I'm quite a big fan of Dire Straits (and Mark Knopfler) - I first discovered the band age 13 when I heard Sultans of Swing on my dad's ''Money for Nothing'' CD - I was instantly drawn to this song and have considered it a personal favourite since. However, I did not really explore the band any further until just over a year ago when I heard ''Lady Writer'' on the radio - I liked the song a lot, which led to me exploring and downloading their studio albums.
My rankings of the albums I've heard:
1) Love Over Gold - This contains my favourite DS track, Telegraph Road, a true masterpiece which fully justifies its 14 minute+ length - I love pretty much everything about this song. It Never Rains is another personal favourite, with its epic guitar solo, and I really enjoy the atmospherics of the title track and ''Private Investigations''. I like ''Industrial Disease as well'', not as much as the other four as it sounds somewhat dated compared to the others, although I find the lyrics and the guitar compensate for this. Overall I regard this album as the band's peak as there are no clear weak points and I find it very enjoyable to listen from beginning to end.
2) the debut album - Excellent debut album with no really weak or obvious filler tracks. ''Sultans of Swing'' is a classic but it is far from being the album's only great track, I like ''In The Gallery'', ''Down To The Waterline'' and ''Water Of Love'' a lot as well. I must also mention ''Six Blade Knife'', which didn't grab me at first but has grown on me considerably - it's quite brilliant in a very unstated way. ''Southbound Again'' probably does least for me on here but I still think it's a decent track. One other thing I like about this album is that a lot of songs reference particular cities or locations, for example 'Down To The Waterline'' is set in Newcastle, ''Wild West End'' is in London etc.
3) Making Movies - I'm happy to listen to arguments that is DS's best studio album, I don't think there's an awful lot wrong with the first six tracks and it's probably the most dynamic album they have in terms of pacing. Side one of the original LP is fantastic, with ''Tunnel Of Love'', ''Romeo And Juliet'' and ''Skateaway'' all being great songs. I do like the first three songs on side two as well, and would probably pick ''Expresso Love'' as my favourite. However, it only comes third on my list due to the throwaway final track ''Les Boys'', which I am not too fond of (I think it's worse for being the last track on the album) - remove this and this album would be second on my list, replace it with a song to the standard of any of the tracks on side one and it might have been number one.
4) Communique - Although I only rank this fourth on my list, I find this album to be greatly underrated. I've widely seen this album dismissed as being boring or 'samey', which I find doesn't hold true for the most part. The classic DS guitar sound is definitely present, which I find very warm and pleasing throughout this album I am especially fond of ''Single Handed Sailor'', which has one of Knopfler's finest guitar solos. I also rate ''Where Do You Think You're Going?'' and ''Once Upon A Time In The West'' very highly. The only tracks which I feel are slightly dull are ''News'' and the title track, but I wouldn't call either bad. ''Follow Me Home'' has a somewhat repetitive groove, but in my opinion the lead guitar line and overall atmosphere are sufficient to make up for this.
5) Brothers In Arms - Yes, only fifth on my list. This is by far DS's most commercially successful album, but I certainly don't think it's the best musically - there's not enough guitar for my liking and it feels more pop-orientated than their earlier efforts. One exception to this is the title track, which I consider a classic, and I also enjoy ''The Man's Too Strong'' and ''So Far Away'', even though I find the latter a bit lacking lyrically. I liked ''Walk Of Life'' when I was younger, but nowadays I think it's one of their worst songs - it's too repetitive and sounds quite dated, IMO. I do actually like ''Money For Nothing'', it's got the guitars and I like the MTV-baiting lyrics. In other places, I think this album does get a little dull in places, for example ''Why Worry'' is a nice song but really didn't need to be as long as it was. However, despite my criticisms of some of the music, the quality of the recording itself is great.
I actually purchased Communique first (due to ''Lady Writer''), then bought the debut, Love Over Gold and Making Movies. I haven't actually downloaded the whole of Brothers In Arms yet, but I have heard all of the tracks at some point. If I was to recommend the first DS album to buy, I would suggest getting either the debut or Making Movies.
I've never heard anything from ''On Every Street'' - I think this is partly because I was introduced via the ''Money for Nothing'' compilation, which preceded the 1991 release of the sixth and final DS album, and haven't read anything that has made me feel the need to listen to it myself. However, I am familiar with a few tracks from Mark Knopfler's solo album ''Sailing to Philadelphia'' - I love the title track but my favourite is probably the opener ''What It Is''.
...when I want my DS fix it will be the albums I enjoy more.
