Was there ever a safer, more pedestrian rock band than Dire Straits? Bunch of not great-looking guys who didn't break through until they were a bit older, who never had any particular intrigue associated with the band (except that Mark Knopfler's brother quit after their second record, but, heck, what brothers don't fight in rock bands?), whose sound was about as palatable as any two-guitars-bass-and-drums outfit that has ever come along, whose radio and MTV hits from "The Sultans Of Swing" to "Money For Nothing" were both wildly overplayed and always welcome when they came on. Band with a signature sound, based on Knopfler's unique guitar sound (though he and Richard Thompson got into a tiff, arguing over who came up with the sound first--my money is on Knopfler, who certainly uses it to greater effect) and gravelly but endearing vocals. Who blew in out of nowhere, like Van Halen and at about the same time, with a unique sound and a song, "The Sultans Of Swing," that became as ubiquitous as just about anything to every hit the radio, and with good reason, since it had a fresh, minor-key melody and that guitar that no one had ever heard before. Who barnstormed through the concert halls and stadiums of the world for many years as a premiere act who had fans shouting out the words and drinking the Dire Straits Kool-Aid, which went down easy. What wasn't to like? Who cranked out something like 6 albums over ten years or so and then hung it up, or, more likely, Knopfler hung it up. You had to think he was getting tired of it, since he a) branched off into the more bland Notting Hillbillies for a CD and b) brought the pedal steel player from that band into Dire Straits to serve as a foil for his own lead guitar, which he seemed to be getting tired of. The last CD, On Every Street, was kind of a tired effort all the way around from the way-too-long-without-enough-Knopfler-guitar opener to "The Bug," which was clever for a listening or two and then became kind of obvious. But for the title track, most of the songs sounded like weaker retreads of other Dire Straits songs. And then they were gone.
And yet, I'm not sure that there's a band that I miss more, a band that I regret not seeing more, a band whose comeback would rouse me from my smug I-don't-do-reunions stance more. The Dire Straits catalog contains some of my favorite songs, most of them "off-hits" in the sense that they might be concert favorites but they weren't necessarily radio hits--"Down To The Waterline," "Once Upon A Time In The West," "Lady Writer," "Communique," "Tunnel Of Love," "Telegraph Road," "It Never Rains," "Brothers In Arms," "On Every Street."There is something so endearing about Dire Straits, particularly about Mark Knopfler as songwriter, singer, guitarist. I'm not sure that I can quantify it. Sure, he meets my criteria for a great guitarist--any time that I hear him play, I immediately know that it's him (listen to how Steely Dan uses Knopfler's sound to great effect on "Time Out Of Mind"). Sure, he plays in such a casual way that it always seems like he has another gear that he could shift into if it became necessary, but it never does because he favors melodic playing over speed.
I think, more than anything, it's his Romantic vision. That manifests itself first and foremost in his penchant for Scotch and Irish melodies, reflecting civilizations that have perservered, at least philosophically, against great oppression, meeting their fates with both resignation and a refusal to give up. And songs like "Brothers In Arms" or "Telegraph Road" or "Tunnel Of Love" reflect that perspective in situations involving war, love, even the formation of entire societies.
There is no doubt that Knopfler gained, as a songwriter, from his time spent with Dylan, working in on Dylan's "Christian" records. His outlook became more political, more interested in social commentary, and songs like "Industrial Disease" and "One World" and such really started to push him into new directions. That and the ways that his guitar provided atmospheres as much as it provided solos. His solo records seem safer than that. But you don't get Romanticism from Dylan; he's far too eccentric and self-entrenched for that. No, along with Springsteen, Petty, and perhaps a few others, Knopfler is one of the few Romantics in rock, a relatively-rare species that I happen to cherish.
And so, it's the possibility of that next gear that keeps calling to me. Not as a guitarist--I think Knopfler's range and limitations have both been explored thoroughly in his solo career. We know what he can do; we just don't know how he might use it differently. The whole Dire Straits concept has to have something to do with it, because none of Knopfler's expansive solo work has hooked me in the same way that Dire Straits songs have. Sometimes, I think, it's just a couple of specific guys you play with and the expectations that go with that particular band that push you more than you can ever push yourself when you have complete control.Come back, Dire Straits. You are like comfort food, and I need some comforting.
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