Brothers In Arms

Boring homophobic 80s Rock.

The worst of boomer rock.

booooring

already listened to it a thousand times!

Meh.

Thought I would really enjoy it cause of Money for nothing and Walk of life, but honestly the album wasn’t interesting. It’s too slow, the lyrics are wacky. I struggled to finish the album

I remember liking this album back in the day. What was I thinking? So middling throughout.

I lived through the 'Brothers in Arms' era in Australia, where it was even more inexplicably popular than the rest of the world. It went 17 times platinum here, was number one on the ARIA charts for 34 weeks, and they played a run of 20 nights at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to finish off their year-long world tour. I estimate that about 5% of the total Australian population bought a copy of this album, and nearly as many (900,000) tickets were sold to see this tour. 'Brothers in Arms' was played so much that I know the album by heart, even though I have never owned a copy. And I never need to hear that album again in my life, thank you very much. But, for the purposes of this project, I did play it though today. I didn't like it then, and still I don't like it now, possibly even more so. Let's discuss why. While Mark Knopfler's mumbly vocals and tasteful guitar playing provide a modicum of character to this album, it is otherwise airbrushed, buffed and polished with everything that a high budget 1980s production entailed; click tracks, digital recording, synthesizers, and session musicians (including scrubbing the rhythm section tracks and replacing them with 'more professional' players). Steve Albini passed away yesterday, and I am reminded of a thing he said to the effect of 'anyone with enough time and money can make a record that sounds OK to a commercial standard. But it won't sound like a proper rock band," and that is so true here. This is a Frankenstein monster of parts bolted together to sound great on a CD player. And man, didn't everyone who bought a CD player in the mid 80s immediately buy a copy of Brother in Arms, and then evangelize to everyone within earshot about "how great it sounds". But it is an album with no fucking soul. And it has not aged well. In a scathing review for NME, Mat Snow criticised Knopfler's "mawkish self-pity, his lugubriously mannered appropriation of rockin' Americana, his thumpingly crass attempts at wit". He also accused the album of the "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". Well, I heartily concur, Mr Snow. The song that particularly gets my goat is the supposed 'satire' of rock musicians, Money for Nothing, that is the worst kind of hypocritical self-aggrandizing humble-brag commercial cash-in, sell-out, ubiquitous, stodgy faux-rock ever, which actually reveals Knopfler's contempt for his own audience. With fucking Sting on it. There's a reason that MTV loved it (beyond the pandering name drop); it is fake rebellion, designed to sell advertising. The more I listen to this album and read about it and stew on it, the more I realise how much I hate this album and all the MOR, commercialized, anodyne, 80s pseudo-rock it stands for. Now, I'm going to loudly play something engineered by Steve Albini to clear my ears out...

Is it better than Hotel California? Yes. Is it as good as Green Onions? No. Will I ever listen to it again? Not deliberately.

I just have never liked Dire Straits. Don’t like the vocals, don’t like the jangly ass guitar, don’t like the lyrics. I actually didn’t hate Money for Nothing as much as I did when they showed the video ad nauseum on MTV.

-fühl i gar nöd!

Impressive how awful you can make guitars sound

I feel like this is Dire Straits trying to be experimental, but they appear to have no idea what to do outside of soft guitar rock. The pan pipes, the funk bass, the organ, there isnt anything they can turn their particular flavour of bland to. The vocals are just about okay in soft rock but they sound completely out of place on most of this. Money for nothing is the most soft rock and so the best song, but even then the long intro is uncalled for. Really didn't like this, a proper stinker.

After listening to this album I think I'm in dire straits!

Homophobia

i get this feeling im gonna hate this so far away- 3 or 4 money for nothing- enough. the little what. 2 walk of life- 5 your latest trick- 3 or 4 why worry- 1 im not doing this anymore

Mai sopportati

Blah

Ugh no

11/12/2023 Nunca creí que pudiera pasarla tan mal escuchando un álbum, principalmente cuando viene de una lista con el objetivo de compilar los 1001 albums que debes de escuchar antes de morir. Puedes morir sin escuchar esto, no hay pedo. Probablemente este álbum es el mejor ejemplo de los peores clichés por los que pasarían varias bandas en la década de los 80s cuando yo creo que este tipo de "rock" o rock an roll o lo que sea llegó a su fecha de caducidad. Esta bueno para tomar vino en un yate después de un largo dia de golf.... se que este señor es un guitarrista interesante y está banda tiene buena música y mejores albumes. El plan es elegir una canción de cada álbum que recomienden en una playlist y siendo honesto está es la primera prueba. Dios le da sus batallas más difíciles a sus mejores guerreros.

Boomer core Will I listen to again: 0%

Inte bra. Osköna låter förutom Money for Nothing som är lite halvskön ibland

Not my cup of tea.

Mikä ekaa biisiä vaivaa?? Ja muutenkin onpas aika erikoinen levy, ekaa biisiä lukuunottamatta en osaa päättää, laahaako liikaa. Ymmärrän, miten voi olla vaikuttava kuuntelukokemus.

Need to go back cuz didn’t finish it

i really dislike the sound of this record and i dislike mark knopfler’s voice but money for nothing is pretty good so 1 🌟

So overdone I have an instant revulsion. The very definition of competently dull and plodding

Luister ik liever niet

Nee, nee en nog eens nee! Maakt me niet uit hoe goed door iedereen gevonden wordt; Kutband, kutplaat, kutmuziek! Next!

Ruk. Behalve de intro van I want my mtv

One star for the "Money for Nothing" intro. The rest is insipid, cringeworthy music for 80s dads to listen to in their Ford Cortinas. Not sure why a band from Newcastle are trying to sound like they're from Nevada too.

Nope

NOOOOOOOPE.. awful.. How is this on the list. JFC

Great!

I couldnt get away with it

Money for Nothing is great, but it's eight minutes long for some reason, and nothing else is particularly memorable aside from "Walk of Life", which I never super liked.

Shit

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