Granted, the Straits are quite subtly original (if not totally innovative), and for sheer musicality, in the every-note-is-there-for-a-reason sense, there isn't a New Wave band in the world that can touch them. But the speed with which they've caught on in this country (as of this writing, "Sultans of Swing," the single, looks to be headed for the Top 10, which in an era of terminal disco approaches the miraculous) has me a little worried. It doesn't deserve such a sad fate.ĭire Straits was the only non-New Wave band in England to debut across-the-board raves in 1978, and it's not hard to figure out why: they're so good it's scary. Dire Straits is one of those quietly subversive albums whose sober lucidity reeks of rapid obscurity. It's a heavenly number, funny and bitter.Įven when Mark Knopfler tends toward Bruce Springsteen-style street bathos in such mini-epics as "Wild West End" and "Lions," his band keeps everything admirably straightforward. "Setting Me Up" sports a standard mangled-romance theme, but the verbiage is masticated by Knopfler's growling, annoyed singing, with a giddy country-guitar solo tacked on at the end. No, Dire Straits get their effects by precise, well-played contrasts: the way a brisk bit of folk-rock is entitled "Sultans of Swing" and not only boasts an inescapable hook but also a goony, Bob Dylan-like snarl in its vocal. In fact, the only time he tries it ("In the Gallery"), the message turns out to be a petulant attack on avant-gardism - i.e., a real yawn. If anything, living alone is what Dire Straits is about, and it sounds like a good life.īut Knopfler isn't interested in writing songs with profound messages. He's often as clever as he is banal, so a nice line ("I need a little water of love") can be followed by a silly one ("You know it's evil when you're living alone"), or vice versa. It's almost as if they were aware that their forte has nothing to do with what's currently happening in the industry, but couldn't care less.Īs a writer, Knopfler pens terse little narratives about the mundane problems of his brethren: women trouble, money trouble, one's-place-in-the-world trouble. Dire Straits, an English quartet led by singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler, plays tight, spare mixtures of rock, folk and country music with a serene spirit and witty irony.
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