Artist: Dire Straits
Label: Vertigo Records
Released: 1980
Length: 37:39
Rating: 4.8/5
I can easily say that on this album quality beats quantity!
Seven fairytale tracks, each better than the last. On his third album, Knopfler entered his masterpiece phase.
This album is the first real masterpiece. The first two albums were top-notch creations, but Making Movies is almost perfect. In fact, it was perfect right up until the next album. So what is there to say about the individual tracks? Nothing, really! This album is one WHOLE.
It’s also the first and only album on which Dire Straits worked as a trio. Guitarist David Knopfler left before the recording sessions, and the main reason is still unknown today.
The recording also featured the pianist from Springsteen’s E Street Band, the legendary Roy Bittan (he played all the keyboards), who turns in some of the best piano parts of his long career on this album.
All the guitars are played by Mark himself, of course. It’s especially interesting to hear how he plays the rhythm guitar with a pick, unlike his usual fingerpicking. Even playing this way he’s unique and outstanding.
Drummer Pick Withers and bassist John Illsley, of course, play it the way only they can, giving Knopfler rock-solid backing that Mark can lean on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFvBH0mA5y0
Let me mention one more curiosity about the Yugoslav vinyl LP edition of this album – it contains only six tracks, because the editorial geniuses at the RTB record company, which released Dire Straits albums in the former Yugo, felt an irresistible urge to censor the song Les Boys. Knopfler’s lyrics hint at the gay scene in Munich (‘Les Boys are glad to be gay’) and, of course, at S&M games, which naturally include officers’ Nazi SS caps. What a bunch of morons.
Of course, we true fans bought the uncensored album in nearby Trieste.
The production is, of course, top-notch too. The legendary Jimmy Iovine, who worked with Bruce Springsteen and U2, produced it truly masterfully, and as you can hear on the follow-up, Knopfler learned a huge amount from him.
You absolutely have to listen to this album, but above all feel it, which is even more obvious on the next album, Love Over Gold.
Line-up
Mark Knopfler – guitar, vocals
John Illsley – bass guitar
Pick Withers – drums
Guest: Roy Bittan (E-Street Band) – keyboards
Production
Jimmy Iovine & Mark Knopfler
Tracklist
01. Tunnel Of Love
02. Romeo And Juliet
03. Skateaway
04. Expresso Love
05. Hand In Hand
06. Solid Rock
07. Les Boys
