I can remember rushing home from the shops with my brand new copy of Brothers In Arms in May 1985, and listening to the whole thing end-to-end multiple times that afternoon until my Mum told me to play something else. The introduction of Money For Nothing reminded me of Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
I'd been playing my brother's copies of Making Movies and Love Over Gold for months, astounded by the cinematic scale of the songs. Playing guitar for a couple of years I had gravitated towards Knopfler's fingerstyle to escape the NWOBHM on one side and hair rock on the other. He was like nothing else. I got to see Dire Straits three times on the Brothers In Arms tour and it was completely awesome.
One of Nick Hornsby's book dscribes Mr Knopfler's ability to make a guitar sing like an angel after a hard night out on the piss (or something like that). Exactly that. Mixing rhythmn and blues, melodic pop, rock and somehow using lightning fast Chet Atkins picking licks to glue it all together. It shouldn't work. But then the gods make the rules.
My favourite tracks
- Telegraph Road
- Romeo and Juliet
- Sultans of Swing
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