Among the succesful British pop music acts of the past twenty years, few have retained the integrity
of Dire Straits; perhaps only UB40 have been as determined to stay out of the showbiz spotlight
and simply do what they always set out to do, playing the music they loved, and taking it to as many
people as possible.
When they started out in 1977, Dire Straits fell between all the cracks - they had none of the
aggressive front of the punk or new wave groups that the industry was looking out for, and didn't
even have the lets-all-have-a-good-time approach of pub rockers like Dr. Feelgood. The group's
leader Mark Knopfler told sound engineers at gigs to keep the music quiet, so people in the
audience could talk to each other!
When first encountered, Mark's laconic vocal delivery was reminiscent of Bob Dylan and Lou
Reed, and his apparently effortless guitar wizardry brought to mind J.J. Cale & Barry Burton of the
Amazing Rhythm Aces. I had a show on BBC Radio London at the time, one of the few wich
featured laid-back music of that kind, and when I played the group's demo tape in July 1977, the
phones went on ringing for a week. Among the callers were several A&R men who wanted to
know who that band was, "you know, that one wich sounded so American." But although several
personally loved the group's sound, most couldn't convince themselves or their superiors that the
rest of the world would agree.
By the time they recorded this concert for BBC Radio One a year later, Dire Straits had made their
album for Phonogram with the producer Muff Winwood, who simply documented the group's
sound with no attempt to stamp his own mark on top of theirs. The reaction in the UK was minimal,
as you can hear from the-matter-of-fact introductions and muted audience reaction. "Sultans of
Swing" had been released as a single in the UK where it sank without a trace; the album had tickled
the top 50 - no big deal.
As so often in our pop-obsessed climate, it took success in the rest of the world to convince UK
radio programmers that this band of anti-pop, unassuming musos deserved daytime play. Holland
was first to bite, then Germany, Australia, and finally the United States, where radio programmers
loved the album so much that Warner A&R man Jerry Wexler commented, "We would have to get
up very early in the morning and work exceedingly hard to stop that thing from selling - it would
have been a hit if you could have only bought it in grocery stores."
It's always impossible to pin down the reasons why one artist survives for years where another
disappears, but as well as his clarity of purpose and vision. Mark Knopfler has always had
something to say - most of his songs are about something in particular, often seen from an unusual
point of view. Listeners may have to go in search of the meaning - he doesn't push it in your face -
but it's usually worth the effort.
Eventually, listeners in Britain caught up with the rest of the world, and Dire Straits' album "Brothers
In Arms" became one of the UK's all-time best sellers. But that was long after most of the
performances on this CD; apart from Tunnel Of Love, recorded for BBC-TV's Old Grey Whistle
Test after Britain had finally caught on to the band's magic, the rest of this CD was recorded for
BBC Radio One while they were still unknown. Here we can go back in time and hear the band
deliver the goods with no sense of pomp or self-importance, four craftsmen just doing their job:
making music.
Charlie Gillett, London, March 1995 from the album "Live At The BBC". |
