit deeper they have some stuff that is far more credible that Walk of Life, So Far Away etc.

Their first self titled album is where it's at. Very JJ Cale influenced blues. No bland rock going on in that album.

 

[Marlowe]

Great band, one of the all-time greats. Knopfler is a God - 9/10

Favourite record is 'Alchemy'.

 

[The Dice Man]

To me they are a beast of a band from the 80s, and they belong there. Nothing wrong with that, they nailed the mid 80s perfectly.

While knopfler is no great frontman, he is a brilliant guitarist and exceptional songwriter.

And is it just me or does he look like a balding, blonde curly-haired Jerry Seinfeld in that R&J clip?

 

[Eddie Dingle]

80's Nickelback.

Yuck.

 

[The Dice Man]

No where near that footy head.

 

[Marlowe]

80's Nickelback.

Yuck.

80s Nicelback would be AC/DC, wouldn't it? Strange analogy.

 

[Marlowe]

To me they are a beast of a band from the 80s, and they belong there. Nothing wrong with that, they nailed the mid 80s perfectly.

While knopfler is no great frontman, he is a brilliant guitarist and exceptional songwriter.

And is it just me or does he look like a balding, blonde curly-haired Jerry Seinfeld in that R&J clip?

He's no looker but he's a metronome on guitar.

A performance truly worthy to be labeled 'epic'

 

[Cursed Cat]

80's Nickelback.

Yuck.

There were no 80's Nickleback.
Perhaps the nearest equivalent would be some of the crappy hair-metal bands.
Dire Straits though ?
No, bad call.

I liked them quite a bit, agree with some that they became a bit overblown circa Brothers in Arms.
Knopfler's solo stuff is generally very palatable too; classy guitarist, understated vocalist.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

There were no 80's Nickleback.
Perhaps the nearest equivalent would be some of the crappy hair-metal bands.
Dire Straits though ?
No, bad call.

I liked them quite a bit, agree with some that they became a bit overblown circa Brothers in Arms.
Knopfler's solo stuff is generally very palatable too; classy guitarist, understated vocalist.

I just thought they were a bit vanilla hence the comparison to Nickelback. No doubting Knopfler was a talented musician, his Local Hero soundtrack proved that, he just didn't seem to challenge himself.

Boring formula moderate radio friendly rock lapped up by the masses.

 

[Cursed Cat]

I just thought they were a bit vanilla hence the comparison to Nickelback. No doubting Knopfler was a talented musician, his Local Hero soundtrack proved that, he just didn't seem to challenge himself.

Boring formula moderate radio friendly rock lapped up by the masses.

fair enough, I see where you are coming from, but I reckon there were more worthy comparisons.

Dire Straits built their audience too, they were pretty low-key for their first few albums and slowly got to the stage where they could fill arenas.

anyway, obviously entitled to your opinion, and the follow-up post clarifies your position somewhat.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

fair enough, I see where you are coming from, but I reckon there were more worthy comparisons.

Dire Straits built their audience too, they were pretty low-key for their first few albums and slowly got to the stage where they could fill arenas.

anyway, obviously entitled to your opinion, and the follow-up post clarifies your position somewhat.

I had mates at the time who thought Knopfler was the second coming of christ himself so maybe I am a bit biased because of it.

There were plenty worse then and there are certainly plenty worse now.

 

[AtomicBlonde]

Don't mind their stuff but they were one of those bands that had a really distinctive sound, you'd know it was them even if you hadn't heard the song before. That can work both ways for a band but there's not a lot of variety in their catalogue. Mark's solo albums from 2000's Sailing To Philadelphia up to now are fantastic, you rerally get a chance to hear what has influenced him growing up (gospel and blues) which you don't get from his DS stuff.

 

[Beetlebum]

Big fan of Dire Straits. Favourite track is probably Private Investigations or Latest Trick. Brothers in Arms is one of those albums that I put on a listen from beginning to end without skipping tracks, top quality album.

 

[mark73]

Whilst no classic, I always liked Industrial Disease.

I always liked that track, too. I'm not necessarily a Dire Straits fan, but I've always been a fan of Mark Knopfler's work as a guitarist.

 

[Roobs321]

Deserve a lot of credit. They were very talented, and their mix of blues and prog was jawdropping at times.

I always liked the album Love over Gold, had a great atmosphere. Sultans of Swing has been one of my lifelong favourite songs. And Brothers in Arms was laden with great songs. Walk of Life imo is the ideal early morning coffee shop song. That riff just gets you up and going for the day.

The Dice Man puts it best in that they were a beast of a band in the 80's, and belong there. I wouldnt have them in the best dozen bands of all-time or anything like that, but they were very palatable and unique.

 

[mark73]

Deserve a lot of credit. They were very talented, and their mix of blues and prog was jawdropping at times.

I always liked the album Love over Gold, had a great atmosphere. Sultans of Swing has been one of my lifelong favourite songs. And Brothers in Arms was laden with great songs. Walk of Life imo is the ideal early morning coffee shop song. That riff just gets you up and going for the day.

The Dice Man puts it best in that they were a beast of a band in the 80's, and belong there. I wouldnt have them in the best dozen bands of all-time or anything like that, but they were very palatable and unique.

In terms of the actual group you may be right. In terms of Mark Knopfler I think he's better than that, and has proven so on many occasions.

 

[Macca19]

Knopfler is clearly one of the most effortlessly brilliant guitarists the world has been blessed with. Whilst the rest of the band may have been bog-standard decent musicians, Knopfler deserves to be rated up with the best of all time.

 

[mark73]

Knopfler is clearly one of the most effortlessly brilliant guitarists the world has been blessed with. Whilst the rest of the band may have been bog-standard decent musicians, Knopfler deserves to be rated up with the best of all time.

To give you a different perspective, listen to the Steely Dan tune Time Out Of Mind

 

[Plugger35]

I like their earlier albums, I reckon they peaked with Making Movies and then it went downhill from there.





Love Over Gold and Brothers in Arms had their moments but weren't as consistently good as their earlier albums and don't hold up as well over time.

They should have quit after Brothers in Arms, On Every Street was an album too far and shouldn't have seen the light of day.