Artist: Dire Straits
Label: Vertigo Records
Release: 1982
Length: 40:59
Rating: 5/5
Mark Knopfler and his crew proved on this album that they’re true masters! Five tracks, one of them the most incredible single in music history, a fourteen-minute masterpiece, a single that never really was one, and two killer tunes to close it out. This is without a doubt one of the most incredible albums in rock music, a timeless album – a classic!
It kicks off with the monumental Telegraph Road, which is almost impossible to describe. Knopfler’s story of an imaginary town in the making hits you right in the heart with every verse, and the listener feels like they’re part of the story too. The track really showcases Mark Knopfler and the incredible Alan Clark on keyboards, who steals the show on piano here. Every note is phenomenal and fourteen minutes fly by in the blink of an eye. The other three members (Hal Lindes – guitar, John Illsley – bass, and Pick Withers – drums) are masterful extensions who bring Knopfler’s ideas to life brilliantly.
Next up is the most incredible track and the most incredible single in music history – the detective noir of Private Investigations! In the early eighties, when the world’s most respected charts were dominated by three-and-a-half-minute pop songs and Jackson’s Thriller, this track by no logic whatsoever should have made the Top 100, let alone climbed to number two on the charts! And into that world storm Dire Straits with a seven-minute single and an album with five tracks, and tear up the charts. The most obvious single and at the same time the ‘weakest’ track on the album is actually Industrial Disease, which, even though it’s an excellent track and a US Top 10 single too, gets a bit lost next to masterpieces like Love Over Gold and It Never Rains, which also closes the album. Even something like Private Dancer, which Mark Knopfler contributed two years later to Tina Turner‘s comeback album of the same name, dropped off this record without a fight, since it wouldn’t have fit the album’s concept in any way. As I wrote in my previous review, Knopfler learned a lot from Jimmy Iovine while recording Making Movies so naturally he’s credited as producer on this one.
Even today, after all these years, I still remember my first reaction when I first heard (I was still under the spell of Making Movies) a few tracks from the album on the radio, where Dragan Bulič was presenting it. My first reaction was: ‘What the hell are these guys playing at!’ When I bought the album, I wore the LP out so badly that within a year or so I had to buy three RTB vinyl copies, because the quality was so awful and they crackled like crazy between the tracks! This thing hooks you completely, and today I can’t even imagine I ever said that sentence.
The title of this masterpiece fits perfectly, and you can tell from the sleeve alone that it stands apart from most albums of the time (the back of the sleeve has a photo of smoke, hinting that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there’s certainly a ton of passion and emotion on this album, which the cover photo captures!)… This is LOVE OVER GOLD, something you have to listen to, but above all feel!
Lineup
Mark Knopfler – guitar, vocals
John Illsley – bass
Pick Withers – drums
Alan Clark – keyboards
Hal Lindes – guitar
Production
Mark Knopfler
Tracklist
01.Telegraph Road
02.Private Investigations
03.Industrial Disease
04.Love Over Gold
05.It Never Rains
