- Dire Straits (album)
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Dire Straits 
Studio album by Dire Straits Released 7 October 1978 Recorded 13 February - 5 March 1978 at Basing Street Studios, London Genre Rock, pub rock Length 41:34 Label Vertigo (UK)
Warner Bros. (US)Producer Muff Winwood Dire Straits chronology Dire Straits
(1978)Communiqué
(1979)Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic 
[1]Robert Christgau (B)[2] Rolling Stone NA[3] Dire Straits is the self-titled debut album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in October 1978 (see 1978 in music) by Phonogram Records.[4]
Contents
History
The single "Sultans of Swing" first broke the US top five early spring 1979 (being a hit a full five months after the album was released there) and then rose to #8 in the British charts. "Water of Love" was also released as a single in some countries, and charted in Australia, reaching #54, and in the Netherlands, reaching #28.[5] In Europe, the album sold four million copies while in the U.S. it sold two million copies.
The album was remastered and released with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 to most of the world excluding the U.S. and on 19 September 2000 in the United States. For 2010 release of an anniversary album is planned. It will be devoted the 30 anniversary of the edition of a vinyl.[6]
The cover image is taken from a painting by Chuck Loyola, while the Dire Straits Fender icon was designed by Geoff Halpern.
See also: Dire Straits tourTrack listing
All songs written by Mark Knopfler.(lyrics by kind permission of Straitjacket music )
- "Down to the Waterline" – 3:55
- "Water of Love" – 5:23
- "Setting Me Up" – 3:18
- "Six Blade Knife" – 4:10
- "Southbound Again" – 2:58
- "Sultans of Swing" – 5:47
- "In the Gallery" – 6:16
- "Wild West End" – 4:42
- "Lions" – 5:05
The original version of the album contained a slightly shorter version of "Sultans of Swing", omitting the last seconds of the guitar solo at the end of the song, but the full-length version was included on the remastered edition of the album.
Cassette versions of the album often featured the sides in reverse order to the original vinyl album: side A comprised tracks 6 through 9, while side B featured tracks 1 through 5. The French issue of the cassette saw "Down to the Waterline" and "Wild West End" interchanged in the order mentioned above to allow for a more equal playing time on each side.
Personnel
- Mark Knopfler – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
- John Illsley – bass, backing vocals
- David Knopfler – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Pick Withers – drums
Production
- Muff Winwood – production
- Rhett Davies – engineer
- Gregg Geller and Bob Ludwig – remastering
- Jo Motta – project coordinator
- Alan Schmidt – art direction
Charts
The Dire Straits' debut album has spent 132 weeks in the UK Albums Chart. [1] In Australia, the album was the tenth best-selling album of 1978.
Album
Year Chart Position 1978 Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1 1979 French Albums Chart 1 1979 U.S. Billboard Pop Albums 2 1979 New Zealand Albums Chart 3 1979 UK Albums Chart 5 1979 Swedish Albums Chart 6 1979 Norwegian Albums Chart 10 1979 Austrian Albums Chart 17 Singles
Year Song Billboard
Hot 100UK Singles 1979 "Sultans of Swing" #4 #8 Certifications
Organization Level Date RIANZ – New Zealand Gold December 1978 BPI – UK Silver 2 February 1979 RIAA – U.S. Gold 21 February 1979 ARIA – Australia Platinum February 1979 RIANZ – New Zealand Platinum February 1979 RIAA – U.S. Platinum 27 March 1979 BPI – UK Gold 30 March 1979 IFPI – Germany Gold 3 April 1979 BPI – UK Platinum 23 November 1979 IFPI – Germany Platinum 1979 SNEP – France Platinum 1982 BPI – UK 2X Platinum 7 February 1986 RIAA – U.S. 2x Platinum 6 January 1987 Notes
Country band Highway 101 later covered "Setting Me Up", taking it to the top ten on the U.S. country singles charts in 1990.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2011 [last update]). "Dire Straits - Dire Straits | AllMusic". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r5886/review. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2011 [last update]). "Robert Christgau: CG: dire straits". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=dire+straits. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
- ^ Tucker, Ken (1979). "Dire Straits". rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/dire-straits-19790125. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ "Dire Straits Biography". Musician Biographies. http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000435/Dire-Straits.html. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
- ^ "Dutch charts". http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Dire+Straits&titel=Water+Of+Love+%2F+Down+To+The+Waterline&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ 2010 vinyl reissues from Warner Brothers celebrates 30 years of Dire Straits!. 16 January 2010. http://www.becausesoundmatters.com/blog/2010-vinyl-reissues-warner-brothers-celebrates-30-years-dire-straits. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
Preceded by
War of the Worlds by Various artistsAustralian Kent Music Report number-one album
4–24 December 1978Succeeded by
52nd Street by Billy JoelStudio albums Live albums Alchemy · On the Night · Live at the BBCCompilations Money for Nothing · Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits · The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations · Dire Straits - Walk of Life - The HitsEPs Singles "Sultans of Swing" · "Water of Love" · "Lady Writer" · "Romeo and Juliet" · "Skateaway" · "Tunnel of Love" · "Private Investigations" · "Industrial Disease" · "Twisting by the Pool" · "Love Over Gold" (live) · "So Far Away" · "Money for Nothing" · "Brothers in Arms" · "Walk of Life" · "Your Latest Trick" · "Calling Elvis" · "Heavy Fuel" · "On Every Street" · "The Bug"Tours Dire Straits Tour · Communiqué TourRelated articles Discography · Band members · Michael Brecker · The Notting Hillbillies · Chris White · Birmingham at BarbarellaCategories:- Dire Straits albums
- Phonogram Records albums
- 1978 albums
- Debut albums
- Albums produced by Muff Winwood
- Vertigo Records albums
- Warner Bros. Records albums
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