Album Reviews

When first released in America in 1978 Dire Straits’ debut was an immediate sensation, though cautious record labels at first rejected signing the group until Warner Brothers bit. The original Vertigo release hit the U.K. earlier. Eventually, propelled by the catchy single “Sultans of Swing”, the album was Top Ten throughout Europe and much of the world.

Some listeners thought Mark Knopfler sounded like Dylan. Two things were sure: the level of musicianship was exceptional, and the sound was “audiophile quality”. All of Mr. Knopfler’s albums sound great. The sonics and production are attractions on all Dire Straits and Knopfler productions. Clearly to him sound matters.

I remember hearing the hype related to this record before actually listening to it, and I bought a U.K. Vertigo copy when it became available, I think before the inferior sounding Warner Brothers edition hit the shelves.

I played it for a while impressed by the sonics engineered by the great Rhett Davies, but bored by the “old style” music and Knopfler’s gruff, Dylaneseque emotionally detached vocals in the age of punk and other more adventurous and hyper-emotional outings, to where I traded the record in at Aaron’s on Melrose.

Now comes this reissue and how times have changed! Starved as we are today for actual musicianship and craft in popular music, this record becomes musically attractive and enjoyable, aided by a stellar remastering job at 45rpm. The record sounds amazing.

If you are a fan, you’ll want to upgrade to this. If you’re not, it’s still worth considering if just as a demo test record to help determine your system’s transient precision and clarity and especially its bass and mid-bass performance. You might even start to enjoy the music. Much to my surprise I did.