I sorta understand the sweatband era copping it but those first few albums and – dare I say it – parts of this final record were really lovely, interesting, exciting and dynamic. I’m baffled by the level of hatred thrown at Dire Straits. Then there’s the song My Partieswhich should be every bit as good as Ween’s Your Party(were they ripping him off/referencing him do you think?) but ultimately feels both too smug and plausible. And was probably treated pretty much that way. The rest of this album feels like a Knopfler solo album. In fact it’s really only Heavy Fuel, The Bug and the other big single, Calling Elvisthat feel like Dire Straits as such. Dire Straits The Bug lyrics & video : well its a strange old game - you learn it slow one step forward and its back to go youre standing on the throttle youre standing on t. And Fade To Black, Planet Of New Orleansand How Longcertainly all point to where Knopfler was heading as a solo artist. Emerging on the club and pub circuit in 1977, Dire Straits were led by charismatic Geordie singer-songwriter, record producer and. But there is some stuff on here that has aged well. On 9 th October, to coincide with National Album Day 2020, UMC/Virgin will release a 6 CD box set of all of the studio albums by Dire Straits, a band that straddled the globe with their sophisticated rootsy guitar rock wedded to literate story-telling lyrics. And The Bugwas juvenile, tasteless and as annoying as Walk Of Life. Heavy Fuel was the riff-as-song wannabe-rewrite of Money For Nothing. But, it has to be said, there is some awful shit. I’m happy with some of the music on this album still. I’m not embarrassed by this album though – and if you think I should be that says more about you than me. And also because I have every other Dire Straits album and much as I try not to be a completist anymore it’s a streak I can’t (quite) shake.
I bought this LP recently, partly because I was amazed to see it existed on vinyl. I’m not sure that On Every Street was ever a great album but I owned it – on tape. The Lyrics for The Bug by Dire Straits have been translated into 4 languages. I had the soundtracks, the side-projects, the sessions – everything. And all things Mark Knopflerwas involved in/with. And man I loved it I loved Dire Straits at that point in my life one of my favourite bands. I saw Dire Straitson the tour for this album – the band’s last world tour.