Dire Straits

Martyrs of Swing. This album feels so circular, slowly meandering through the songs and never getting to the point. It's as if Bob Dylan's 70's backing band got a free weekend in the studio and they just "jammed it out". Talented group, but they need some direction (which is hilarious, considering they're one of the best selling bands of their time). The music of Dire Straits just does not translate well, and has all of the hallmarks of guitar-driven dad rock that has become the butt of so many jokes. Fav Track: Wild West End

I have always loved Sultans of Swing but this was the first time I'd really thought about why. Dire Straits has a way of making the guitar interact with the vocals that is really unique.

Nothing gets me in the mood for a corporate day at Twickenham like the Sultans of Swing (Low Sweet Chariot). Essential listening while getting ready for the game. Boot cut jeans, loafers, TM Lewin checked shirt (button cuff, it is the weekend), corporate branded fleece (its XL but doesn't fit too badly and I didn't declare it to Compliance and their gift register!). Then off to the game with the "lads" from work. They leave after the game but I stick around with some new mates I met in the Orange Tree. 20 pints (I'm paying)of the black stuff later. Wake up on my sofa in the middle of the night covered in take away to the crushing realisation the wife has left, taken the kids and I live in a flat about a pub. Will have to watch Top Gear reruns on Dave to lift the spirits!

Shit slaps

The album that our Amsterdam Air BnB host left in his record player

Driven by Mark Knopfler's spare, tasteful guitar lines and his husky warbling, the album is a set of bluesy rockers. Knopfler also shows an inclination toward Dylanesque imagery, which enhances the smoky, low-key atmosphere of the album. While a few of the songs fall flat, the album is remarkably accomplished for a debut, and Dire Straits had difficulty surpassing it throughout their career.

Wow. Silky smooth riffs and bitchin' solos abound. Can't believe this is a debut album. I think In The Gallery may be the weakest effort here, but every other track is gold. Sexy, groovy mix of sparse rock and roll mixed with country, folk, and blues. My knowledge of Dire Straits was Money for Nothing. This is at least 500x better than that.

Pretty drunk while listening but I think this is a favorite. Sultans of swing but 1hr long

Sultans of Swing was the best song, they should have written some more like that! Three stars, which means it’s better than American Idiot and Dark Side of the Moon.

Melodically muted, rhythmically stunted. They’re a guitar band, I get it. But then why aren’t the guitars more interesting?

Sehr gut. Schöne Songs.

Stellar debut album. I am an old.

THIS ALBUM HAS GROOVE FOR DAYS

One of the best debut albums, the best guitar solo ever (though I prefer the live Alchemy version), and a great album that's always been there for me

Great first album to start 1001.

Sultans of Swing is fantastic and the rest are good.

GOAT

Love Mark knopfler

What if "Country", but actually good. Update: Ok, I've had this album on repeat for about 10 times...

Serenely shredding Guitar guides you through the blues With effortless cool

Sometimes it's hard to believe how good a debut album can be. Absolute classic, a great listen almost any time.

Honestly I dig this a lot more than I anticipated. Some really fantastic guitar playing and the vocals are catchy and bluesy. I'd definitely listen again.

Knopf let is a smashing guitar player, but this slick mid-tempo rock just didn’t touch my soul.

A bit bland, but okay.

Clean, like the genre Would listen to it outside of this

Brilliant.

It one of the best albums with an acoustic guitar that I listened to with a very captivating voice.

Sehr bueno, chillig

Great first album. Torn between 4 and 5. Going to add this to my library even though I'm giving it 4.

This a really solid LP. The variety of soft rock, folk, and country - while keeping the atmosphere as tight as it is - is very impressive. I’m also addicted to a lot of the guitar licks and riffs throughout. These guys seemed to have everything figured out for a debut album.

not an instant favorite or anything but honestly for being such a staple of "dad rock", there is something that is Still rly refreshing and bold about this band...sultans of swing is a funny anecdote made into something resembling a statement of meta-defiance in the face of what the expected face of rock music Was and Is. honestly this could prob come out near-unaltered today and get a fantano 7/10 or something. slick and quiet but also incredibly direct, its all in the licks. very cozy music tbh...instantly digestible in its musical information and just in general dedicated to not Overwhelming u. the solos especially are hugely likable. if u turn up the Complexity and Snark sliders i think thats how u get steely dan...also a great band, but a different itch then this, and tbh one i might be in the mood for slightly less often

This feels awfully modern and well-produced, I was surprised to find it's their debut album.

melow tunes. nice vocals. didn't really listen closely to lyrics some upbeat twangy beats. clean sound. i liked this album; mostly the melow low pace tracks.

Fantastic guitar solos!!!

Oh god, Dire Straits platen. Daar had ik mij nog niet helemaal op ingesteld. Maar daar komen er ook nog heel wat van langs de komende tijd natuurlijk. Tja en wat moet je er dan van vinden. Wat mij opvalt is dat dit debuutalbum nog niet zo sophisticated klinkt. Het klinkt nog wat rootsier, wat meer Americana en is wat swingerder en aanstekelijker (southbound again) dan die lange uitgesponnen gitaarplaten die zouden volgen. De sound is herkenbaar Dire Straits, maar nog zonder het pretentieuze gedoe. En Sultans of Swing is natuurlijk een banger. 7/10 Highlights Southbound Again Sultans of Swing

Just regular standard period music...

It's just middle of the road music? I understand this is good guitar work, it just seems competent? like he's so good he doesn't have to try? It's just so boring background music to me.

Swingin'.

I’d heard this before, but this time round only Waterline, Water of Love and Sultans were familiar, which makes sense as they’re the keepers. The rest washes past comfortably: they were a tight little band at this stage, and I have a thing for Knopfler’s voice, which makes me a common sort of fetishist. Dylan looms in several of the tracks, no bad thing in itself, but not flattering to the band either. Knopfler had not yet embraced his brown tone nor that flavour of Nordic fatalism I sniff out in BIA. I’ll mention once more that as a kid he shared an office with Basil Bunting - isn’t that something?

I really enjoy Mark Knopfler's guitar playing, and even more so his production talents (Aztec Camera's "Knife" is so great). Another reviewer astutely describes this record as if Dylan's '70s backing band made a solo album (see "Slow Train Coming" and "Infidels" for the nexus of these two ideas, both really good if advanced-level Bob). Oddly sedate for a debut album, this passes the time pleasantly. Obviously, "Sultans" is welcome anytime, the rest are a bit indistinguishable from each other.

Music that seems to have been made for middle-aged dads with boring, corporate jobs to have a beer and say "they don't make 'em like they used to anymore" to. Despite it being utterly uninventive and frankly kind of dull, they pull it off pretty well I suppose. Down to the Waterline and Sultans of Swing are the real saving graces here.

Excellent album

Already knew and enjoyed "Sultans of Swing." Loved listening to the whole album. My kind of classic rock Summer jam.

Amazing debut album with rock heavily influenced by blues.

Hi- Down to the Waterline, Water of Love, Sultans of Swing What I like most about Dire Straits is that it's like Bob Dylan, but good. All kidding aside, the smooth, effortless vocals and masterful guitar plucking of Mark Knopfler, is precise and old-school, which lends to the classic timelessness of Dire Straits.

discon con willy de reves

Fantastic album, one of their best.

Loved it. I don’t understand why they weren’t so widely regarded in the US from this album. Excellent.

One of my favorite debut albums. Great tracks all the way through. And, of course, Sultans. Amazing. Knopfler is an animal.

Wonderful guitar!

The Dire Straits are the right amount of smooth and cool. Not too smooth, not too cool. They are situated in the 80's, for sure, but their music has a timeless quality to it that makes it feel fresh. I also love how they don't play on any southern rock or 80's pop "troupes," but rather have a sound in and of themselves.

nice and bluesy

So good - really fun album

This debut album is awesome!

One of my top #5 albums

nivélazo. a real rythem guitar!

Ótimo, perfeito, maravilhoso

Awesome!

Every song just slaps

Upbeat album for a down day.

Un clásico con temas muy británicos

I think we all agree that Dire Straits' music is basically magic, so I won't try to come up with a new way to describe it.

Very pleasant classic, soft rock. Wikipedia calls it blues rock or pub rock. Enjoyable album.

One of the best albums ever.

I have never tired of Sultans of Swing, it’s a perfect song with one of the best guitar solos of all time and Knopfler’s vocals maybe don’t get enough credit on that song. But this whole album is pretty damn fine, too. The buzzing dobro on the moody Water of Love and pretty much all of the guitar picking on every other song is great.

Great!!!

Very nice tunes, with a lot of roles that sound like jazz (to me)

Didn't even need to listen

Excellent…one of there best

Dire fucking Straits man

Knopfler's finger pickin is one of the sweetest tones I've ever heard. While not my favorite Dire Straits album it does have Setting me up and Sultans of Swing the latter having perhaps the greatest the solo of all time. Though I prefer the solo on the live version on Alchemy, just insane.

Totally unique, changed music forever.

Amazing classic rock album

Class album

pretty cool

I always read people banging on about Dire Straits and how amazing they actually are but I'm only really familiar with them through the later stuff that has been played to death. (Except for The Sultans of Swing off this album, which I did rate but assumed was just an anomaly.) I ignorantly thought I was familiar enough with them and just didn't get it the same way as all those people who banged on about them... but this album has proven me utterly completely wrong. This is astonishingly good. Might pop off and buy this now.

Magic one!

OH yea!

Every track is a good one. Even better than I remembered.

solid af for a debut album definitely gave off heavy Bob Dylan vibes but with a lot of fast guitar picking which sounded really cool I think i’ll give this album a 9/10 but my favorite album of theirs is still Brothers In Arms

Ridiculously easy one for me to review as it's one of my favorites. Still listen to it quite frequently. In the midst of an era of music history, they recorded and released this beauty which should've been a total flop based upon what was popular at the time -- and even based on what was considered unconventional or rebellious at the time -- yet it endures as one of the finest works in the broad rock genre. All that aside, I just love listening to it. Mark Knopfler's melodic and intricate guitar playing never fails to fill me up, and it's important to acknowledge just how darn excellent the rest of the band is, too. Genius stuff. Love it.

Top tier

A great album.

A great album.

Terrific

Just a trumpet playing band. Love this album. Good guitar and vocal blending. Not a bad song on it, plus Sultans of Swing. 5

Beautiful, clean, classic Knopfler playing. Songs grove. Some great, classic DS tunes including Sultans.

Loved it!

This is not "Making Movies" which is one of the best albums ever made (and presumably included on the list as well) but still easily 5 star of course (just like Love Over Gold and Brothers in Arms).

Love the grooviness.

Didn’t realize these guys sang Sultans of Swing which I’ve definitely heard before.

as first albums go, this is fucking ace. As first singles go (is this right? to lazy to check) Sultans of Swing is neither the best, not the most radio-friendly cut. Embarrassment of riches. When I first heard this (retro-tracking the back catalogue in the wake of Brothers in Arms) I used to imagine the ideal listener of the time. Its late. Co-habitants have buggered off to sleep. Outside, the silence lays thick. Indoors, single lamp by most comfortable armchair. Brushing off the vinyl, pouring out a subtle malt (generous serving), and settling down for 40 minutes of me, myself and I. Subtle malt and vinyl aside (I lack the resources for one, the temperamental inclinations for the other), I did this last night. God, it felt good.

Excellent.

Now that's a debut album

Classic. Incredible, unique guitar.

Absolutely sublime, up my street and an all time classic

This is my favourite album. I have all the collection of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler and his collaborations with anothers artists. The best.

Incredible. Knopfler is Legend. This album is an awesome, understated journey with some absolutely beautiful songs sprinkled through. Can hear Dylan infl. Favourite gat (it's all 10/10) - In The Gallery. Wild West End is super beautiful

Loved this album. Probably more then brothers in arms.

great album. nice vibe through and through.