Dire Straits

Great compilation. Featuring a wide variaty of Dire Straits tours and a very good recording of the last concert of The Notting Hillbillies tour from 1990. All songs are taken from soundboard recordings, good to very good sound quality.

Dire Straits emerged during the post-punk era of the late '70s, and while their sound was minimalistic and stripped down, they owed little to punk. If anything, the band was a direct outgrowth of the roots revivalism of pub rock, but where pub rock celebrated good times, Dire Straits were melancholy. Led by guitarist/vocalist Mark Knopfler, the group built their sound upon the laid-back blues-rock of J.J. Cale, but they also had jazz and country inflections, occasionally dipping into the epic song structures of progressive rock. The band's music was offset by Knopfler's lyrics, which approximated the winding, stream-of-conscious narratives of Bob Dylan…

Dire Straits' minimalist interpretation of pub rock had already crystallized by the time they released their eponymous debut. Driven by Mark Knopfler's spare, tasteful guitar lines and his husky warbling, the album is a set of bluesy rockers…

Dire Straits emerged during the post-punk era of the late '70s, and while their sound was minimalistic and stripped down, they owed little to punk. If anything, the band was a direct outgrowth of the roots revivalism of pub rock, but where pub rock celebrated good times, Dire Straits were melancholy…

This 22-cut double-disc set finally gets at it. Issuing a single disc of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler would be a silly thing at best and a hopelessly frustrating one at worst. When the band burst on the scene with "Sultans of Swing," there was a lot happening in rock music, but most of it was under the radar and remains forgotten except in the historic annals of music fanatics…

Dire Straits perform their brand of British pub rock from the double-album Alchemy: Dire Straits Live. The live show features 11 songs from the group's four previous albums, Dire Straits, Communique, Making Movies, and Love Over Gold. The band that would eventually go on to become MTV darlings with their smash hit "Money for Nothing" showcase all of their early favorites, including "Sultans of Swing," "Tunnel of Love," "Once Upon a Time in the West," and many more. Mark Knopfler leads the band on the 11 songs featured in this concert performance, all of which are also included on the live album by the same name.