What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

During that OGWT perf of "Sultans of Swing", a mention of this perf 20 years later was flashed--and an epic performance it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jxsnIRpy2E << Even though you can't hear it, I love the back-and-forth stage chat and obvious affection shown between Mr. Knopfler and Slowhand. Thanks for the memory-trigger, Crazy-Horse. MY OTT persona asks, "How about an hour of Mark Knopfler"?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGlGBIzN2ls << not exactly a pretty boy anymore--but then he never really was.
BONUS 1: With Chet Atkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSdThfseSkQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIZ99oQ1piE << this last in an informal setting
BONUS 2: add in the Everly Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFcQRiFL68
These 2 guys did an album together 24 years ago: http://www.allmusic.com/album/neck-and-n...0000316485

thanks Jazzy...

this forum is all about jogging people's memories about music IMO...glad it bought a couple back to you mate...
yeh, i have the "neck and neck" album...i find it a bit boring in parts, but overall pretty good, love the finger pickin' styles on it...

Knopfler does seem to fit into the "country/bluegrass" style effortlessly, but then again, early Dire Straits has a distinct country flavour happening anyway, even stuff like "so far away" and "walk of life" could be called 'crossover country' IMO.

i just find it so difficult to fault Knopfler as a writer/guitarist and DS as a band in general, IMO, they have made three of the greatest albums in rock history.."making movies","love over gold" and "brothers in arms"...i wouldnt know about "on every street" because i never bought it, i wasnt impressed with "calling elvis" and "heavy fuel" when they were released as singles, but then again, after the phenomenal success of the previous three and "brothers in arms" inparticular they were always going to have their backs to the wall with a followup album...
that said i believe "on every street" still managed to sell some 8 million copies...and thats pretty good for any artist isnt it?!

im not also a huge fan of instrumentals as a whole, but Knopfler's "local hero" and "cal" soundtracks are fantastic..i have those on vinyl, and deserve to make the jump to cd in my collection.. i will get round to it someday.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

DIRE STRAITS "communique" cd, 1979

album stats: #5 UK, #5 AU, #11 US, no chart info for Canada
"singles":
"lady writer".....................#51 UK, #95 AU, #45 US, #51 CAN
"portobello belle"..............#102 UK.

Dire Straits' second album,
lots of those finger pickin' bluegrass style guitar sounds happening here, same quality lyrics as the first album, but not as catchy/radio friendly as that one IMO...
my least liked album of theirs but still bloody good,but i havent heard "on every street", so what i mean is...my least favourite of the first five, but i still like it...
album and singles didnt chart as high as the debut, so im probably correct with my 'less catchy/radio friendly' comments above...
album still managed to sell 5million copies, so not really a failure by anyone's standards.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: news
best track: angel of mercy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWHOvDM6Ks4 audio link

tracks:

1. once upon a time in the west **
2. news **
3. where do you think youre going **
4. communique **
5. lady writer ***
6. angel of mercy ***
7. portobello belle ***
8. single handed sailor **
9. follow me home **

3s=3
2s=6
1s=0

rating: 2.3

[CRAZY-HORSE]

already been posted on MD by me, but here it is again for anyone who cant be bothered looking for it...



DIRE STRAITS "making movies" 1980.cd & vinyl #6Aust, #4UK, #19US

what do this album and Springsteen's "born to run" have in common?
1. Roy Bittan of the E-Street Band plays piano on the album
2. Jimmy Lovine who engineered "born to run" produced this one
3. "romeo and juliet's" main riff is a slowed down version of "jungleland's" intro from Born To Run.

this is the first album in a hat-trick of glorious classic albums from the Straits, and like the other two,Love Over Gold & Brothers In Arms, it cant be faulted from music through lyrics and on to production.
the opening three tracks swing between rock,jazz,blues and dare i say it classical music with ease through a combined total of tweny one minutes of playing time. tracks four to six are slightly shorter in length but tend to stay within the confinds of rock, with a bit of blues thrown in for good measure on "hand in hand". the final track, "les boys" is the worst song on the album but still manages to rate "**", and that is only because it just doesnt seem to fit on the album with ease,it appears to be tacked on at the end.
i just find it amazing that Mark Knopfler cannot read or write music and has never taken a guitar lesson in his life, yet knows his way around a fret board with the ease of the great guitarists like Clapton.

worst track: les boys
best track: romeo and juliet

tracks:

1. tunnel of love*** #54UK, #62Aust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GWY0ahBM8c live
2. romeo and juliet*** #8UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64vvX6-d_JY live
3. skateaway*** #31US, #37UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IVojgL2zmQ live
4. expresso love*** #39US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4JofIIWaY live
5. hand in hand***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4SHr_EJGI4 audio
6. solid rock*** #56US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIhOqB6Hbjg live
7. les boys**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neBIzWZDaP4 audio

3s=6
2s=1
1s=0

rating: 2.8

[Ruby]

^^Thanks for these CRAZY-HORSE. Love Dire Straits! I agree with you about the 'hat-trick of glorious classic albums'. Nicely said.

[Ruby]

holy crap
see, I knew I saw potential
seriously, great job
time consuming I know
but don't you have that feeling of accomplishment

Yes and yes and thanks! Had been feeling a bit anxious, so very grateful guys, for all the positive and encouraging comments. Much appreciated.

I have renewed respect and admiration for yours and CRAZY-HORSES’ ongoing reviews Music Head – that takes some serious commitment!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

yes it does Ruby....

listen to an album...say one hour on average nowadays
get the relative chart info from wiki, get the album covers from amazon,maybe some little known facts/trivia
then...
try to think of something half intelligent to write

oh yeh...
congrats on your one, i will get back to listening to the links you posted tomorrow after work.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

[URL="http://www.music-discussion.com/wiki/File:Dslogr.jpg"]
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DIRE STRAITS "love over gold" cd, 1982

album stats.....................#1 UK, #1 AU, #19 US, no chart info for Canada
singles:
"private investigations".....#2 UK, #21 AU
"industrial disease"................................#75 US, #18 CAN

Dire Straits' fourth studio set....
only five tracks on here,partially due to "telegraph road" having a 14 and a half minute running length...
love that one, love the way it builds up and up to a crescendo, love the wordplay and storytelling,love the solo's, just love everything about it.
love the tongue-in-cheek "industrial disease", which was about as heavy and rock sounding as they ever got,
love the two slow tracks "love over gold" and "it never rains" also...the latter could have been a Dylan song...
only one on here i dont love(but still like) is "private investigations", which a spoken word piece over music.
cant for the life of me see how that one was even considered for single release, and cant believe it made it to #2 on the UK charts...
anyway, an absolute classic album with a brilliiant cover also...
this was the second album in their "classic" trilogy....

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst track: private investigations
best track: telegraph road"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8sLmx2Oz6Y live version(absolutely sublime IMO)

tracks:

1. telegraph road ***
2. private investigations **
3. industrial disease ***
4. love over gold ***
5. it never rains ***

3s=4
2s=1
1s=0

rating: 2.8

[CRAZY-HORSE]

[URL="http://www.music-discussion.com/wiki/File:DS_Brothers_in_Arms.jpg"]
[/URL]
DIRE STRAITS "brothers in arms" cd, 1985

album stats: #1 UK, #1 AU, #1 US, #1 CAN(and about thirty other countries!)
singles:
"so far away"...................#20 UK, #22 AU, #24 CAN, #19 US
"money for nothing:..........#4 UK , #4 AU , #1 CAN , #1 US
"walk of life".....................#2 UK ,#11 AU, #5 CAN, #7 US
"brothers in arms"............#16 UK, #57 AU
"your latest trick".............#26 UK

The Strait's fifth studio album, and really, on the stats, the one that really broke them in the US as a major act.
this one has all the elements of Dire Straits rolled into one neat package...the finger pickin grooves of "walk of life", the country-esque "so far away", the rock of "money for nothing", the mellow smooth "why worry", the almost classical guitar work of theatmospheric title track, the pop of "one world", the folk sounds of "the man's too strong" and the almost 'world music of "ride across the river"...its all there on this one!
the cd version of the album has a few,if only slightly, extended versions of a few of the songs, most noteably on my favourite track "your latest trick", where we have a lengthy sax solo in the intro, i mean, i love the song anyway, but give me a bit of sax and im anybody's...lol!
this album was the first album by any artist to sell one million copies on cd, its almost as if the so-called crystal clear sound of cd was made especially for Dire Straits...
the album spent thirty-four weeks on top of the Aussie charts through 85-86,making it the biggest selling album in Australian chart history at the time...for a bit of trivia, John Farnham's "whispering jack" from around the same time eventually surpassed it with sales...
they finished their massive two and ahalf year world tour to promote this album in Australia also...but due to public demand a twenty date sojurn on these shores turned into a sixty plus date, three month gig...
enough of the trivia...
this album is the third in a trilogy of classic albums from these guys and like the other two(love over gold and making movies) i never ever get sick of listening to them.

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst track....one world
best track.....your latest trick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YTh1Wsqo2c audio

tracks:

1. so far away ***
2. money for nothing ***
3. walk of life ***
4. your latest trick ***
5. why worry ***
6. ride across the river ***
7. the man's too strong **
8. one world **
9. brothers in arms ***

3s=7
2s=2
1s=0

rating: 2.8

man, i always say i cant separate "love over gold","making movies" and this one and the indentical scores of 2.8 prove that fact...cool stuff!

[Jerome]

You must get 'On Every Street' - superb album. And there is an album of instrumentals and movie soundtracks called 'Screenplaying' which is probably my favourite album of his. The strings on 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' are just plain fantastic. Gives me goose bumps every time I listen to it.

[Jerome]

Mike Oldfield - Incantations - not my favourite of his but it is quite unique in many ways. A bit too repetitive for me but there are some sparkling sections. Must have been a nightmare to record with all the unusual timings.