Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing - Very Best of
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Artist: Dire StraitsBrand: DIRE STRAITS
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-10-27
Music Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Soundtracks:
- Sultans Of Swing
- Lady Writer
- Romeo And Juliet
- Tunnel Of Love
- Private Investigations
- Twisting By The Pool
- Love Over Gold (Live)
- So Far Away
- Money For Nothing
- Brothers In Arms
- Walk Of Life
- Calling Elvis
- Heavy Fuel
- On Every Street
- Your Latest Trick (Live)
- Local Hero / Wild Theme (Live)
Music reviews of Sultans of Swing - Very Best of
Music Review: Outstanding Recording Quality - too bad for Radio-Edits
Rating: 4 Stars
During the 1985 Live Aid concert, it gave an opportunity for many bands that had established a cult following to come out and play on the world stage. Perhaps one band that benefited from this more than any other band was Dire Straits. Dire Straits' live performance of "Money for Nothing" and "Sultans of Swing" clearly elevated the band to superstar status. It was also the momentum from Live Aid that propelled "Money For Nothing" to #1 song status and the album "Brothers in Arms" to #1 album status. If you look beyond "Money For Nothing" and "Brothers in Arms", you will discover what a terrific band Dire Straits is. Much of Dire Straits is the result of the awesome guitar work of Mark Knopfler, but there is also some great instrumentation from other band members such as Mark's brother David and bassist John Illsley.. In many circles, Knopfler is considered as good as they come. For Dire Straits, they would do things much differently than many of the other bands during the "British Invasion" that was taking place. In an era where Punk and New Wave were taking center stage, Dire Straits were doing things the old-fashioned way: a combination of Classic Rock, Blues, Folk, and even some Country. Knopfler has also proven himself to be a top notch lyricist - writing both humorous and serious songs. The combination of outstanding instrumentation, great lyrics and a mix of old-fashioned Rock genres is really what made Dire Straits such a great band. A great compilation of their music over a 15 year period is captured on "Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits".
There is one problem with this collection and it prevents this from being a perfect collection. The problem is that radio-edit versions of songs are included on this collection. I happen to have no use for radio-edits of songs. I think it is horrible that musicians are pressured to reduce the lengths of songs just to hear them on the radio. There hasn't been a radio-edit version of any song by any group that is better than the album cut. Perhaps one of the worst radio-edits ever done is "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. The appeal of "Money For Nothing" is on the beginning and end - namely Sting's intro of "I Want My MTV" and Knopfler and Sting's closing duet of "I Want My MTV". Sadly, the radio-edit of "Money For Nothing" eliminates these two key components - and sadly "Sultans of Swing" includes this radio-edit. I find it very disappointing and I feel is a be detriment to this collection since this is for all practical purposes the most successful song by Dire Straits, thus it deserves better on a compilation.
The studio albums from Dire Straits career are well represented - although there was an emphasis on the later material. The albums are: "Dire Straits" ("Sultans of Swing"), "Communique" ("Lady Writer"); "Making Movies" ("Romeo and Juliet", "Tunnel of Love"); "Love Over Gold" ("Private Investigations"); "ExtendedancEPlay" ("Twisting By the Pool"); "Alchemy" (live cut of "Love Over Gold"); "Brothers in Arms" ("So Far Away", "Money For Nothing", "Brothers in Arms", "Walk of Life"); "On Every Street" ("Calling Elvis", "Heavy Fuel", and "On Every Street"). There are also two cuts from the "On the Night" 1993 concert - "Your Latest Trick" and "Local Hero/Wild Theme" (the latter song was not found on the "On the Night" CD, but was found on the DVD). Perhaps the most disappointing omission from this collection is "Telegraph Road" - this is a song from the "Love Over Gold" album. You can also make the argument that more than two songs from "Making Movies" should have been represented.
When looking at compilations, there is one other significant Greatest Hits compilation from Dire Straits - "Money For Nothing". This is an older compilation - and a less comprehensive one. It does include four songs that are not found on the "Sultans of Swing" compilation. These songs are: "Down to the Waterline", "Where Do You Think You're Going", "Portobello Belle", and "Telegraph Road" - the latter two are live cuts. Songs that are on "Sultans of Swing" that are not found on "Money for Nothing" are "Lady Writer", "So Far Away", the tracks from "On Every Street", and the live cuts.
There is one thing that "Sultans of Swing" does very well and that is in the ordering. One thing I like is when a Greatest Hits compilation orders the tracks in chronological order. This allows me to see how the band has progressed over time. The nice thing is that "Sultans of Swing" does this. In particular, they arrange the tracks in the order that they were released on the album that they are from. The liner notes reference how Dire Straits progressed from a band that had a very "live" sound in their early days to a band that began to really understand how to utilize a music studio to your advantage. This is something that is evident on the "Sultans of Swing" collection.
One thing that is also very good is that this is a very good mastered collection. This CD is High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) and it is very evident on the tracks. The "Sultans of Swing" compilation is one of the highest quality recorded CDs I have ever heard. The sounds almost sound three dimensional - especially the instrumentation.
The liner notes contain a terrific (but brief) write-up by Robert Sandall that puts the band in the proper musical prospective. The songwriting and copyright credits are listed for each of the tracks. The musicians and producers are listed, but as a group and not by track. I would have also liked to have seen the album titles listed for each of the tracks. Overall, this is a terrific collection, but the inclusion of the radio-edits prevents this being a 5 star collection - still it is one I would recommend.
Description of Sultans of Swing - Very Best of
No Description Available.Genre: Popular Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 10-NOV-1998
This compilation repeats seven tracks from 1988's Money For Nothing anthology. Given that Mark Knopfler and crew have recorded one new album during the decade between best-of collections, how different could Sultans of Swing be? For one thing, CD dominance has made for longer compilations, and this one is fleshed out by singles, three tracks from 1991's On Every Street, and Knopfler's solo "Local Hero" theme, performed live. More importantly, the second track here is the band's terrific second single, "Lady Writer," previously only available on the otherwise dismal Communiqué LP. Five tracks from Dire Straits' huge Brothers in Arms LP appear here, but only two tracks surface from Making Movies, the group's pinnacle achievement. Ultimately, if you own Making Movies and this compilation, you own the essential Dire Straits. --Bill Holdship
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