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

(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what they re looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review is not necessarily written by the point of view of a Dire Straits fan.)

Overall Score: 4/5
Best song: You know what it is without me writing it here
Worst song: Ride Across the River

Review Body:

The massive commercial success. Managing to even top Sultans of Swing in popularity, Dire Straits comes out with the mega-hit Money For Nothing, which is still so saturated within our pop culture that it probably even reached the people living under rocks. The lyrics famously bash rock stars on MTV though its music video was more popular than anything in the era. Oh, don t you love the irony! More importantly than any of its history is the music itself, which is absolutely the catchiest thing they ve ever done. The guitar riff is up there with the classic Rolling Stones and the melody is fabulous. That s such a universally loved song that it s no wonder that Brothers in Arms is their most popular album.

That s not all! This album also contains the hits So Far Away and Walk of Life. The former is a highly pleasant and melodic new wave tune that s perfect for easy-chair listening. The latter is hopelessly catchy, and I m sure everyone is familiar with its keyboard riff.

After that, though, the album s not nearly as good After the exciting Walk of Life fades out, a horn solo and boring electric piano chords pipe up with the unflinchingly lackluster Your Latest Trick. That s not actually a bad song though decidedly average. It turns into a sort of elevator-music jazz saxophone performance It s a unique sound for Dire Straits, but it surely wasn t one of their good ideas. Why Worry is a bit better though still a snoozer. It takes the form of a contemplative lullaby (which I guess is a good enough excuse for it being a snoozer). Not badly written, but it s more than eight minutes long and wayyyyyyyyyyy too repetitive. It would have made a perfectly nice 4-minute snoozer. I can t say too many good things about Ride Across the River other than I like that they re trying out some world music undertones and it s nicely contemplative. Again, the major drawback is it takes a whole seven minutes out of your life.

Not too impressed with the two closers either, though they re certainly better conceived. One World is a return to pub-rock though it s too bland for them. Brothers in Arms contains some nice guitar noodling, but it does tend to be sleep inducing. The one bit I like in the second half is The Man s Too Strong. It s a four-minute, somewhat folksy number with a nice atmosphere and very compelling arrangement ideas.

Many Dire Strait fans seem betrayed by the fact that they adopted a more mainstream sound. Though listening to this, I don t think their classic sound was compromised too much. There are just a lotta more keyboards than there used to be! They were also doing elevator music beforehand nothing too new. Luckily, Knopfer didn t forget how to deliver a good crunchy lick or contemplative solo whenever necessary. Barring that the overall songwriting is way worse, this more mainstream style of theirs wasn t so unfortunate a move.

Track Reviews:

So Far Away A
I have to admit that every time I hear this song start up, I think it s going to turn into The Go-Go s Our Lips Are Sealed. The tempo is quite a bit slower, but the rhythm guitar riff sounds very similar. Anyway, after only a few seconds, it turns into an above average new wave track. The walking pace is pleasant to hear you can sit back in your easy chair and hear this without being asked to get up and start dancing. It s a nice feeling when it s done right. Also helping matters is the easy-going melody, which has plenty of vocal hooks. Despite the new wave direction Dire Straits was going, they have abandoned their instrumental prowess. Excellent guitar licks pepper up this track and there isn t an abundance of keyboard sounds or any drum machines. Very good!!

Money For Nothing A+
Surely, everyone knows this by heart. As you know, it starts as an atmospheric synthscape with Sting ominously singing I want my MTV. Then that danceable, pub-rock groove pipes up (except with more keyboard sounds) with just about the catchiest riff ever. The lyrics bash MTV and mainstream rock stars, but the song and its music video was more popular than anything at the time And, along with everyone else, I love that fact! The lyrics also contains a derogatory word that Knopfer famously didn t think would be perceived so negatively (it s also a cigarette in his country, you know). The guitars are crunchier than ever, and the melody is the catchiest thing on the planet Eight minutes are rarely this well spent!

Walk of Life A
I used to attend a lot of college baseball games in my middle school / high school years, so I knew this song well before I heard the name Dire Straits. (If the other team had a bad pitcher, I would have heard a snippet of this at least a half a dozen times over the nine innings.) That well-known keyboard riff starts things up, but other than that 1980s mainstream addition, it surprisingly doesn t betray Dire Straits pub-rock roots. The guitars are chugging along nicely and this is easily among the strongest melodies of their career. This sure beats the pants offa Bruce Springsteen!

Your Latest Trick C+
Now that the three hits were over, we re betrayed! Immediately, from that horn solo and cheesy electric piano chords, I can tell that I m going to be bored. The saxophone solo is comfortably a few notches above Kenny G, but anything as corny as that is hardly much to be proud about. Not helping matters is a bland melody Interestingly, Knopfer s guitar is much fuzzier than it seemed like it should be, but it did little to make this song much better.

Why Worry B-
Zzzzz Eh, this song isn t worthy of an immediate dismissal, but it s pretty dull to sit through especially since I m always fighting the urge to press the back button and re-play the first three songs. If Knopfer really had to write a lullaby song, this is good as any of them. I m fairly certain that if you d like it more if you weren t so eager to compare it to the earlier tracks. It s a pleasant thing and well played with nicely contemplative instrumentals, and the melodic ideas are nice. The major drawback is ultimately the running length. It s actually slightly longer and more repetitive than Money For Nothing, but in the bad way. This is almost a C+ Almost. This B- means that it s a minor thumbs up, though a very minor one

Ride Across the River C
To appreciate this it ll certainly help to be a Peter Gabriel fan. Knopfer takes a world music vibe with this one bongo drums and pipe-flutes abound. It s probably more like Peter Gabriel-lite though. I hate that pipe-flute sound like pestilence, but Knopfer s electric guitar noodling is especially good here. The percussion groove is fine, but it has a tendency to grow boring, which is exactly why the song didn t score so high. It s seven minutes long, too. Like the cricket sounds, though. (Not just because that s the typical cartoon response to boring stuff )

The Man s Too Strong A-
This is a pretty fantastic song. Knopfer s bringing out what I m supposing is a steel guitar (I don t know much about instruments), but it sounds fantastic! GREAT GUITAR STRUMMING. He delivers more of a folksy song with a good melody and a wonderful, subtle synthscape to keep a compelling atmosphere. Wonderful chord progressions, too, also do wonders for the atmosphere tends to keep it on its toes. The most characteristic features of this, however, is those orchestral bangs that keep popping up you ll know what I m talking about when you hear it. That was a very bold arrangement idea that produced the best possible results.

One World B
A bit of pub-rock like the days of old except with a few keyboard sounds and louder drums than usual. This reminds me quite a bit of Money For Nothing, but it s not nearly as infectious obviously. I m not such a fan of that bit in the middle where they strip away the heavy drum beat and put in some sort of harpsichord sound. Overall, this is a likable song though still pretty bland concerning their reputation.

Brothers in Arms B-
Another one of those snoozefests, but at least this one centers on the guitar sound instead of the world-music groove from Ride Across the River. The synthscape is a tad to heavy, though, and sort of adds more to the sleepiness of it. The guitar noodling is as good as usual, but I have a pretty overwhelming tendency to just space out through this whole seven-minute track.

Concluding Remarks:

Three major, well-known hits and most of the rest are snoozers Well, at least they re high quality snoozers if you re willing to defy your short attention span.