•
Rating:
Any group that decided to title their greatest hits with what the Dire Straits chose for this album would surely have been branded with stupidity or incoherence to the nth degree. The Dire Straits, going against any rules, as well as common customs and conventions, released a compilation after a multi-million seller like "Brothers In Arms", giving it the title of the most popular track it contained, also reflected on the cover. Beyond the opportunity or not of the commercial choice that was made, right now the purchase of a greatest hits (considering the crazy prices to pay for a disc) remains one of the means with which to intelligently approach unfamiliar artists. This compilation almost chronologically traces the history of this band formed by a former high school teacher, Mark Knopfler, his brother David, then student in sociology/store clerk John Illsley, and the only professional musician named Pick Withers (formerly with the Primitives of Mal).
Pressing the play button, we go on to savor "Sultans Of Swing" (the first great success that took five whole months to make its way into the U.K. chart) and "Down To The Waterline", through which one notes that the sound does not conform at all to the punk trend of the moment, immediately pointing out what the bases and main influences of the quartet are: blues, country, and clear melodies.
Of "Portobello Belle", we are presented with a previously unreleased live version that recalls the Celtic atmosphere at the heart of the soundtracks written by the leader up to that moment ("Cal" and "Local Hero"). "Where Do You Think You're Going" (as the previous track from "Communiqué") seems to be born from a "friends jamming" session, without any sacrifice to sound quality. So far, we find ourselves in front of a "not famous" quartet, characterized by an anonymous singer with a voice similar to Dylan's, who had the audacity to fill with very personal solos songs that absorbed the teachings of J.J. Cale in the best possible way. In fact, the style of the group is essential, or rather, I would say sparse, with solid traditional rock blues foundations where the scene is certainly dominated by the back-and-forth dialogue between the voice and the guitar of the rising star (musically speaking....) Mark Knopfler.
In the second half of 1980, Dire Straits lost David Knopfler and reappeared to the general public with "Making Movies" from which we listen to: 1) what was the opening song "Tunnel Of Love" (at the time an eight-minute-plus single divided into two parts), long and articulated and perhaps also a forerunner of the musical rides to come; 2) "Romeo And Juliet" certainly simpler and characterized by a more elementary musical background, which reaches its "zenith" with the barehanded caressing of the magical "red Stratocaster" at the end. "Private Investigation" is the proof that besides Dobro and Fender (of various colors) there is also room for acoustic guitar and a rarefied atmosphere; "Telegraph Road" in live version (but inappropriately shortened) unfolds instrumental passages and a structure brilliantly designed to highlight the leader's guitar talent.
Meanwhile, Dire Straits recruited Californian guitarist Hal Lindes and Englishman Alan Clark on keyboards, while former Rockpile Terry Williams (called to replace Mr. Pick Withers) debuted with the group in the so "rockabilly" "Twisting By The Pool" present on this CD.
"Brothers In Arms" (an album that many need no introduction to) is the work in which Mark Knopfler strongly reaffirms his leadership - as if there had been any need for it - availing himself of a host of renowned collaborators (Tony Levin, Sting, and Eric Clapton to name a few) who have assisted him in "rendering eternal" the effervescent "Walk Of Life", the poignant title track, and the track that (perhaps) more than any other represents the new identity of the band and which deservingly titles this compilation.
For those who still have doubts about the convenience of purchasing it, I dare to suggest it, given the ease of availability on the used shelf or as a "special price", while for the usual detractors I hope they find the time to dwell on the following quote from a more famous compatriot of Mark Knopfler: The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music...
(perhaps he was speaking of just this one).
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Sultans of Swing (05:46)
You get a shiver in the dark
It's raining in the park, but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing dixie double four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring
Well now you step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Competition in other places
Ah but the horns, they blowin' that sound
Way on down south
Way on down south, London town
Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords
Mind he's strictly rhythm, he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
Yes and an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a daytime job, he's doing alright
He can play the honky tonk like anything
Saving it up for Friday night
With the Sultans
We're the Sultans of Swing
Then a crowd of young boys, they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
Then the Sultans
Yeah, the Sultans they played creole
Creole
And then the man, he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
Goodnight, now it's time to go home
Then he makes it fast with one more thing
We are the Sultans
We are the Sultans of Swing
02 Down to the Waterline (04:01)
Sweet surrender on the quayside
You remember we used to run and hide
In the shadow of the cargoes I take you one time
And we're counting all the numbers down to the waterline
Near misses on the dogleap stairways
French kisses in the darkened doorways
A foghorn blowing out wild and cold
A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder
Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night
Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights
No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn
Your hands are cold but your lips are warm
She can see him on the jetty where they used to go
She can feel him in the places where the sailors go
When she's walking by the river and the railway line
She can still hear him whisper
Let's go down to the waterline
05 Tunnel of Love (08:10)
getting crazy on the waltzers but it's the life that I choose
sing about the sixblade sing about the switchback and a torture tattoo
and I been riding on a ghost train where the cars they scream and slam
and I don't know where I'll be tonight but I'd always tell you where I am
in a screaming ring of faces I seen her standing in the light
she had a ticket for the races just like me she was a victim of the night
I put a hand upon the lever said let it rock and let it roll
I had the one arm bandit fever there was an arrow through my heart and my soul
and the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
and I'm just high on the world
come on and take a low ride with me girl
on the tunnel of love
it's just the danger when you're riding at your own risk
she said you are the perfect stranger she said baby let's keep it like this
it's just a cake walk twisting baby step right up and see
hey mister give me two give me two now cos any two can play
and the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
and I'm just high on the world
come on and take a low ride with me girl
on the tunnel of love
well it's been money for muscle another whirligig
money for muscle and another girl I dig
another hustle just to make it big
and walkaway walkaway
and girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
like the spanish city to me when we were kids
oh girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
like the spanish city to me when we were kids
she took off a silver locket she said remember me by this
she put her hand in my pocket I got a keepsake and a kiss
and in the roar of the dust and diesel I stood and watched her walk away
I could have caught up with her easy enough but something must have made me
stay
and the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
and I'm just high on the world
come on and take a low ride with me girl
on the tunnel of love
and now I'm searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades
searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades
in any shooting gallery where promises are made
to walkaway walkaway
to walkaway walkaway from cullercoats and whitley bay out to walkaway
and girl it looks so pretty to me like it always did
like the spanish city to me when we were kids
girl it looks so pretty to me like it always did
like the spanish city to me when we were kids
06 Romeo and Juliet (05:56)
A love struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a street light, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"
Juliet says, "Hey it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey la, my boyfriend's back
You shouldn't come around here, singing up at people like that"
Anyway, what you gonna do about it?
Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start,
And I bet, then you exploded in my heart,
And I forget, I forget, the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame,
Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same,
And I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?
Well, you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah
Now you just say, "Oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him"
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die"
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song, like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything 'cept be in love with you
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat and the band company
And all I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you, anytime
Ah Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
And a love struck Romeo, sings the streets a serenade,
Laying everybody low, with a love song that he made
Finds a convenient street light, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"
"You and me babe, how about it?"
08 Walk of Life (04:08)
Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnel, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Oh yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
{Refrain}
He do the song about the sweet lovin' woman
He do the song about the night
And he do the walk, he do the walk of life
Yeah, he do the walk of life.
Here comes Johnny goin' tell you the story
Hand me down my walkin' shoes
Here come Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat, the talkin' blues
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
{Refrain}
{Repeat first verse}
And after all the violence and double talk
There's just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life
Hm, you do the walk of life
09 Private Investigations (05:51)
It's a mystery to me ... the game commences
for the usual fee ... plus expenses
confidential information ... it's in a diary
This is my investigation ... it's not a public inquiry
I go checking out the reports ... digging up the dirt
you get to meet all sorts in this line of work
treachery and treason ... there's always an excuse for it
and when I find the reason I still can't get used to it
And what have you got at the end of the day?
what have you got to take away?
a bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
blinds on the windows and a pain behind the eyes
Scarred for life ... no compensation
private investigations
11 Money for Nothing (04:06)
I want my
I want my MTV x4
Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money ain't for nothin' and your chicks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Let me tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Baby get a blister on your thumb
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these color TV's
See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these colour TV's
(We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries)
We got to move these refrigerators
(We got to move these colour TV's)
Look here, look here
I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera man,
We can have some fun
And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin' on the bongoes like a chimpanzee
Oh, that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these colour TV's
Listen Here
Now, that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and chicks for free
"Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and chicks for free"
(Repeat till Fade)
12 Brothers in Arms (04:49)
These mist-covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms!
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms!
There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms!
Loading comments slowly
