The elusiveness is one of its pleasures: the bandвЂ™s identity lies within these margins. It hints at other styles and sounds without quite committing to either earthiness or mind-expansion. Ghosts of an imagined American West float through Dire Straits, but despite the imagery, rhythms, and instrumentation, the album keeps drifting towards an amorphous atmosphere that betrays the groupвЂ™s British roots. вЂњSultans of SwingвЂќ is their self-titled debutвЂ™s snappiest number by some margin-its only rival in hooks is вЂњSetting Me Up,вЂќ the recordвЂ™s tightest cut and also the one song that could be comfortably be called country-but it also contains much of what makes the album beguiling: Knopfler sketches scenes, setting his ambiguous, evocative scenarios to vamps that hint at both melody and groove without quite coalescing into either. вЂњSultans of SwingвЂќ certainly had a tinge of country rock Knopfler skated up and down his fretboard with ease as he growled half-spoken lyrics about a group playing Dixieland jazz and Creole music in South London. And Charlie Gillett, a renowned London DJ whose Honky Tonk show was one of the pub-rock sceneвЂ™s epicenters, gave early airtime to Dire StraitsвЂ™ вЂњSultans of SwingвЂќ demo, an act of generosity that quickly led to a record contract for the band. Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers both played in the regrettably named Brewers Droop, who managed to go not much further than their hometown of London during their brief lifetime in the early вЂ™70s. Heard collectively, these albums suggest that Dire Straits were a far artier band than their reputation suggests, with a subdued sense of adventure that propelled the group throughout its career.ДЄrtiness was not a quality associated with Dire Straits back in 1978, when the band released its eponymous debut the UK was in the thick of punk rock, yet Dire Straits were tagged a pub-rock band. (Regrettably, the 1983 EP Extendedance Play, with its giddy new-wave single вЂњTwisting by the Pool,вЂќ isnвЂ™t here, nor 1984 live 2xLP Alchemy.) But that modesty helps draw connections between records, tracing the bandвЂ™s growth while underscoring its constant attention to detail. Containing nothing but straight reissues of the six studio albums the group released during its lifetime, the set contains nary a frill. But beneath the digital gleam, Dire StraitsвЂ™ debt to roots rock was evident, particularly in KnopflerвЂ™s mellow growl and clean, deft guitar solos.ДЄ tension between polish and grit was evident from the start, as the 2020 box set The Studio Albums 1978-1991 illustrates. Its novel production-a DDD affair, in the parlance of the times, meaning it was recorded, mixed, and mastered digitally-appealed to audiophiles, and its reputation for sumptuous sound helped make it the first million-selling compact disc. The videoвЂ™s success could be called a fluke, but the album appealed to legions of sophisticates who couldnвЂ™t be bothered with MTV. The network placed the computer-animated video for вЂњMoney for NothingвЂќ into heavy rotation, sending the album into the upper reaches of the charts, a place it would call home for the better part of a year. In doing so, the group acted as the bridge between the вЂ™70s AOR and вЂ™80s MTV, shepherding a transition from faceless arena rockers to flashy video stars.Д«rothers in Arms benefited greatly from MTV. Musicians came and went with regularity during the groupвЂ™s heyday, the cast changing as Knopfler and Ilsley refined their silvery, slithery hybrid of British progressive rock and American country-a curious, improbable fusion that Dire Straits made seem logical, perhaps even inevitable. Yet singer and guitarist Mark KnopflerвЂ™s fame quickly eclipsed the rest of the band, including bassist John Illsley, the only member who stood alongside him in every one of the groupвЂ™s incarnations. Their 1985 LP Brothers in Arms was a blockbuster on par with Thriller, Born in the USA, and Purple Rain for nearly a decade, it held the title as the best-selling British album ever, before being dethroned by OasisвЂ™ (WhatвЂ™s the Story) Morning Glory?. Take Dire Straits, who were by any measure one of the biggest rock bands of the 1980s. Stats donвЂ™t lie, but the tales they tell can be misleading.

Brothers in arms dire straight