Brothers In Arms

This album makes me feel like I'm the US president, and Im about to announce to the world that Im going to run for reelection despite my recent medical scandal, and the ghost of my secretary is encouraging me along the way.

Mark Knopfler is a beast all over this project, one of the best rock albums ever made. Effortlessly cool and technically brilliant. Top Tracks: "So Far Away", "Money For Nothing", "Walk of Life", "Your Latest Trick", "Brothers in Arms"

What a masterpiece, genius guitar work, never in your face but always present, great atmosphere

Side 1 is perfect. Side 2 is good.

Good album! But man why did he have to use the f*g slur >:( not cool, dude. Ugh 4 stars.

If you watch Jaws backwards it's a heartwarming story about a shark that gives limbs to disabled people.

unbelievably strong start, but it kinda lost me in the second half. i still loved this album, though.

I normally don't leave reviews and I let the stars I choose speak for themselves...but in an effort to speak my mind more (my therapist would be so proud) I'll say: This bored the shit out of me.

I think I found my misophonia album

Shew. I'm having a hard time believing how many reviewers miss the entire point of Money for Nothing. The lyrics are written from the viewpoint of an idiot who thinks rock stars don't work for a living. And it's this stupid character who is calling rock stars, i.e. Knopfler, a fa**ot. Then to exacerbate the stupidity, says the rock star he just called gay, gets his 'chicks for free'. I've known a lot of gay dudes and none of them wanted any chicks in that way. But, go on if you're going to be daft, thin-skinned cunt, I can't stop you. Enough of that though, this album is a 5 star classic all day. Knopfler's guitar playing is masterful.

few of the best singles of all time. few shite fillers. a bit dated. but, for the anthems alone it gets 7.1/10

A pleasant Friday listen, but it's impossible to overlook the homophobic slurs in Money For Nothing. If you want highly proficient guitar playing combined with soft 80's rock then these are the dudes for you.

The title track alone earns this entire album full marks, but then there's also a bunch of other fuckin bangers on it too. Only criticisms: Why Worry and Ride Across the River aren't really top-shelf material. But this is totally offset by that FUCKING TITLE TRACK OMG. 5/5.

So many classics that I often forget are Dire Straits

Got this the day after The Birthday Party. It's funny how people's definitions of 'unlistenable' vary so radically. This is such a slog. Although it regularly meanders into the background, so easy forget it's on. A bit like all the singles did when they came on the radio in the kitchen in the 80s. But also overlong. Half the album is just twinkly nothing. And I'm sure you could do the prog intro to Money For Nothing and still close out the rest within 5 minutes. 8 and a half? Get out. The first album in project I have to give a 1 to, I just dislike all of it. It is absolutely not necessary to listen to this before you die.

Is this the best Dire Straits album? No. Is this the second best Dire Straits album? No. Is this the third best Dire Straits album? No. Is this a 5* album? Fuck yeah.

One of the best albums of all time

This is an album I already know and love, so listening to it for the millionth time was not a chore. I absolutely love every single song on this album - I don't know if I could ever pick a favorite. But I will say that the one-two punch of "So Far Away" and "Money For Nothing" gives this album an incredibly solid opening. I don't really know what else to say about this one. It's perfect. I've listened to it a million times and I'll listen to it a million more.

Riiiiiight these mufukas made sultans of swing

No one will ever write a better song about kitchen appliances.

Wow, even the best tune on this album is ruined by a slew of homophobic insults. Nice. It's a shame, Knopfler is a guitarist with a sweet style I genuinely like, but too often he goes missing. In place of the fretboard kinetics of 'Sultans of Swing' or 'Lady Writer', we have sub-'Gaucho' era Steely Danisms of 'Your Latest Trick' and the utterly wretched 'Walk Of Life'. 'The Man's Too Strong' starts off promisingly with some nimble folk playing but, alas, it's swamped by the 'tasteful' production of the era. What a mess.

Un album d'une qualité exceptionnelle de la part des Dire Straits, qui n'est pas que le simple fruit du hasard. En effet, les Dire Straits sont réputés pour avoir toujours su bien s'entourer. Mais laissez moi vous replonger dans le contexte. Nous sommes dans le début des années 80, quand les Dire Straits commencent à se regrouper en studio. La musique bat son plein, les enregistrements sont très prometteurs grâce à l'énorme aisance de chacun des membres du groupe avec leur instrument respectif. Mais très rapidement, on se rend compte au sein du studio que ce groupe, certes composé de grands musiciens, n'a en revanche aucune connaissance en arrangement sonore. Il leur faut donc recruter un ingénieur son. Rapidement, le premier candidat se présente dans le petit studio britannique. Mais c'est alors un véritable fiasco. Ce dernier oubliera de brancher la guitare de Mark Knopfler sur la première prise, avant de complétement saturer son micro. Après une troisième tentative au cours de laquelle Jim Morrison - car vous l'avez compris, c'était bien lui qui se cachait derrière l'ingénieur - fera tomber son sandwich sur la caisse claire du batteur Terry Williams, le groupe excédé finit par mettre Jim à la porte. Jim Morrisson répétera par la suite dans de nombreux médias que les Dire Straits sont un véritable cauchemar pour les ingénieurs sons, les accusant de perfectionnisme nocif. Pas d'inquiètude pour Dire Straits, ils finirent par recruter un ingénieur son qualifié, et purent boûcler ce magnifique album.

Great album that brings back memories of listening to it when I was a little kid.

Did not like. Good guitar playing, but little else. Also, Money for Nothing is a gay slur in it multiple times. I know it's of the era, but uncomfortable nonetheless.

Best Song: Your Latest Trick. Rarely do you get an opportunity to listen to a sleazy saxophone solo like this. Worst Song: Money for Nothing. Absolutely everything in this song sounds dated, from the expired references to MTV and colour TVs, to the entirely out-of-pocket use of homophobic slurs. Overall: Overwhelmingly medium music. Nothing very interesting here. Instrumentals are obviously slick, but the vocals are weak and the lyrics stink.

Too much synth. 2 stars because of The West Wing reference.

Hate is a strong word...

Oh God, I don't want to review Dire Straits. I really don't. Do you ever feel out of sync with the world? When I started at uni in the early years of this century, I was aghast at the number of people (aged 18 to 22, let's not forget) who declared not just a fondness for but almost an idolisation of Dire Straits. I still can't explain it. Surely these are people who you'd expect to have placed significance on coolness? And before you object, just look at that album cover. Pastel pink font? Levitating guitar (although is it being held up by its neck?)? It aims to depict pure guitarness, but lands on the art of guitar as done by a recently divorced dad. So Dire Straits' fanbase baffles me enormously. Mayhap I'm just being prejudiced, and Dire Straits do have merits I choose to overlook. I can recall the specific instance when my antipathy for Dire Straits materialised (I had never liked the music as a kid, but I had never concentrated on Dire Straits either). I was watching TV at 2am during my teenage years, and a cheapo documentary on Mark Knopfler came on, which said his convoluted guitar playing represented a positive rejection of punkish amateurism. I just noticed the overwhelming taste of bile in my mouth. Mark Knopfler as the stalwart knight repelling the throngs of we snotty oiks? What a wanker. Nope, it's not prejudice, Dire Straits are terrible and their fans delude themselves solely because Mark Knopfler can play a guitar a bit. (I feel I should point out that Dire Straits refused to play Apartheid-era South Africa, and donated all their royalties from their South African sales to anti-Apartheid organisations. That should not be insulted. I feel I should also point out that when Dire Straits were inducted into the pointless and unfit-for-purpose Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the great luminary they got to induct them was John Illsley. Since you don't recognise the name, I'll tell you that he was the bassist for Dire Straits. The same year, Bon Jovi was inducted by Howard Stern. I'll leave you to decide which is more shameful.) The album Brothers in Arms is crap. Any discussion of Brothers in Arms should begin with that fact. If you haven't included that sentence in your review, you have failed. It's not difficult. It's a few seconds' worth of typing. A little more typing will produce the following, completely accurate list: it's really boring, it's really pompous, the songs go on far too long, the album goes on far too long, Mark Knopfler's voice never rises above a bad impression of Dylan, the guitar work is ostentatious without being engaging, the production showcases a villains' row of commonplace 80s production atrocities. But to explain the most sizeable flaw of Brothers in Arms, one needs to look at the essence of the album. It's lyrically-driven blues rock with intricate guitar work. There are a million billion such albums released every year, and none of them have been any cop since 1974. So Brothers in Arms is not only poor, it's a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, with some slick 80s gimmicks to mask the thievery. Now, I'm not one to chastise an artist for stealing, but Knopfler could have nicked something with a bit more vitality. Here's an idea, Mark: your fretwork could actually fit well as a rococo decoration over a motorik beat. Yes, you're still copying, but you'd be copying something we wouldn't expect you to copy, and that's some kind of originalty, I think. Still, if Dire Straits became more interesting, would they stop being Dire Straits? Well, a mate of mine pointed out that John Squire of the Stone Roses seems to have quite the similarity to Knopfler regarding guitartistry. It's not the case that guitar heroes became irredeemably lame; they just became handcuffed to irredeemably lame genres. You can weld together technical proficiency and aesthetic credibility, you know. But no matter the circumstances, I reckon Dire Straits would somehow always just have been crap. NoRadio, signing off.

Excellent! Their best since "Making Movies" and probably their Best overall. Chick full oof hits, but actually some of the other (Especially "Why Worry") are Soooo overlooked! Sit back and enjoy. Knofler was genius one this

Other than the saxophone on "Your Latest Trick" not aging very well (way too 80's schmaltz), these tracks are all incredibly performed and produced. Trivia: this album was released in the cassette era, but just as CDs and digital audio was just coming of age. This album was touted as "you must own the CD version".

Yeeees! My favorite guitarist. If I could sell my soul to play like anyone I would chose Knopfler.

Can't belive I haven't listened to the entire album until now.

- there is not bad song on this - i want my mtv.....

Those two singles are misleading. A good majority of this album is jazzy, breezy soft rock. With some surprisingly bold songwriting and production decisions. It’s very dire straits in soul, very 80s in execution. Vibe is a dock in the south somewhere on a lake, and I’m seeing the day pass as the album progresses. From dawn to dusk. Fireflies and reeds and fish and shit. Overall shockingly good. 4/5

Those three dangerous words: I have this. Both in my digital library and my surviving brain memory, as the tape was stuck in my parents’ car for a billion years when I was around 10. ‘Money for Nothing’ is a song I’ve been fascinated with since I heard it, probably when it came out. The exciting opening climaxing Sting, which even then I knew was some sort of joke, was the first fixation, the song-long guitar solo the enduring one. A majestic experimental musician of my acquaintance labelled the guitar sound “brown tone” which, while not complimentary, fits. As a teen in Newcastle, Mark Knopfler worked as an intern at the Newcastle Evening Chronicle where this notoriously grumpy old man also worked. The grumpy old man was modernist poet Basil Bunting, at that time neglected and impoverished, probably finished in his own mind, though his revival with his masterpiece “Briggflatts” was only two years away. Knopfler recently made a song about him and their shared time in the office, and the lyrics appeal strongly to my sentiments. The music, not so much. Not enough brown tone. Still: ‘Bury all joy/ Put the poems in sacks/ And bury me here with the hacks.’ Which is to say, I like Knopfler. And you should read ‘Briggflatts’, and listen to Bunting read it (there’re videos on YouTube). ‘Your Latest Trick’ is the most MOR object that I will ever cherish. Sociologists favourite it, as it is the accepted marker of the cresting of MOR sax. MOR: making good MOR is incredibly hard. Have you ever tried drawing a long, straight line freehand? ‘Why Worry?’ is trite AF, but the descending little synth motif still puts eerie on me, especially with accompanying Knopfnoodling. Musicologists favourite this one as the high water mark of cheesy synth, after which the instrument moved on to the Channel 5 soft porn industry and never looked back. Knopfler is basically Clapton if Clapton wasn’t a… but let’s not embed a list in a list. ‘Ride Across A River’ hahahah did you write this after watching ‘Crocodile Dundee’? Oh shit, that sax… That’s what happens: the songs start off sounding like the cheesiest ‘80s makeout crap, and then they do something that spoils it all by infesting my brain via strange bait. Was that an eBow I heard there? See, ‘The Man’s Too Strong’, fingerpick strum yawn fingerpick strum yawn, hey why is my pulse slightly elevated? “BAM BWAMM, bong BAHBONG!” ‘One World’ is maybe the only plain herb track on this. Still listen to it on all playthroughs, as I need respite from the constant weird ambushes. Closing with the title song reeks of pretensions that bubble through an ambitious album: experimental, daring MOR, the latest synths, the latest digital, and songs that confidentially skip and straddle genre, all tied together by that voice, one of the boldest celebrations of regional identity that went platinum. What about that second side, mostly about war? And what about the fact that there are no sides because this was the record that sold CDs as the forever format? Before they started rotting and people noticed the mastering was shit. Returning as an adult to ‘MFN’ and the war songs, I I like the stories, and the hint of fatalistic Nordic saga in them. Knopfler’s mocked vocal dourness has an ancient and mighty North East English lineage. When I started, I found it hard to bring myself to listen to this, and had to listen to ‘Bang Your Head’ by Gravediggaz to fortify myself after hearing the intro to ‘Walk of Life’. I’m not going to write about ‘Walk of Life’. O God, not another 3! Only joking: fuck you, FOUR! Take that, melts!

I found this mostly pretty boring. Their few hits are OK, the rest I'd rather have skipped.

I recognized two songs from the radio, only one of which i knew was by Dire Straits. the rest of the album was slow and felt disjointed, and even though it's fairly short, i kept hoping each song would be the last. definitely didn't seem like it would be THE first record to sell one million CDs. But the power of wanting MTV is great, i guess.

I thought this would be a pleasant return to an album I played a fair bit as a teenager, but after the first track I remembered I actually don’t like Money For Nothing, and truly despise Walk Of Life. Things didn’t really improve from there I have to say, and am glad I had a chance to sit down with this album again so I could give another reassessment of it. I might have gone round thinking this was an album I liked! Good lord! Fave track: Brothers In Arms

Hot garbage.

Saving grace of this one was the instrumentals other than that the lyrics were terrible and dated. And the album went on for way too long.

Rare that an album has this many skips. The whole thing sounds cheap, like a band of middle aged dads that would play your local watering hole during Sunday happy hour in exchange for a few free beers. I give em 1. 🍺

Dad rock! Can't wait to skim through this to confirm that it sucks! Look at that, it really does suck! I honestly wish you could just skip forward to the next album when trash like this pops up

*groan* Dad rock. This was rough to listen. I thought I would be pleasantly surprised with lead track and UK single "So Far Away," but that was as good as it ever got. "Money for Nothing" is a rough listen because of not one, not two, but three F-slurs in the second verse. I've heard "Walk of Life" many a time in my youth, I could go without it now. The rest is mostly pop rock elevator music. No.

Honestly just boring and couldn’t wait for it to be over. This album is dire and I’m just surprised about how many people love it when a ten year old could come up with half of the riffs in this album

Dire Straits is what you'll be in if you came to this album looking for something that doesn't suck

This was a chore to listen to

Guitar George may know all the chords, but he has fuck all idea what to do with them on this album. Pretty undistinguished 80s fm rock clogging up the airwaves for most of the decade. I did like the longer instrumentals, and the two singles are fine. But this is just a seriously dull listen.

I don't understand... do people actually LIKE Dire Straits? I thought they were mostly a punchline, not like... a serious thing that people were into. This album definitely doesn't make me think that they're anything more than a sad joke. The music is mediocre. Like aggressively middle-of-the-road. And the lyrics are... well, at best they're cloyingly saccharine. At worst, these songs are actively bigoted. It's almost as though Dire Straights were into Springsteen but felt that he didn't push his ultra-macho, white, working-class agenda hard enough. "Money For Nothing" in particular just didn't age well. The whole thing reeks like a balding boomer day-drunk on wine coolers desperately trying to convince people he's cool still. Also there's a whole song that's basically an extended saxophone solo. Hard no. The more l listened, the more I hated this whole experience.

I'd forgotten how slow this album is

Antiseptic wipes. Mahogany cabinets painted white. An unbuttered baked potato. Quite possibly the longest 50 minutes of my life, listening to this LP. First of all… there’s this great scene in The Simpsons featuring Kenny G, live, and his opening address to the crowd is: ‘Springfield, are you ready to soft rock?!’ I believe the industry itself titles it MOR rock- middle of the road. Neil Young recalled that following the success of 'Harvest,' he found himself in the middle of the road, and decided it was the most dangerous place to be. So, he headed right for the ditch on his next several LPs. (His very next release was the gloriously awful mess of 'Time Fades Away,' with the sloppy drunkenness of 'Tonight’s the Night' soon to follow. Both great LPs, in my opinion.) 'Brother In Arms' was released in May of 1985, a couple of months before I embarked on a major life transition, and one month before I turned 26. And while I had dabbled a bit in punk rock back in the 70s, I was still fairly MOR myself, having not yet discovered amazing groups like Cali’s hardcore Black Flag or the Minutemen, or the awesome sonic waves of Nadja or Sunn O))), or even the free jazz of John (& Alice) Coltrane or Ornette Coleman. That said, though, I do remember enjoying Dire Straits for a hot minute, but then tired of them pretty quickly. Too much radio play, for one thing. If I never hear ‘Money For Nothing’ again for the rest of my life I’ll be ok. Secondly… my biggest beef is that while Mark Knopfler’s guitar is featured on the cover, where is it in the recording? ‘Why Worry’ (George Harrison already expressed this, and much better, on ‘All Things Must Pass’) goes on far too long, and in the absence of a good guitar solo, probably Dire Straits’ strongest component. We finally get a little on ‘Ride Across the River,’ but that goes on too long, too. Same with the remainder of the LP. ‘Can’t get no fancy notes on my blue guitar,’ Knopfler sings on ‘One World.’ Truer words have never been sung. Finally… apparently, 'Brothers In Arms' is one of the best selling LPs of all time!? I feel sorry for the poor saps who purchased the thing on the basis of the 2 big hits- ‘Money For Nothing’ and ‘Walk Of Life,’ both upbeat and playful tunes. And Dire Straits looked like they were having a lot of fun playing them live when I saw their videos. But that’s where the fun ends. The remainder of the LP is dark and tedious. Actually, they’re not even really that dark (thematically, yes; lyrically, musically, no) nearly as much as they are tedious. OK, so it was one of the first LPs recorded on a Sony 24-track digital machine. No hiss, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, not much soul either. I’ll take Dead Kennedys’, 'Holiday In Cambodia'- which quality-wise kinda sounds like shit, but also has passion just spraying out the same ass- any day over 'Brothers In Arms.' In fact, the Dead Kennedys actually were brothers in arms against censorship, and fought it hard. What battles have Dire Straits ever fought, beside their defense of the misunderstood lyric, ‘The little faggot, he’s a millionaire’? (For the record, Knopfler was quoting some knucklehead at a bar commenting about some musician he saw on MTV.) Keep this LP so far away from me, please.

As tedious as dull as I remembered. Popular does not always relate to quality.

Not a favorite. Music held no appeal for me.

Maybe it's because I've never been into Mark Knopfler and that kind of music, or maybe it's because Walk of Life just reminds me of old people drinking and cover bands. I really would like to skip this album, but I will make it through, I promised myself. Damn, it's hard. I think that this may be the first one star album...

I thought the 80s were all about cocaine, hedonism and excess. So why is this so boring?! And why was it SO popular?

Great album, I liked this much better than the first album. Really liked the incorporation of other instruments

Fantastic album. One of my all time favorite and with a lot of childhood memories.

This album was already one of my favourite however I have not listened to it for awhile before this. It retains its wonderful combination of soulful guitar mixed with rocky purpose and combines it into a timeless mix.

Great album, the simplistic music and the beautiful lyrics just transported me back in time. Much needed to forget 2020. :-p

Great guitar but much more jazzy and soulful than I was expecting.

Brothers in Arms #1 The saxophone and trumpet of Your Latest Trick comes on and I’m in the back of the car on a late August Sunday in the late 80s, coming back from visiting grandparents. The thought of the end of the summer holidays lingers and the houses I pass are held by the sun’s despondent ennui, hazy and muted. Some people trim their hedges and cut their lawns, waiting for dinner and the Antiques Roadshow and thinking about work. The Funday Times on my lap that grandad saved for me, is calling in it’s nauseous debt, and all there is left to do is let Dire Straits play on and hope there will still be some daylight when I get home. 🎸🎸🎸🎸 Playlist submission: Money for Nothing

OH MY GOD IVE ALREADY LISTENED TO THIS ALBUM BEFORE

Front half better than the second but a great rock album

I’ve been listening to the hits pretty often (money for nothing, walk of life etc. ) but had never listened to the whole album. Really liking the different vibes throughout.

66 of 1001 Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms Favorite Track : Walk of Life Rating : 4.5/ 5 Very good album. 3 big hits that stand out but everything else is pleasing to the ear, as well. Close to a 5, but not quite. Couldn't argue with anyone who thinks it is. Holds up well.

La critique d'aujourd'hui sera un peu particulière dans le sens où elle concernera quasi exclusivement Jim Morrison. Si c'est une critique de Dire Straits que vous cherchez, je vous invite à passer votre chemin. J'ai en effet déniché grâce à de nombreuses recherches à la bibliothèque un certain nombre d'informations confidentielles que j'avais à cœur de partager avec vous. Première information et pas des moindres, Jim Morrison ne serait pas mort à vingt-sept ans comme certaines personnes peuvent le penser mais bien plus tard. Celui-ci aurait en effet simulé sa mort, ce qui lui aurait permis de mettre un terme à sa carrière musicale et d'exercer sa profession de cœur le reste de sa vie, à savoir ingénieur-son/électricien. Faisons maintenant un saut dans le temps et arrêtons-nous le 11 mars 1978. Il est quatorze heures quand Claude François remarque une anomalie dans son système électrique. Il appelle alors un spécialiste et, quelques minutes plus tard, on frappe à la porte. Claude François aperçoit derrière le judas un homme en salopette bleue, et arborant un crayon à papier derrière l'oreille (vous aurez reconnu Jim Morrison). Il lui ouvre. L'homme ramasse alors sa boite à outils et s'en va jeter un œil au circuit électrique. Il débranche alors des câbles, en sectionne quelques-uns, en branche quelques-autres et les emmêle globalement tous, provoquant un court-circuit généralisé dans l'appartement de Claude François, qui lui fait part de son énervement. "Pardon M'sieur François" s'écrie alors Jim Morrison avant de lui proposer un geste commercial. Claude François accepte et lui confie qu'il aurait bien besoin de changer une ampoule de sa salle de bain. Jim Morrison s'y empresse et la remplace par une ampoule de type hélicoïdale à moitié cassée qu'il trouve au fond de sa boîte à outil. "Ça f'ra l'affaire, j'pense…" dit-il en se grattant les fesses avant de se diriger vers la porte d'entrée. Le chanteur lui règle sa facture, les deux hommes se serrent la main et Jim Morrison commence à descendre les escaliers de l'immeuble. Une fois en bas des marches, il reçoit un appel : "Ah c'est vous M'sieur François…" dit-il dans son téléphone. "Comment-ça l'ampoule crépite pendant que vous êtes dans vot' bain ? C'est bizarre, vous avez essayé de l'attraper des deux mains ? Non ? Bah essayez voir." La suite de l'histoire sera relayée par toutes les chaînes d'information et plongera la France dans l'émoi le plus total.

The sound of summer '85 in my dad's new Renault 25 (the car that actually spoke to you, kinda like KITT!). Really used to love this - those cool animated guys in the Money For Nothing video, the hilarious sports accidents in the Walk of Life video, the video for the title track that was like the A-ha one but not really, and the generally agreeable other songs that played while I waited for the ones I liked to come back on. What a great summer! Discovered shortly afterwards this was actually Terrible Corporate Boring Wallpaper Music, realized I should hate it, and never listened to it again. Today, I still skew towards the latter but appreciate the craft, at least. Money For Nothing really sucks though, fucking Sting

Dire Straits are the biggest dad rock band going. This is the album that offers them sweet release on the drive home from work. After all those listens I'm sure it sounds world class. I get the popularity but don't back it. After money for nothing (nb: who knew they'd say faggots that much) and walk of life there's a lot of slow proggy rock, bit of lounge jazz, some ballad-y stuff and a bunch of tacky add ons in the tracks themselves. Ride across the river stood up, then I was pretty bored again. 3.5

fell off towards the end

This was my first Dire Straits album, although I obviously knew Money For Nothing, and Walk of Life (which I've always hated for its faux-rockabilly sound and chintzy organ) I understand it moved a lot of CD players in the mid 80s. But despite some interesting guitar work, I disliked most of it and are completely baffled to its **17x Platinum** status here in Australia. Why are the songs so goddamn long? Are the shorter vinyl album versions abridged, or were these unnaturally stretched out to demonstrate the amazing runtime of the CD? Why is the middle section so unbelievably boring? How can anyone feel *anything* from the overly sterile 80s production and insipid lyrics?

Dad rock, songs are too long

The intro to some of these songs is solid, but every song is over produced and about twice as long as it needs to be if it needs to exist at all. Lowlight: There were a lot of songs on this I disliked, but Why Worry being as bad as it is and as long as it is offends me.

some fun songs but wouldn’t really return to this i don’t think

A little too poppy to be considered rock, imo

It was really boring to me

Oh man I do not vibe with this sound at all. A word that popped in my head on the first song was "corny", and I think that describes this album well. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe a lot of this was meant to be tongue in cheek, but if that's the case at least give us some interesting song stucture. Like Money for Nothing has ABSOLITELY NO reason for being 8 minutes long. I love long jammy songs, but this song goes absolutely nowhere with the same repeating boring guitar riff front and center the whole time. We're also blessed with genius lyrics like "See the little faggot with the earring and the make-up? Yeah buddy, that's his own hair That little faggot got his own jet airplane That little faggot, he's a millionaire". I understand this song is from the perspective of some record exec, but its really just lazy writing man. There's also so many irritating sounds througout this album, the guitar tones are genuinely ear grating throughout. I actually looked this album up because in my mind it is remembered quite fondly culturally. I was rather surprised to find some quite scathing reviews on its initial release. I'm quotting one here because it sums up exactly how I felt better than I can really: "tritest would-be melodies in history, the last word in tranquilising chord changes, the most cloying lonesome playing and ultimate in transparently fake troubador sentiment ever to ooze out of a million-dollar recording studio". Just really not for me.

Some nice guitar here and there. Not a huge fan of the vocals. 1.5/5

Very dull, considerably worse than self-titled.

So I like smooth music, and I have a plenty of time for 80s/90s cheese, but really this album was too much. I'll run it through again tomorrow to make sure, but I cannot understand why this was so popular. Bland, bland, some unnecessary gay slurs, bland, bland, bland.

MY FAV BAND

Great casual smooth rock. Safe for family car ride. 5 Stars for smoothness . Almost has a reggae drumbeat in Ride Across the River

So good! Especially the bluesy stuff.

I've always been a big fan of Dire Straits. But this was the first album which didn't convice me. Too much pop, too little of sophisticated music making like on "Love Over Gold", etc. Listened of course quite a few times in the 80s but stopped quite quickly and went back to the earlier albums. Sometime, maybe 20 years later, for some reason I put the album on again and this time it convinced me more. Probably my taste changed and my expectations changed. Anyway, now I really love the album and think, that - like all other original Dire Straits album out there are certainly 5 stars albums!

A good album, not their best but good

Fantastic album, dated but still great There are no bad tracks, it all works together beautifully

Al time favorit

Heerlijk!

Favorite Dire Straits

Money for nothing is chef's kiss

I can imagine younger people dismissing this album as just more dad rock, but the four hits off this album, "So Far Away", "Money for Nothing", "Walk of Life", "and "Brothers in Arms" were very influential and appeared everywhere in American and British culture. "Money for Nothing" was super influential to me personally. I heard Sting's falsetto "I Want My MTV" in MTV commercials on television long before I heard the entire song proper. It is not an exaggeration to say that this song almost singlehandedly popularized MTV, particularly among the working class in the rural and suburb areas who only recently were given access to this new fangled thing called cable that was necessary in order to receive MTV. (In my age group there were only three channels that anybody cared about. MTV, HBO and CINEMAX (SKIN-A-MAX to those in the know)). I am always surprised by how many people misunderstand why Mark Knoplfer used the gay slur. If you listen carefully to the lyrics, it was a pro gay rights stance that mocked those that used the common slur at the time in a clever wordplay. While "Brothers in Arms" was about the futility of war after the short Falklands war had concluded between Argentina and Great Britain, it resonated with many in the United States, whose relatives had served in Vietnam and then witnessed the harsh cancel culture treatment those vets received when they returned home to the United States. It was also used to epic effect in the Season 2 finale of The West Wing, in the episode "Two Cathedrals" which I also found very moving. An album that is another example why much of the most well crafted music was made in the 1980s.

Damn well done rock record, holy cow there are no misses on this album at all. No filler. Knopfler is a genius on the guitar, and the rest of the band is great (I love the drumming). What a great record

A musical journey, the best of that decade.

wow. I am familiar with many songs on this album. I'm pretty sure I have the CD somewhere! But what a great listen ... Why Worry! So freakin' good! I don't know what I was expecting, but I am so glad this was on the list!

Its so good! Side A delivers to the maximum Side B get much slower and melancholic but still not out of touch! Side A 5* Side B 4* 4.5/5.0

10/10 absolute banger

strongly prefer making movies and love over gold, but hey, they're not on this list

That title track…. Wow…

That title track alone makes this album for me, although almost every single one on here has a lot to offer. Iconic for a very good reason.

Great album

Brothers in Arms earned a unique place in music history as the first album to sell a million copies on CD, marking the dawn of the digital music era. Fortunately, this milestone went to an album of real substance. Packed with tracks that feel deeply ingrained in my subconscious, Brothers in Arms reflects Dire Straits' commitment to songcraft, with every note polished and purposeful. Mark Knopfler, the band’s unassuming leader, brought an extraordinary touch to every track. Known for his unique fingerpicking style, Knopfler's playing is both technical and expressive, allowing each track to breathe and resonate. From the punchy riff of the satirical “Money for Nothing” to the haunting, almost cinematic elegance of the title track, the jazzy interplay of “Your Latest Trick,” and the reflective melancholy of “So Far Away,” his guitar work inevitably elevates each song. The meticulous production, achieved through countless hours of work in the studio, gives the album its enduring sound quality and feel. This dedication to the craft likely ensured the album’s longevity, challenging any notion I had of '80s music as disposable or gimmicky. Brothers in Arms remains a high-water mark in rock history—timeless, powerful, and a true testament to Knopfler's songwriting. Did/Do I own this release? My mother owned it on CD. Does this release belong on the list? Yes. Would this release make my personal list? Yes. Will I be listening to it again? Yes.

Although the album fizzles out a bit by the B side (not lyrically but musically), it includes enough great tracks to be a solid output. Side A is filled with classics: “So far away…”, “Money for nothing”, “Walk of life” and “Your latest trick”. I find “Why worry” criminally underrated. Yes, lyrics are somewhat simple and harmony is there somewhat predictable. However with a new arrangement you can make it look as exciting as it should. Overall, 9/10.