Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms – [1985]

Yet another trick album to review, given that it is packed with sounds, styles, techniques and effects that were so fresh for the time, but oversaturated and overdone nowadays.

I’ll start this review by saying that there is nothing wrong/bad with regarding the musical aspects of this album (i.e. the chords, melodies, rhythms etc.), nor is there anything wrong with the mix and production, especially considering that it was recorded in the eighties.

When I say that some of this album sounds dated, I would not say that is necessarily a negative. It isn’t dated in the way that a-ha’s ‘Take On Me’ is, but instead dated in the way The Beatles are dated. This sound was, I’m sure, very different for the time. It just isn’t so different anymore.

This, of course, makes this album very hard to review. This is not the type of music I usually enjoy, nor typically listen to. I had to look at this project objectively, and for what is trying to be, which is a moody, progressive/synth rock album. And, when you listen to the album from that point of view, there are no real low points. The only track that I would consider a low point would be track number two, ‘Money for Nothing’. I think that, whilst some of my favourite tracks are on the longer side, this track plays for around eight minutes, and offers no variation past the first three minutes. On this track, I think the lyrics are somewhat laughable, and the track, for the want of a better word, is simply boring.

The same cannot be said for the other tracks on this album. I feel as if I could put the whole album on shuffle, whilst on a walk or sat in the garden, and the mood/vibe would be cohesive, and there would be near to no skips. With that being said, I wouldn’t say many of the tracks stand out in anyway, but that isn’t bad.

My favourites on this album would have to be ‘Brothers In Arms’, and ‘So Far Away’. I would also give honourable mentions to ‘Ride Across The River’, and ‘One World’.

I do love this project, and I’m eager to see how it grows on me in the future. I could use the fact that this album is four decades old to excuse the low points on the project, but that becomes impossible when I remember that Talking Heads’ ‘Remain In Light’ was this decade, and David Bowie’s ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spider from Mars’ was a decade earlier!

With all being said, I would give this album a 8/10. Based on it’s high points, the whole project’s cohesiveness, and the fact that I feel as if the project is already growing on me the more I listen to it. Don’t be surprised if I update this review.