DIRE STRAITS
| Dire Straits
DIRE STRAITS
Dire Straits is the debut studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 7 October 1978 by Vertigo Recordsinternationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album produced the hit single "Sultans of Swing", which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached #1 on album charts in Germany, Australia and France, #2 in the United States and #5 in the United Kingdom. Dire Straits was later certified double-platinum in both the United States and the United Kingdom. -wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Ultimate Classic Rock
Neither punk nor disco, glam nor metal, Dire Straits existed in a part of the musical landscape all its own.
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Rolling Stone
1979 - Dire Straits is one of those quietly subversive albums whose sober lucidity reeks of rapid obscurity. It doesn’t deserve such a sad fate.
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All Music
the album is remarkably accomplished for a debut, and Dire Straits had difficulty surpassing it throughout their career
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Off the Tracks
2017 - to my ears it’s a subtle masterpiece. A gem that continues to shine long after I first heard it.
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Subjective Sounds
2016 - you will be captivated with some of the most beautiful atmospheric music you have ever heard
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Only Solitaire
The best music for old men ever written by a young one. Fabulous.
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Don Ignacio
The lyrics have been correctly identified as being wonderful. I was already aware of the lyrics for "Sultans of Swing," which are much more vivid and imaginative than 99 percent of the other songs I hear on classic rock radio... and, that's a high compliment, believe it or not.
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Classic Rock Review
This album features nine tracks composed by guitarist/vocalist Mark Knopfler who blended elements of American roots music with a distinct guitar style and a reserved, husky vocal for an appealing overall style which found receptive audiences worldwide.
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Robert Christgau
The decisive touch is how Mark Knopfler counterpoints his own vocals on guitar--only a musician with a real structural knack could sound like two people that way.
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Evans Rock Album Reviews
deftly marrying minimalistic arrangements to strong songwriting and intelligent lyrics. Nearly the entire album sustains a caliginous, unsettling atmosphere that intensifies the sonic experience, gripping the listener for the duration of the record.
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Oocities
unlike most albums recorded in 1978 Dire Straits hasn’t aged a day in the intervening years
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American Song Writer
a lesson in prosody and tasty guitar playing that has seldom been equaled since
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The Quietus
They are a band who are much better appreciated over their full body of work than on any one album, and Dire Straits contains the bulk of the elements that they would develop over the coming years.
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Dire Straits Blog
2017 - The album has a folkey sound to it and is a bit raw, but very smooth.
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