Few groups can claim to be synonymous with a lifestyle,
but Dire Straits are an exception, whether they like
it or not. Brothers In Arms, released in 1985, established
them as the first real darlings of the compact disc
20-something generation that grew out of the boom
years of the 80s. Their accessible, traditional blues-based
music made them perfect for the massive, mature, relatively
wealthy strata of the public that likes its music
tightly performed and readily digestible. The album
was number 1 in the US charts for nine weeks and spent
three years in the UK chart.
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Dire
Straits
Live : Alchemy Tablature Book
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£9.95
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Surprisingly,
Dire Straits first surfaced during a period that was
the antipathy of what they were to become - the London
punk scene of 1976/7. Mark Knopfler (b. 12 August
1949, Glasgow, Scotland) and his brother David Knopfler
(b. 27 December 1952, Glasgow, Scotland) were the
sons of an architect who moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
England, when the boys were young. Mark Knopfler studied
English literature at Leeds University, and for a
short while worked as a junior reporter with the Yorkshire
Evening Post and with an Essex local newspaper. After
university he played in a part-time pub band called
Brewer's Droop but his main income was drawn from
teaching. The Knopflers moved to London during the
early 70s and Mark met bass player John Illsley (b.
24 June 1949, Leicester, England) and drummer Pick
Withers. Illsley, a sociology graduate, was working
in a record shop and Withers had been a session drummer
for many years. The climate was not right for the
group as punk took a grip on music and almost every
UK record label passed on the offer to press up Dire
Straits' polished music.
One
song began to stand out from their repertoire, a basic
blues progression with dry, affectionate lyrics, called
"Sultans Of Swing". It was picked up by
Radio London DJ and Oval Records proprietor, Charlie
Gillett, and by the end of 1977 the group were recording
their debut, Dire Straits, for Vertigo Records with
producer Muff Winwood. "Sultans Of Swing"
was a hit first in Holland and later made the UK Top
10. The powerful Warner Brothers Records took over
distribution in the USA and aggressively backed the
album until in March 1979 it had reached number 2
in the Billboard chart. Their second single, "Lady
Writer", was a relative failure but it did not
impair their attraction as an "albums band".
Communique, produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett,
sold three million copies worldwide. It missed the
commercial edge of the debut but developed Knopfler's
trademark incisive, cynical lyricism.
