Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler
Private Investigations - The Best Of DIRE STRAITS & MARK KNOPFLER

We are talking about a collection that is 16 years old, but I am reviewing it only now for one reason: I recently received the original CD from some friends for my graduation, while I previously had the recorded CD.

Private Investigations - The Best of is the first and only collection that includes songs from Mark Knopfler's solo repertoire as well as from his period with the historic Dire Straits. The one I received is the single-disc version, while I owned the double version as recorded. It must be said that it is truly a great collection, complete for being a single with 14 songs, but above all really with most of the most beautiful songs. The order is not chronological: starting from their debut hit Sultans of Swing, probably the song for which Dire Straits are most remembered today, it jumps directly to a song that was a minor success in its live version, Love Over Gold, present here in its studio version. An inclusion certainly not obvious, but in my opinion very well-deserved, being undoubtedly one of their most beautiful songs, and whose sublime atmosphere is repeated in the following Romeo and Juliet, another great song. We continue with other valuable pieces such as the epic Tunnel of Love and Private Investigations, certainly among the pieces closest to progressive rock that Dire Straits have offered, and the 3 most well-known pieces from their most successful album, namely Brothers in Arms. We have, therefore, the grandiose, poetic title track, the popular and successful tribute to rock and roll of yesteryear Walk of Life, and a radio edit version of Money for Nothing (their greatest chart success, and certainly beautiful but not my favorite). The list of songs with Dire Straits ends with the beautiful On Every Street, the title track of the band's last studio album, and in my opinion as good a choice as one could make (yes, technically the biggest hit from the album is Calling Elvis, but the collection is called best of, not greatest hits, and as much as I certainly don't mind Calling Elvis, as far as I'm concerned the song here present is the most fitting choice).

Moving on to Knopfler's solo songs, the quintet opens with his first solo success, the splendid instrumental Going Home, the main theme of the soundtrack of Local Hero, to continue with some of his major successes from the 2000s: Why Aye Man, Boom, Like That, and What It Is, the latter probably the best-known of the solo songs. So we have some well-executed pieces, representative of their respective albums, and decidedly in roots rock style with Knopfler's guitar prominent as tradition and rightly so. To conclude, however, we have a duet featuring one of the most iconic voices in the American female country scene: we are talking about Emmylou Harris, and what was the previously unreleased single of the collection, namely All the Roadrunning. A fairly successful piece (#8 in the UK) but above all beautiful, which in its elegance and harmony perfectly concludes the collection, and anticipates the eponymous album of duets by Mark Knopfler with Harris, released the following year.

In conclusion... flaws? Well, there are some omissions. We are talking about hits like So Far Away, Your Latest Trick, and Lady Writer, absolute classics present only on the double disc version (indeed, Lady Writer inexplicably is not even on that...); or, speaking of Knopfler's solo career, the duet with James Taylor Sailing to Philadelphia is missing (one of the most appreciated pieces and still present on the double version). Another absence that might raise eyebrows is Telegraph Road, often considered the quintessential album track of Dire Straits, as well as a piece of rock history, but all things considered, I would say it is understandable given its length of almost a quarter of an hour... And since it is also found on the double disc version, those passionate about epic rocking and progressive should go find the double collection! Or, alternatively, to listen to Lady Writer, one should take the 98 collection Sultans of Swing - The Very Best of Dire Straits, which however only regards the band's career and doesn't have Mark's solo songs. As the saying goes, one man's meat is another man's poison...

See you soon! I leave you with the tracklist of both versions of the collection.

SINGLE DISC

1. SULTANS OF SWING
2. LOVE OVER GOLD
3. ROMEO AND JULIET
4. TUNNEL OF LOVE
5. PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS
6. MONEY FOR NOTHING
7. BROTHERS IN ARMS
8. WALK OF LIFE
9. ON EVERY STREET
10. GOING HOME - THEME OF THE LOCAL HERO
11. WHY AYE MAN
12. BOOM, LIKE THAT
13. WHAT IT IS
14. ALL THE ROADRUNNING

DOUBLE DISC

CD1

1. TELEGRAPH ROAD
2. SULTANS OF SWING
3. LOVE OVER GOLD
4. ROMEO AND JULIET
5. TUNNEL OF LOVE
6. PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS
7. SO FAR AWAY
8. MONEY FOR NOTHING
9. BROTHERS IN ARMS
10. WALK OF LIFE
11. YOUR LATEST TRICK

CD2

1. CALLING ELVIS
2. ON EVERY STREET
3. GOING HOME - THEME OF THE LOCAL HERO
4. DARLING PRETTY
5. THE LONG ROAD
6. WHY AYE MAN
7. SAILING TO PHILADELPHIA
8. WHAT IT IS
9. THE TRAWLERMAN'S SONG
10. BOOM, LIKE THAT
11. ALL THE ROADRUNNING

NOTE: Some double CD versions contain Skateaway instead of Darling Pretty and have a slightly different tracklist.