We can all find something on the internet from some nobody to support whatever position we wish to take. Anyway, the Cure has no relevance to this thread. We may as well start discussing Wagner.
First album for me is their best. I remember when I first heard it in the office and also went to see them on their first full UK tour in 78 and they were great. Saw them twice on their Communique tour and I should have stayed at home to play the album as it was one of those note for note gigs no spontaneity or extended songs and I was bored to tears.
1 Like
I was expecting a lot of appreciation for the first album, but was not expecting such a lack of appreciation for On Every Street.
2 Likes
I thought I’d be daring and break the only rule as it is my favourite.
G
1 Like
FWIW I think there is a strong case for arguing that if Brothers In Arms was anything then it was pretentious. I couldn’t engage with the first album at all. Didn’t find it especially original and thought it a collection of solos in search of the odd song by a bunch of young blokes sounding old before their time. That didn’t really set me up for Communique as it was one of the very best “second album which is basically a pale facsimile of the first” examples I have ever heard. Of course if you liked the first then you weren’t generally complaining about the second.
Makin’ Movies was thus a revelation to me. Excellent production, actual songs. Playing in service of the songs and not the other way around.
Love Over Gold I still have a soft spot for and, a bit like @Richard.Dane its partly a “time and place” thing. Listening back it now it’s hard to again make a case that it wasn’t both pretentious and portentous. It scores highly on both but probably gets away with it by virtue of the fact the album itself isn’t too long. To my surprise I think it holds up remarkably well.
Wish I could say the same about Brothers In Arms. The production is what it is but the songs are awful 1980s lowest common denominator stuff and it’s been interesting to read how the individual band members have subtly and quietly disowned it over the years. The last album?
Well it was clearly an attempt to get back to basics but no matter how many times I’ve gone back to it I just hear the sound of a barrel being scraped and such obvious half-heartedness. Actually that last word is how I felt about Communique.
2 Likes
BIA was my gateway album, so got my vote. On permanent auto-reverse loop in the car stereo for at least a year when I was not yet even a teenager.
Alchemy would get my second vote - discovered it via a family friend and listened to the cassette I made of her vinyl copy until I knew all the solos note for note. What was particularly odd was that, at the time, I was listening almost exclusively to electronic music… and Alchemy.
Having become accustomed to the Alchemy versions of their earlier songs, I have struggled to appreciate the studio versions, which always sound small and tinny by comparison.
Mark
1 Like
Agree, the discussion is out of topic.
Let’s continue on the pretentious Dire Straits band then. 
Tried now to see it at Discogs. Can’t access to it. I didn’t knew its existence.
1 Like
Going back to time and place, the first album, stood out in a sea of Punk and New Wave, that dominated back then. I really enjoyed the first album, mainly for the lyrics.
The three following albums are all still enjoyable, which is saying something.
Brothers in arms was much more commercial, playing to the gallery. It is what it is, it made them a lot of money, but sounds dated now.
Brothers in Arms became pretty synonymous with buying HiFi in Laskeys.
1 Like
Bought the first album on release. Sold the first album. Never bothered with them again for Donkey’s years. They’re hardly The Clash. But I’m old now and sometimes I enjoy well recorded easy listening so I have the CDs. Knopfler writes some great lyrics. Over the years he learnt to use the studio I think so the albums do sound great. I’d take Love Over Gold if I could only have 1 album but it wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t own any. Knopfler’s a talent some like (including Dylan and Roddy Frame off the top of my head) and some don’t. Just like all artists really.
2 Likes
Does it exist in lp? Does it sounds good ?
Don’t know about Vinyl. I see it on Qobuz, if you have that.
Yes, it sounds good.
G
1 Like
Pardon my stupidity but why have some folks voted for more than one album - it’s a best album poll innit? Could ye kindly get off the fence (carefully now as we are all not as young as we would like to be!!
).
I would suggest anybody who suggests anything is pretentious is.. Well… Pretentious.
DOH. 
My favourite album is The Best Of.
IMO all their albums are mixture of excellent track, average tracks and not good at all tracks.
I’ve just discovered that I’ve never actually listened to their first album.
Pushed to pick a best, I’d say On Every Street.
1 Like
Ouch! Is the CD not available on the jungle or epay?
G
Edit - lots of cd’s available, various prices.
1 Like
As it’s on Qobuz I thought I would listen to it now. My feet are still tapping … if that’s not a cliche.
2 Likes
When Dire Straits first appeared I found what I heard uninteresting - not awful but nothing grabbed me, so I ignored them. Roll on 20 years r so and a friend played an album of theirs (I don’t know which one) loud on a decent hifi system, and I was quite taken by it, i have since bought several albums, but my favourite is one of the best-ofs not one of these original studio albums (and it gets quite frequent airings). As a result I struggled a bit to pick one, but pick I have having googled the tracks on each.
That’s why I love ‘Brothers in Arms’ - takes me back to early teenage kicks, circa April ‘85 with ‘So Far Away’ on the jukebox in the local pub - and someone introducing me to my first pint of cider. Nice thread @LindsayM
2 Likes
He is best ignored. Poor.
2 Likes