I seem to have lost, or maybe I gave away, the LP that I used to have of ‘Brothers In Arms’.
So I went onto the Big River site, and ordered a new copy, in an ‘Abbey Road Studios Half Speed Mastering’, which was delivered by courier this afternoon.
On opening the package, I was surprised to find that the record has spread over 2 LPs.
Surely that was not the case when the LP was first issued in 1985? Does that have anything to do with the half speed mastering - wider grooves to carry a fuller sound?
I think you’ll find it’s a couple of 45 RPM records at LP size. I’m thinking of getting the Annette Askvik records on 45 RPM. Supposedly they sound better.
The original BiA LP had many of the tracks shortened to fit the limitations of the format. The CD and cassette ran for (IIRC) about 55 minutes, the LP about 46 all told. Wikipedia has a full list of track timings for your perusal.
It may well be that the new double LP release offers full length tracks at last!
I remember being sooo impressed when it first came out and I played it a lot at that time. Whenever I dig it out, I still love it but it’s one of those albums that I don’t play all that often for some reason that I can’t fathom.
The cassette was on a permanent loop in my parents’ car from 1985 until, ooh, probably 1987 at least. As a result, I ration my listening to it, but it still surprises me when I do listen to it. The old soldier/mercenary stuff on side 2 is underrated, and even Why Worry (which I often skip as being too dirgey) has a much more interesting later section.
When I learned to play Your Latest Trick on the piano, the jazz complexities in the chords (especially under the trumpet intro) were striking.
Oh, and the 5.1 mix on the SACD is downright great!
That’s hardly the fault of Dire Straits. I think that it was in the the first batch of 10 CDs that Polygram ever issued in 1983/4. But I stand to be corrected.
The cassette was a game changer for me. I remember reading an interview with Knopfler in a hifi/ guitar? mag in which he was extolling the vitues of the new compact disc format. He mentioned that the cd and cassette versions of BIA contained the longer variations of several tracks. He intimated that this was the way forward, releasing an artist from the confines of the vinyl playing times. So, I purchased the cassette, enjoyed the longer versions, but not the sound quality and decided to look into these new fangled cd players. Within a few months I had purchased a Philips CD104 and was on the road to “perfect sound forever!”
@graham55 is kind of half-right here, as BiA was released on the Vertigo label, then under the wing of Philips, and BiA was heavily promoted (in mid-1985 in UK) as an example of what CD could deliver, of course with Philips’ CD players promoted alongside in many cases.
I remember walking by various record shops at the time and their windows were covered with promotional material for BiA, especially the pic of the guitar. There’s a comment on Wiki that BiA crowded-out other CD production at the time, such was the demand for the album.
, with one of those dual speed power supplies 