This album released in 1986 is Dire Straits 5th studio album, this is the most successful album of them all. With being in the number 1 spot in the billboard charts and winning grammy awards for Best Engineered Recording and
"Money For Nothing" winning
Best Rock Performance. It was one of the first albums to be released on CD, but it was also released on vinyl. The album has sold over
25 million copies worldwide.
--- The Review ---
So Far Away starts off with palm muted gultar then straight onto the slow rock n roll rhythm. Marks voice is good here as it is a slow song. The mainstream of this song is its beat with the guitar making the rhythm with its clean palm muting. The Keyboard makes the melody here with its 80s electronic sound. The song is about a person being far away from people in reality. This is a heart warming entrance to the album with the outro in the background having a harmonised singing saying "Your so Far" which is really a relaxing sound. A very good start to the album.
Money For Nothing is the heaviest out them all on this album. This is the award winning song on the album and it deserved it. This is some powerful song with its massively powering intro with banging drums and overdrive guitaring. It sends your pulse rate high. Then it moves to the main rhythm of the song which is fantastic with the guitar making its cool overdrive power chords. The Bass is really good as well. Mark's singing is a mixture of talking and singing which is really clever how he fits it in. The lyrics are really good and very catchy to sing to, singing about "MTV" and "playing guitar" and "getting chicks for free". Mostly it is about a worker who works in a factory and talks about rock stars on MTV, calling them 'faggots'. You should never skip this song as it is one of the best on the album and it never gets on your nerves as much as you listen to it. The outro is the main rhythm with guest vocalist Sting singing in a high voice "I want my, I want my, I want my MTV". Overall this a damn good song and should listen to it all the time.
Classic.
Walk of Life is more of an upbeat song with the keyboard as the mainstream. It is a very catchy song with its keyboard melody and lyrics. The guitars are also catchy. This song is also based on a rock n roll theme in the 60s but it is so much better. This song has heart and it is great to listen to. The main part of the song is Mark Knopfler's vocals as it is really good as really puts power into the song singing about how you walk life well. This song is the most catchiest and most liveiest of them all. Excellent stuff.
Your Latest Trick is a ballad of some sort. It starts of with a saxophone playing which is obviously relaxing. Very nice to listen to. The verse is very realxing with its chord progression on the keyboard in a mono organ effect. The guitar is used as a melodic instrument and it sounds so nice in its distortion and it always hits the right note. The saxophone is very nice to listen to and Mark's voice is kind of crooning in this which suits the song perfectly. Overall this a very good song.
Why Worry is the slowest song of them all. With its soothing slide guitar and lovely arpegello on acoustic. This song some dark element in it and sound like at times you are in a fantasy world. The vocals are quite soft on this and the texture of the song is just the guitars playing beautiful music. There isnt much to say about this song but it is beautiful. Not to listen if songs bore you too easily, but it doesnt bother me.
Ride Across The River can be very strange with its range of instruments but my god the guitar is so damn good with it is overdriven sound. It brings the rock out of the song. The vocals are very good on this and the bass takes the rhythm role here with its powerful bass lines. This song has a slow/normal tempo here so it brings the detail of the instruments playing here which brings out the colour of the lead guitar here with at least 4 different solos. The whole song is just fantasic and out of this world with the way the song is fixed up.
The Man's Too Strong kicks off with an acoustic guitar playing chords and Mark singing like a "cowboy" for some kind of reason, but it suits. This song is really powerful in the chorus with its power of the drums on the floor tom and the guitar in its high gain of overdrive, then it goes back to being normal, then it repeats the process. There is no solo here (damn) but thats slightly overcome by the melodic structure. This song is the weakest here but it doesnt mean it is bad. It is a good song but it is not up to the standard of the rest.
One World rocks! It is so rocky with its sudden outburset of overdriven lead guitar at the start and all of the instruments. The slap bass here is so funky and the guitar is up to the standards of the mighty Mark Knopfler. Everything about this song is excellent and I really like it. This the shortest song on the album and one of the best.
Brothers In Arms is a classic. It starts of with lightening in the background and a hard hitting guitar with it, the organ accompanies it as well which gives it that extra boost. The guitar is clean and has a slow melody which is fantastic. In the verse, Mark's voice is soft and depressing as it is about war. The guitar is always when Mark stops singing and the song cannot survive without these killer riffs! This song is just relaxing and it is just a perfect ending to an album, probably the best ending to an album ever. The end solo is bloody fantastic and one of the best I have ever heard. I could go on about how great this song is but it is endless.
One of the best Dire Straits has ever made.
Overall this album is just another masterpiece and this is Dire Straits at their highest. All that i can say is just buy the damn thing and enjoy it as this is a very influential album. The guitaring on this album is the main point here with its electrifying riffs and solos that are mind-boggling.
One of the Dire Straits best albums.
Overall:
5/5!!!!!!!!!
