dire straits - brothers in arms - bangor, maine 1985

perhaps my earliest musical memory is of hearing dire straits on the radio. brothers in arms was released in 1985, so i would have been four years old. it was probably "walk of life," although it could have been one of the other singles, "money for nothing" or "so far away." being four, i wouldn't have been around for the very grown-up act of going out and buying the record, but it must have been in our house almost immediately. i remember when i was older pulling the record out and staring at the national guitar on the cover. when i was in middle school, i would play it over and over again instead of doing my homework. it had to be listened to the whole way through, of course. the first side, with the singles, was just as important as the second side. the first three bands were just good rock and roll, at least the way i had been brought up to identify it. "your latest trick" and "why worry" are nostalgic eighties ballads that always remind me of sappy movies like "st. elmo's fire" or "desperately seeking susan." the songs on the second side were political commentaries of the conflicts in central america at the time, but i had a whole science fiction story in my mind that fit perfectly with the gritty imagery of struggle ("the man's too strong") and war ("brothers in arms.")

the album version is not embeddable, so here is a live video of "so far away" from wembley arena, 1985.


even if your opinion of dire straits is soured by their 1980s arena rock stigma, you can't deny that mark knopfler is one of rock's greatest guitarists. if you don't believe me, then you need to listen to his 1990 collaboration with chet atkins, neck and neck.