Album Review: Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (1985)

Dire Straits have never been known as a band who put out five star albums; yet strangely, there's no shortage of people out there who regard them as five star musicians. Some of their albums have some classic little numbers that'll get over-ecstatic drunkards starting mexican waves within the comfort of their own home whenever "Twisting by the Pool" comes up on the playlist, and rock DJs have no doubt received threats of a wild stabbing by some short-fused reprobate cat rapist from Gisborne on home detention for not playing "Romeo and Juliet" during the song request period. Despite the high regard held for the band by countless fans, the albums as they are never quite stack up, particularly among rock critics and to a lesser extent, the fans themselves. For instance, had "Industrial Disease" been cut from Love over Gold, it's fair to say that the album could very well have ended up in the $2.99 bin at K-Mart for use as a novelty clock or beer coaster.

1985's Brothers in Arms gets off better than the rest of the Dire Straits discography, but not by much. Despite holding the status of being the first album to be recorded entirely using digital equipment (DDD, compared to ADD or AAD), and to have CD sales outstrip vinyl, it still lacks the musical aura and charisma of an typical 12 million+ selling album that you hear every music lover talking about. With songs like "Money for Nothing", "Walk of Life", "Brothers in Arms", "Why Worry" and "So Far Away", it should, by all rights, be hailed universally as a masterpiece, yet it doesn't, probably because most of the songs extend well past the average attention span of a human. "Money for Nothing" got cut back to 4:10, most probably because 85% of listeners tend to drift off to la-la land after then. And apparently, co-producer Neil Dorfsman threatened to cut "Walk of Life", and I can see why; it's like getting Bongo the crack-addled clown to sing cheery kiddie's songs to a group of suicidal emos. It's exactly the opposite of what the whole album is all about. Not necessarily a bad thing though; "Walk of Life" is a song I'll never get sick of. And "Money for Nothing" is a great song to hear over the phone whenever you call the Welfare office.

Overall, the album is a classic, not because it's a collection of fantastic songs, which it should be, but because of its pioneering status, and the fact that it holds great value as a collector's item. Stick to the hits on this one, and forget about the rest. B+