Product Description

The last album of their career that sounded as if they weretrying to play, instead of going through the motions. DavidKnopfler had already departed from the band and brother Mark had a free rein, clear from any sibling rivalry. "Solid Rock", "Tunnel Of Love", "Romeo And Juliet" and "Skataway" would be on any decent greatest hits package. Following this artistic triumph they proceeded to release LOVE OVER GOLD, andwe all know what album followed after that, don't we?

Track Listing

1. Tunnel Of Love
2. Romeo And Juliet
3. Skateaway
4. Expresso Love
5. Hand in hand
6. Solid rock
7. Les Boys

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1402 in Music
• Released on: 1996-06-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 38 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This is the only Dire Straits album not to feature a rhythm guitarist; instead, an added dimension is given to the sound by the addition of Roy Bittan, Bruce Springsteen's pianist. In fact, there were several Springsteen connections to this album: Jimmy Iovine, the producer, was the engineer on Born To Run and the famous riff of "Romeo And Juliet" is a slowed-down version of the piano intro to that album's "Jungleland". A more general connection is the torrent of imagery centred around the romance of the city, most notably on "Skateaway", but also present in the perfectly-rendered teenage angst of hit single "Romeo and Juliet", and the celebratory tale of tawdriness and passion that is "Tunnel Of Love". Mark Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers were fresh from the honour of recording an album with Bob Dylan after he had seen and been impressed by the band playing in LA earlier in the year; but sadly this was to be Withers' last album with Dire Straits, as he left for a career in jazz shortly after. A fine album, the most truly outstanding song is the devastating lovers' lament of "Hand In Hand". Unfortunately it closes on a low note with "Les Boys", Knopfler's faintly embarrassing and uninventive song about the gay scene in Berlin. --James Swift

Customer Reviews

Making a move
Dire Straits' third album came at their version of the proverbial crossroads. Apart from losing a member, they decided not to release volume 3 of the same and instead created a few epics. Those first two albums are marvellous, but here they reached out for the dramatic, typified by the 'Carousel' intro and the Shakespearean theme of the second track. 'Tunnel Of Love' sees the band moving away from the pub band route and into a wider soundscape, Mark Knopfler giving full rein to vivid lyrical fairground imagery. In an era when the three-minute pop single was fashionable, Dire Straits went for the antithetic rock extravaganza. They already had the image of a band out of time. 'Romeo and Juliet,' a major hit, seemed to emphasise Mark Knopfler's dominant status in the band, pushing him forward almost as a solo performer. 'Skateaway,' a lesser hit, is one of my favourite Dire Straits tracks, featuring a bustling, rhythmic lyric.

Side two of the original LP comes across as the remains of the band's old style, featuring three diverse, but fine songs, plus the less popular 'Les Boys,' a tacky song asking for the label 'novelty item.' Even so, you're carried away by the time you reach this track. Superb.

making movies
i am a big fan of the band of dire straits and this is a great cd, i would rate that tunnel of love is the best song on this cd and skateaway, i like the title and is great, expresso love is great too and so is the love song romeo and juliet. solid rock is great too, this is a masterpiece!!

"and the big wheel keep on turning, neon burning up above..."
Making Movies is the third studio album by Dire Straits and the ingredients are there for a classic album.

The album opener 'Tunnel of Love' featuring an intro from the Carousel waltz, is classic Straits stuff at 8 minutes long, painting romantic images of a fairground from the North East called the Spanish City with Mark Knopfler at his storytelling best, and possibly drummer Pick Withers finest hour. Track 2 'Romeo and Juliet' is often imitated but never bettered even by Knopfler himself, and is an essential\reference track in the Dire Straits back catalogue which stands the test of time, perhaps even better as time goes by.

The tracks 'Skateaway' and 'Expresso Love' are also strong tracks but for me seem a bit `dire straits by numbers' (if there could be such a thing) in particular 'Expresso love' which has a similar feel to 'Lady Writer' from the previous album Comminique (which i have also reviewed).

'Hand in Hand' is a superb slower track and features the heaviest e-street band keyboard influence (brought in during and after David Knoflers departure) and signifies a transition for Dire Straits with their song writing and performing, as for the first time a piano or keyboard recorded by the band, was used as the main instrument during the introduction leading the melody, instead of drums or guitar. This style was later repeated on the albums that followed, Love over Gold (which i have also reviewed) and Brother in Arms.

'Solid Rock' is a long standing live favourite which looking back now was the last time Dire Straits were to record an rockier style album track that still retained a semi live feeling in the studio. After Making Movies, the studio began to play a larger part in the sound of the band, less raw perhaps.

If you have read other reviews of this album you will already know the last track `Les Boys' is a cringeworthy addition to Making Movies, and along with the track `One World' from Brothers in Arms, is one of the worst tracks ever recorded by the band. Dire Straits do not do comedy songs very well! This is the main reason i give Making Movies 4 stars instead of 5.

The other reason is that I get the distinct impression that Making Movies is a transitional album for Dire Straits where Knopfler started to flex his muscles within the band starting with the very acromonious split with his brother David, (the story goes that MK told DK "you can play what you like, it won't end up on the album anyway") and the departure of Pick Whithers before the next album, who pursued a career in Jazz (Mmmm, nice). In my view the sound and balance had started to change on this album and had yet to fully find it's feet. The moments of genuis\brilliance are there on Tunnel of Love, Romeo and Juliet, Hand in Hand, but the lack of a rhythm guitarist following David Knopflers departure and replacing it with Springsteen's e-street keyboards as backing players, occasionally leaves this album lacking that special something, perhaps a sense of warmth and completness within the band, that was certainly present on the 1st two albums.

However, I would strongly recommend this album as part of the overall outstanding Mark Knopfler\Dire Straits back Catalogue as it has ideas and reference points within it that point to earlier and later works, and contains 3 good songs and 3 brilliant ones. And also lets face it, Mark Knofler and Dire Straits on one of their relatively patchier writing days, are still better than some bands or artists manage in an entire career.