Dire Straits - Dire Straits (1978) - €10,00

Dire Straits is the debut studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 7 October 1978 by Vertigo Records internationally.
Dire Straits' minimalist interpretation of pub rock had already crystallized by the time they released their eponymous debut.
Dire Straits, an English quartet led by singer songwriter Mark Knopfler, plays tight, spare mixtures of rock, folk and country music with a serene spirit and witty irony. It’s almost as if they were aware that their forte has nothing to do with what’s currently happening in the industry, but couldn’t care less.
As a writer, Knopfler pens terse little narratives about the mundane problems of his brethren: women trouble, money trouble, one’s-place-in-the-world trouble. He’s often as clever as he is banal, so a nice line (“I need a little water of love”) can be followed by a silly one (“You know it’s evil when you’re living alone”), or vice versa. If anything, living alone is what Dire Straits is about, and it sounds like a good life.
But Knopfler isn’t interested in writing songs with profound messages. In fact, the only time he tries it (“In the Gallery”), the message turns out to be a petulant attack on avant-gardism — i.e., a real yawn. No, Dire Straits get their effects by precise; well-played contrasts: the way a brisk bit of folk-rock is entitled “Sultans of Swing” and not only boasts an inescapable hook but also a goony, Bob Dylan-like snarl in its vocal. “Setting Me Up” sports a standard mangled-romance theme, but the verbiage is masticated by Knopfler’s growling, annoyed singing, with a giddy country-guitar solo tacked on at the end. It’s a heavenly number, funny and bitter.


Side A
A1.  Down To The Waterline - 4:01 
A2.  Water Of Love - 5:27 
A3.  Setting Me Up - 3:20 
A4.  Six Blade Knife - 4:12 
A5.  Southbound Again - 2:59 

Side B
B1.  Sultans Of Swing - 5:52 
B2.  In The Gallery - 6:19 
B3.  Wild Wild West - 4:43 
B4.  Lions - 5:07


Notes
Release:  1978
Format:  LP
Genre:   Pop
Label:  Vertigo Records
Catalog#  6360162

Vinyl:  Good
Cover:  Good

Prijs: €10,00