Trade Off (1995)

Born and raised in Toronto, Garnett Ford formed his first band, Pinball, during the mid '70s. They played the local area circuit, venturing occasionally out west and into the US, when Frederick Starchuck took an interest. He signed Ford to a management deal, and within a year a contract with Warner Brothers. They wanted him as a solo act, so Pinball folded and Ford went into Phase One Studios with Ian Thomas and Gary Muth. UNDER THE INFLUENCE was released in February, 1978. A slick blend of pop and adult rock, it was all originals, mostly written by Ford with Doug Templeton, sent in for the job by Starchuck.

Exactly ten years after Dire Straits' first compilation, Money for Nothing, appeared in the stores, their second, Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, was released. A decade is a significant span of time, and the average band would have produced enough material for an entirely different collection, one that shared no similarities with its predecessor. Dire Straits is not the average band, however, and during those ten years, they released exactly two albums – 1991's On Every Street, their first studio album since Brothers in Arms in 1985, and 1993's On the Night, a live album culled from tapes of the record's supporting tour. Not quite enough new material for a new greatest-hits album, but it had been years since Dire Straits had released an album of any sort (a compilation of BBC sessions snuck into the stores in 1995) – hence the birth of Sultans of Swing.