Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
1985
Album Summary
Brothers in Arms is the fifth studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 17 May 1985 through Vertigo Records internationally and through Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It spent a total of 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart (including ten consecutive weeks between 18 January and 22 March 1986), nine weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 in the United States and 34 weeks at number one on the Australian Albums Chart. Brothers in Arms was the first album certified ten-times platinum in the UK and is the eighth-best-selling album in UK chart history. It is certified nine-times platinum in the United States and is one of the world's best-selling albums, having sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.The album won a Grammy Award in 1986 for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards; the 20th Anniversary Edition won another Grammy in 2006 for Best Surround Sound Album. Q magazine placed the album at number 51 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It was also among 10 albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, ultimately losing to (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis.
WikipediaThis 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.
unbelievably strong start, but it kinda lost me in the second half. i still loved this album, though.
What a masterpiece, genius guitar work, never in your face but always present, great atmosphere
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"
Good album! But man why did he have to use the f*g slur >:( not cool, dude. Ugh 4 stars.
Great album that brings back memories of listening to it when I was a little kid.
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.
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.
Yeeees! My favorite guitarist. If I could sell my soul to play like anyone I would chose Knopfler.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Great album, the simplistic music and the beautiful lyrics just transported me back in time. Much needed to forget 2020. :-p
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.
Fantastic album. One of my all time favorite and with a lot of childhood memories.
Great album, I liked this much better than the first album. Really liked the incorporation of other instruments
Creo que era el único (?) que no conocía nada a Dire Straits, a juzgar por la cantidad de reproducciones que tienen en Spotify. O eso creo. Igual, me gustó mucho, disfruté el eclecticismo: hay ondas medio punk, country, medio instrumentales, tirándole a jazz de pronto, y claro, rock. Sus canciones largas están como muy bien organizadas, aunque de pronto me hubiera gustado que un par duraran menos. Igual, sin skips, a gusto todo, no puse mucha atención a las letras. Mi fav: "Money for Nothing". Un final un tanto melancólico con la canción titular, pero igual, creo que me queda. 9.5/10
Some great DS hits on this one like Money for Nothing, Walk of Life, and So Far Away. Knofler just killing it everywhere. A few more mellow/clean tunes too.
Els Dire Straits, en general, ni fu ni fa. Però aquest disc és or, de dalt a abaix. Gairebé perfecte, ple de temes inoblidables, amb una extenuant "Walk of life" que esdevé la pitjor cançó del disc, per esgotament de tant escoltar-la durant tants anys a festes majors i bars. "Your latest trick" i "Brothers in arms" són les meves preferides, immortals. Encara avui, casi 40 anys després, segueix sonant actual i empatic, aclaparador.
A delicious 80s pop record. Every song is a delight. One of best pop records in the 80s.
Dá uma leve caída entre Why Worry e Ride Across the River, mas de resto é só música muito boa
Absolute BANDGER always was going to be a 5* from me. Love Dire Straits but possibly never an album start to finish, but this did not disappoint
So excited this was one of my favorite albums in high school. Probably haven’t listened to the album from beginning to end in over 20 years. The opening to “Money For Nothing” still gives me chills. “Walk of Life” makes everything seem better. But it is the rest of the album that I’m glad to hear again. “You’re Latest Trick.“ “The Man’s Too Strong” should be heard in the context of the album. And how the hell have I made it through the last 5 years without listening to “Why Worry?” “Brothers In Arms” - a perfect closing. Just sat in silence for a while after it ended. This reminds me why I have to get back to listening to albums again.
This took me back to my college days, as it was one of the very first albums I had on DVD, and I would listen to it over and over again,
5/5 quoi dire de plus. A écouter peut importe vos goûts en musique. Un cclassique
I loved this album when I first hear it in the 80’s and still love it now. The clarity of the guitar in so far away, the sax in your latest trick and Knopflers gravelly vocals throughout. Ride the river, man’s too strong and one world don’t seem to really fit in the album, they’re good tracks but seem to be a bit of an afterthought. Definitely one of my all time top 30 albums
Easily in my Top 10 bands of all time and has a shit load of huge classics at the top but does lose a bit of its momentum at the back end. Five stars anyway for THE greatest intro of all time on Money For Nothing. Who comes up with that shit. Also never knew that it was Sting singing it.
This is my 'first' album. Does that factor into the score , probably, do I care, not really.
Classic in ever sense. No filler in this album. Mark Knopfler does his thing on guitar. The only weakness would be his singing.
This album is soooooo good. I enjoyed every single song on here except one, which is Money For Nothing, but I've never liked that song that much. But it's a classic, and it won't take my score down from less than a five. Highlights: So Far Away, Walk Of Life, Your Latest Trick, Why Worry?
I wore this album out on my turntable freshman year of college. Such a great album. The thing I think is most interesting about this album is that every track is completely unique, and yet the whole album is cohesive. Money for Nothing and Walk of Life were the big hits, and they're great songs, but for me it's the closing title track that is the all-time classic. The silky smooth guitar and the heartbreaking lyrics get me every time. 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5.
Absolutely awesome! One or two songs sound so 80s they border on pastiche, but still enjoyable. Title track, walk of life, latest trick, so far away, and of course, money for nothing are all-timers. What an album.
A perfect album. Mixed perfectly, too. The synth has even aged well. Impressive. Truly a work of art.
One of my most favourite albums of all time, and it still sounds brilliant all these years later.
I love this album and spent some happy teenage hours working out the sax part of Latest Trick and playing along. My least favorite song is Money for Nothing, mostly I think from overexposure and a terrible video; otherwise this album is perfect. In fact, I'm going to listen again right now.
Of its time but one of the best of its time. Pop rock with a mastery over both parts of the genre
Despite the album dropping off in the second half, there isn't anything wrong with this. All except The Man's Two Strong and One World are fantastic and even the mentioned lesser tracks are decent. Money for Nothing was the one I knew before but really came away liking So Far Away and Your Latest Trick. A classic album
Time to get back in this horse ... Dire Straits are a phenomenal band that I definitely didn't appreciate enough when younger. Everyone appreciates they are a bunch of incredible musicians, but Mark Knopfler's deep voice really elevates the entire thing. Without the vocals and story telling, I suspect the album might not hold my attention like it does. Brother in Arms is my favourite
I'm slightly biased on this one because most of the album features in one of my favourite live recordings of all time (Live in Sydney 1986) and I do think a few of the slower songs work better in a live context. That said I do still love this album and it has at least 4 of my fave Dire Straits tracks on it. The artwork is iconic too.
03/08/2022 Great album. So many childhood memories flashed back of driving around with my dad with the windows down and the warm summer sun. Nice to remember the good times.
"Brothers in Arms" is a very definitive pop rock album from the eights, with a collection of hit compositions, molded by Mark Knopfler's guitar. You can't talk about the mid eighties without citing "So Far Away", "Money for Nothing", "Walk of Life" and "Your Latest Trick", the first four tracks on this records - quite an opener. Lirically, songs tackle themes like the perception of the working class and the stupidity of militarism, but there are also love songs - written in a very iconic Dire Straits way, full of metaphors. It's a very complex album, almost minimalistic in the amount of details that you can find while listening to it, and it never gets old (except when the lyrics cite MTV as a music television or uses the world 'faggot', two things that got very and poorly old).
Várias músicas que eu já conhecia e não sabia o nome Todas sensacionais. 5/5
A really easy-listening classic. Knoplfler- with his barnstormer yet calming guitar licks really make it. They don’t try to overdo it or complicate things
Ooh I liked the other dire straits album… The album opens with the song so far away a rip roaring bass line that suddenly gets overshadowed by the poppy guitars and singing. While I wouldn’t call this band a “ proper pop” group this is much poppier than I’ve had before. It’s good though decent lyrics and well produced. Following this is the song money for nothing it starts slowly with the repetition of “ I want my mtv” for just over a minute, it slowly feeds into an electronic rock sound by what I think it seems to be a song about tv consumerism it’s good though just the intro was a little unnecessary. Walk of life ( like sultans of swing on the self titled) is a song that I only recognised by the synth bit, it’s a good enough song though pretty much an old style rock and roll song with a synth line layered over it. Good song! The first minute of Your latest trick (like the spotify image) is slow and gloomy then after that minute it forms into a slower “ jazzier” track with the saxophone throughout. It’s a good song but the saxophone isn’t one of my favourite instruments but it’s the key instrument to the song and without it the song would feel empty. Why worry, kinda sounds hopeful in a way like all of the gloominess of your latest trick is gone. It would seen like an afterthought of that song but it’s 8 minutes long, a time stamp when executed well is awesome and while it’s good it just feels like a 5 minuter, it’s still beautiful and a brilliant sonic though. Side two starts with ride across the river and it’s tribal drumming and flute work. The lyrics aren’t my favourite but this is still a great song just primarily for the fact that it shows verity of the sounds portrayed in this album and how different it is to the previous 5. The man’s too strong follows on well from the last track it’s much folkier than the others, Until it explodes in the chorus this would have easily been my least favourite but as it progresses the song shows a true epic-ness that the other songs don’t portray as strongly! One world almost feels like disco blues quite cool to be fair, it’s the most similar to the poppieness of the first three songs but still has a cool enough groove to make it special. Also the spotify artwork is really awesome and fitting to these songs. The album closes off with the title track it’s sorta a blend of the thunderous sounds of the man’s too strong and the gloominess of your latest trick. It turns into this slow emotional closer apparently an anti war song sung by a solider it’s a really good song! I recommend going through spotify on the initial listen for this as for the most part it shows the story each song tells and for every song it has a short clip for it. Wow two 5’s in two days ( the other one was Screamidelica) that’s cool!
I’ve been a DS fan since I was a child (“I want my MTV…” guitar riff…. Video. I mean, Money for Nothing is probably an actual neural pathway.) Lovely album. Hits, a little mellow here and there, and tat beautiful voice and super clean/mellow guitar sound (not a fuzz pedal in sight!) Love Making Movies more, but this is easily a 4.5 album. Rounding up ‘cause I can!