Dire Straits

A monster seller that was kicked off by the defining single and MTV hit, "Money For Nothing," Brothers In Arms hasn't aged as well as Dire Strait's earlier studio albums. That said, "So Far Away," still gets plenty of FM rock airplay and "Walk of Life" continues to get dragged out at every single sporting event happening anywhere on the planet, at any time.

Except for their swell debut hit single, "Sultans of Swing," in 1979, the British band Dire
Straits has never come as much of a surprise. And, then, what caught you off guard was
how much the singer sounded like Dylan. Brothers in Arms, their first studio album since
Love over Gold three years ago, offers more of their winsomely rocking tunes. The band is
augmented by bassist Tony Levin, Weather Report drummer Omar Hakim, a horn... More >

"Money for Nothing" is a catchy sumbitch, no getting around it, and the first side moves with simple generosity, not a virtue one associates with this studio guitarist's ego trip. But it's too late for the old bluesboy to suck us into his ruminations of the perfidy of woman and the futility of political struggle, and "Money for Nothing" is also a benchmark of pop hypocrisy. We know Mark Knopfler's working-class antihero is a thicky because he talks like Randy Newman and uses the same word for homosexual that old bluesboys use, a word Knopfler has somehow gotten on the radio with no static from the PMRC. I mean, why not "little n*gg*r with the spitcurl" instead of "little f*gg*t with the earring," Mark? And while we're at it, how the hell did you end up on MTV? By spelling its name right? (Grade - B-)