Dire Straits

Mega-selling 80s legends who rose from the pub circuit in the North East of England, developed a successful narrative sound in the early 80s, until they reached their zenith with "Brothers in Arms", after which point Mark Knopfler decided to do his own thing full-time instead. Here are just a few of their best moments:

Sultans of Swing

Private Investigations

Money For Nothing

Brothers In Arms

Calling Elvis

:headband

Mark Knopfler: A Life in Songs
Soft-spoken Geordie who led Dire Straits to multi-million-selling glory, at which point he realised there was nowhere else for the band to go, and so knocked it on the head, and seems as happy now touring on his own merits as he ever was at his peak.

Later Presents: Mark Knopfler in Concert
In relation with the above, a mid-1990's (I think) solo concert which did include a few prime DS numbers, and was well worth catching anyway.

Guitar Stories: Mark Knopfler
Not sure if this will be a full series, but former Dire Straits member John Illsley traces Knopfler's musical journey through 6 guitars the man has owned. This entailed taking Mark to various locations and explaining how the varying guitars produced different results. A charming and quirky show.

Mark Knopfler plays Avo Session
A concert from Basel, in 2007, chiefly cross-promoting his 'Kill to Get Crimson' LP, though he did slip in some Dire Straits numbers as well. A typical enjoyable show.

Mark Lawson Talks To... Mark Knopfler
As you'd expect from the usual format. Some of Lawson's questions seem a bit thick, but the answers tend to be enlightening. Knopfler credits his 3 year spell as a teacher with turning his life around by giving him the money and the base to sort out his musical directions, after which he got Dire Straits together. He also seems at peace with where his music has taken him.

Discovering: Dire Straits
How an English teacher from the NE combined his literate Britishness with a love for the American blues, combined with a stripped back sound, and embracing MTV, and the advent of the CD revolution. Though they never could top 'Brothers in Arms', they didn't really need to, and it gave a good excuse to knock the band on the head, so Knopfler could do his own thing.

Brothers In Arms
Jolly 2005 hour on the bands which have partly comprised brothers, and the varying ways this has been a good or a bad thing. So they covered the Everly Brothers, the Kinks, Dire Straits, Spandau Ballet, Bros, Sparks, UB40 and Oasis. What was interesting was when the talking heads talked about other acts (eg Matt Goss on Oasis). But a fun look all the same.

aLCHEMY
Dire Straits live at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1983, for an hour and a half. Since they made good use of the guitar-derived extended jam sessions, they could get through less numbers in a longer running time. There were plenty of hit moments, but also happily less familiar (to me, anyway) numbers which sounded just as good. From opener Once Upon A Time In The West to closer Going Home, they kept the crowd happy.


Dire Straits - On The Night
From May 92, culled from gigs in Nimes and Rotterdam. With several albums to work from, and also their final album On Every Street to promote, they present an enjoyable show from Calling Elvis, through to ending with the theme from Local Hero. I think I should check out more from them sometime.

As luck would have it, Knopfler has a new solo album out next week, "Tracker". I wish I knew that before I started this thread, but no, it was just coincidence. Heh

An Evening With Mark Knopfler
In accordance with the Princes' Trust, at the Hurlingham Club (?) in 2009, Mark performed a set chiefly taken from DS material, but with some of his own solo stuff, such as promoting his then latest album. He did some chat between some songs, and is a contented and likeable guy still.

Neil McCormick's Needle Time: John Illsley
The Irish music journalist's weekly show spoke to the DS bassist in 2014, on how he became the bass player, how he met Mark Knopfler's brother, how they started out for a while as the Café Racers, and how he and Mark were the only original band members left by their dissolution in 1993-ish. He had taken 3 years on his then-latest solo record, having suffered with leukaemia. Happily, stem cell treatment had solved that one. He had been using British Grove Studios, once a base for Island Records, but now owned by Mark. Illsley makes a chatty mouthpiece to relate the DS story.

HARDtalk: Mark Knopfler
He may not relish interviews, however he did have a new solo album ("Down the Road Wherever") out so here he was. He finds touring harder as he gets older, but feels freer as a musician. He was always keener on the words than the tunes. He has his own studio. He did a journalism course and spent time working in Leeds. He's humble about his guitar playing when compared with greats like Eric Clapton. He's never comfortable with fame, but recognises it has upsides. His brother left Dire Straits early on and they don't communicate these days. He prefers the Northumberland countryside more than the Newcastle city now. No interest in a Dire Straits reunion artistically, and even a one-off for charity would create false expectations. He's been working on a Local Hero musical.

Brian Johnson's A Life on the Road: Mark Knopfler
They're old mates, apparently, two old Geordies together. They went to see Spanish City, Whitley Bay, as immortalised in Tunnel of Love, Tynemouth beach, and a pub. Mark fondly sang his own songs, and other ones he recalled. He told the origins of not only Money For Nothing, but Sultans Of Swing too. He saw Bob Dylan play Newcastle in 1965, also saw Chuck Berry there. He was glad he started in the business at 28, and could cope with its vicissitudes. He keeps none of his awards at home. Feels fame can be a menace. Happy in his own path now.

Jack Sonni, guitarist with DS, has died at 68   RIP

Mark K recently announced plans about selling some of his guitars from the Brothers In Arms days.

Arena: Dire Straits
From 1980, a show combining live footage from a gig at the Rainbow, which much backstage talk from Mark and other band members, plus the manager (presumably) about where they stood after 2 albums, where they might go next. The final caption tells us Mark's brother David left during work on that next album. One fun section saw how they worked on developing the track Making Movies. Other tunes played included Twisting By The Pool and Once Upon a Time in the West.

misery guts wrote:Mark K recently announced plans about selling some of his guitars from the Brothers In Arms days.

Presumably in relation to this news, the auction raised c.£8 million 


Radio 2 In Concert: Mark Knopfler
He was at the Bristol Beacon in 1996, pushing his Golden Heart album (though this was the first I might have heard of it), and he did some good tracks from it, as well as plenty of classic DS stuff too.

Mark's back in the top 20 of the UK singles chart, thanks to a new all-star version of his 80s hit Going Home, which is raising money for charity