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Old 01-02-2013, 10:42 AM   #1676 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Brothers in arms --- Dire Straits --- 1985 (Vertigo)


Although it would not prove to be their last album, "Brothers in arms" was such a monster success for Dire Straits that it essentially became almost both their comeback album and their swansong. The release of "On every street", six years later, and the subsequent breakup of the band, would almost pass off quietly, unnoticed as Mark and the boys faded from the public eye after ten years making great music. But this album would give them two massive hit singles, re-establish them as masters of their craft and technological innovators, and also turn out to be one of the all-time biggest selling albums in the world, ever, selling at the time of writing over thirty million copies, and turning nine times platinum. It was also one of the first albums to specifically target the emerging market in CD releases, pushing the CD factories into overdrive to cope with the massive demand for it.

Their previous studio effort, 1982's "Love over gold" was an odd beast. A beautiful album but possessing only a total of five tracks, one of which ran for over fourteen minutes. Although Dire Straits would never be considered to be a progressive rock band, there were definite progressive leanings on "Love over gold", particularly the mostly instrumental "Private investigations" and the epic "Telegraph Road". This album though would return them to their more basic rock leanings, while also allowing them to place a foot gingerly into the world of pop, and see them produce one of the first ever totally computer-animated videos for the huge hit single, "Money for nothing". Rough by today's standards, certainly, but back then we were in awe as to how the mouths of the cartoon characters moved in concert with the music. Amazing!

But to the album itself. It starts with the lazy, laidback guitar and keyboard of "So far away", before Knopfler's laconic vocal comes in and some fine slide guitar joins the proceedings. For an album which was to have such a huge impact, both on their career and on the music world in general, it's a deceptively slow start. Almost country in flavour, it's a relaxed little song with a hint of bitterness in the lyric, and would in fact be one of the five singles released from the album, doing reasonably well and hitting the number 20 spot, which would of course pale in comparison with the next track, the chartbusting "Money for nothing", which featured that video I spoke of earlier. Everyone knows the song by now, with its characteristic wail from Sting that opens it, as he pines for his MTV, then there's a buildup of percussion and synth, lots of busy keyswork in the background before Knopfler's heavily-miked guitar breaks through, almost talking, and the song takes off.

This was the only Dire Straits song to feature another artist, and Sting also got a co-writing credit, which again was unheard of for this band, where the lion's share of songwriting was taken by Knopfler. With a great bouncy beat, and that squawking, talking guitar plus its gentle poking of fun at the rock lifestyle (and thus themselves) --- "Shoulda learned to play the guitar/ Shoulda learned to play them drums.../That ain't workin'!/ That's the way you do it!" --- it proved an instant hit and powered right to the top of the charts, forever cementing itself in the group consciousness, and people who had never heard of Dire Straits were suddenly singing the song and thinking about buying if not the album then at least the single. It reminded me of when Foreigner hit the number one slot that same year with "I want to know what love is", and a week or so later I overheard two older women --- mothers, I would say, about forty or so: I would have been what, twenty-three? --- remark as the song came on the radio "Oh yes, I love that Foreigner!" People who would look at you as if you had two heads if you mentioned "Urgent", "Cold as Ice" "4" or even Lou Gramm loved the chart-topping single. And so people who would have maybe known of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Sultans of swing" danced and nodded and hummed "I want my, I want my, I want my MTV" gleefully. Thus are legends born, huh?

There's no doubting that "Money for nothing" was the massive hit single that drove the huge sales of this album, and rightly so as it's a great song, but we shouldn't lose sight of the other great tracks on the album, and there are numerous. Much of what was then the first side of the album was released as singles, as the label fought to capitalise on the success of the monster smash, and indeed with "Walk of life" they scored another. A rockalong, almost fifties style bopper with a big organ intro and then the whistling keyboard riff that would run through it and characterise its sound, it's a cool little song and again Knopfler delivers a fine performance, with some real rockabilly style guitar and something of an innovative dance in the video if I remember. For the time it became something of an anthem, an upbeat, happy, optimistic axiom: do the walk of life. It's placed well on the album, because after "Money for nothing" the last thing you want to hear is a substandard song, and this certainly keep the tempo and the energy going, and is a worthy successor to the behemoth.

Total film noir then in a complete change for "Your latest trick", with a bluesy sax intro from either Michael Brecker or Malcolm Duncan, don't know which as they both play on the album, backed by some melancholic digital piano by Alan Clark and some vibraphone adding a somewhat lonely and otherworldly touch, the tune sounding more like something you'd find on a Tom Waits album really. Then Mark Knopfler comes in with his trademark low, muttered almost disinterested vocal and you see how well it fits in to their sound. To some degree I think this serves as something of a sequel to their first original big hit "Sultans of swing", with its mention of the band and the landlord paying them off, but I could be wrong there. The vibraphone runs through the tune like a tiny ticking heartbeat, courtesy of Michael Mainieri, and we're into "Why worry", another slow song --- and I mean slow! --- in which Knopfler's almost lazy vocal on the previous song sounds positively pumped in comparison. It's carried mostly on acoustic guitar and what sounds like mandolin, with a nice little soft keyboard line playing behind it. It's a nice song, with a somewhat overoptimistic sentiment rather like Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry be happy" which, while an admirable stance is a little less than realistic. I also find it's far too long, at over eight and a half minutes, and seems to go on forever. Nice backing vocals though it has to be said.

In many ways, the second side of the album, from track six to nine, is a concept of sorts, concentrating on mostly militaristic themes, and showing why the album is titled as it is. "Ride across the river" is the tale of revolutionaries in some South American country, maybe somewhere like Nicaragua, though it's never stated. Opening on tribal style drums and pan flute (synthesised I assume) it builds slowly against chiming keyboards and pulsating bass, with some great trumpet work from Randy Brecker (brother to Michael, the saxaphonist?) and horn from Dave Plews. There's both a sense of oppression and fiesta about it, the latter engendered by the great horn work of the two guys. You really get the sense of a band of rebels crossing a river at night, fearful for their lives but determined to prevail against the hated, nameless enemy. It's quite a long song, just under seven minutes, but unlike "Why worry" it doesn't seem overstretched. Whereas the famous Knopfler guitar is subdued and very much to the background in this song, it comes roaring to the front for "The man's too strong", built on a folky acoustic guitar melody with soft yet thumping drumwork. It's when the chorus comes in that the electric guitar blasts out and the drums get stronger, taking you quite by surprise the first time you hear it. Little in the way of keys or synth, though they're there in the background working away: this is primarily a showcase for Mark Knopfler's guitar expertise.

The song seems to concern the memories, or indeed confessions, during his capture and trial of a war criminal, and his realisation he has done wrong but shows little or no remorse for it. This is the life he chose to lead, and he does not regret it. The shortest track on the album then, "One world" comes in at short of four minutes and is probably the most uptempo on side two, and the most rocky and upbeat since "Walk of life" on side one. Again Knopfler's guitar is to the fore though it's helped out this time by Guy Fletcher's keys with some handclap drumbeats. Nice little bit of almost harpsichordal keys from Alan Clark, but the song is a little pedestrian when compared to some of the masterpieces that have preceded it. Luckily, the album ends strongly and with passion, on the title track.

With a haunting, atmospheric synth backdrop from Fletcher, Knopfler's signature guitar line slides in and he again almost mutters the vocal, not so much that you can't hear him but almost like a whispered prayer, as he bemoans the insanity of war: "There are so many different worlds/ So many different suns/ And we have just one world/ But we live in different ones." A beautiful accordion-like sound gives the song a very rustic feel which ties in with the lyric "One day you'll return to/ Your valleys and your farms" and Knopfler almost makes his guitar cry and wail, giving voice to the dispossessed, the bereaved and the wronged who fall on either side during conflicts, lost among the larger issues, the politics and the strategies. The song ends on a prayer: "But it's written in the starlight/ In every line on your palms/ We're fools to make war/ On our brothers in arms" and a sumptuous guitar solo, joined later by Fletcher's soaring organ to bring the album to a quite amazing close.

TRACKLISTING

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

It's easy to see why this album was such a huge seller. The honesty and simplicity in the lyrics, the mixture of toe-tapping melodies and mature songs, the messages and the warnings, the big hit singles and the songs that weren't released but can stand shoulder to shoulder with those that were --- and are in some cases even better --- all come together to create an album that really, any band would have been proud to have said farewell with. This was undoubtedly the high point of Dire Straits' career, and despite the fact that they hung around for another six years they would never come close to matching it. Perhaps deep down, Mark Knopfler, guiding light and driving force behind the band for so many years, realised this and decided it was time to call it a day.

If only he had done so with this album, it would have been a legacy to be justifiably proud of. As it is, it marks for me the end of a very successful career, with one small coda to come in 1991.
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