"the Ship of Dreams"

David Knopfler formed Dire Straits in 1977 with his brother Mark Knopfler and quit the band in 1980, shortly after the band finished recording the album Making Movies and five years before Brothers in Arms became a surprise international smash that made them one of the biggest musical success stories of the decade. It's tempting to say David Knopfler didn't make an especially good career decision by leaving Dire Straits, but a cursory look at his solo work makes it clear he wouldn't have been a good fit for what the band became. David Knopfler's songwriting style is more lushly romantic than that of his big brother, he's more interested in slick pop production, and there's a heart-on-the-sleeve quality to his tunes that's a bit too intimate to play well in big arenas. While David Knopfler released ten solo albums between 1983 and 2006, many were on small labels that either didn't have strong distribution in North America or didn't appear in the United States at all, so The Anthology: 1983-2008 offers a concise but well-chosen overview of his music, including a number of songs that may not be familiar to U.S. fans.