Brothers in Arms [Remaster] - Dire Straits (CD 2000)

Dire Straits are one of Great Britains lessor known classic bands. Mark Knoffler on guitar and lyrics leads this band with their definitive style of rock and pop music. His unique guitar style is instantly recognizable to all fans.

The band made several albums before Brothers in Arms producing some classic rock music that deserves more merit than they got. Classic albums like Love Over Gold and Alchemy introduced Dire Straits to a small but tight fan base. With Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits became a little more commercial and propelled themselves into Superstardom (in England).

The album features many good tracks:-

Money for Nothing

Probably known worldwide for their groundbreaking video featuring computer generated cartoons. Money for Nothing is a catchy pop song, featuring Sting on back-up vocals. The song takes a stab at the commercialism on MTV.
The lyrics are straight forward, as if from the mouth of a common man watching MTV. The music is very catchy and has a wonderful background sound from Sting.

Brothers in Arms

The title track of the album became a surprise hit in England. So much a surprise that the band had to hustle up a video when it reached no.1. The song is a soulful song, full of beautifully sad lyrics and a melody that is slow and sad. The song makes you feel as if you have somehow lost something, perhaps in war. It is very moving.

Why Worry

Another sad soulful song that is beautifully presented with poetic lyrics and a sad melody. Not as moving as Brothers in Arms, but a nice song none-the-less.

Walk Of Life

Perhaps more in the style of the less commercial Dire Straits , this song is very catchy and upbeat. Knoffler s guitar features prominently in all of his songs, but is especially prominent in this playful song. The melody of this song will stick in your mind and have you humming all day.

The other songs are of a similar vain, and this, combined with the obvious commercialism in the album makes this a disappointing album. Regular fans of Dire Straits will miss the cutting edge sound that songs such as Romeo and Juliet and Telegraph Road provided in earlier albums.

Sadly, Dire Straits seemed to disappear after this, this is a shame as I would have hoped that the success of Brothers in Arms would have catapulted them to higher and better things.

Overall, this album has a few nice tracks, but really there is nothing new or awe inspiring about the album. It is definitely worth buying one of their older albums before even considering this one. My advice, buy Love Over Gold.