SACD / DSD

Dire Straits – Alchemy: Dire Straits Live (1984) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2012]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 89:13 minutes | Scans included | 3,58 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,71 GB

Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players). DSD Transferred by Manabu Matsumura.

There is an interesting contrast on this 94-minute double-disc live album (recorded at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in July 1983) between the music, much of which is slow and moody, with Mark Knopfler’s muttered vocals and large helpings of his fingerpicking on what sounds like an amplified Spanish guitar, and the audience response. The arena-size crowd cheers wildly, and claps and sings along when given half a chance, as though each song were an up-tempo rocker. When they do have a song of even medium speed, such as “Sultans of Swing” or “Solid Rock,” they are in ecstasy. That Dire Straits’ introspective music loses much of its detail in a live setting matters less than that it gains presence and a sense of anticipation. Alan Clark’s keyboards help to fill out the sound and give Knopfler’s spare melodies a certain majesty, but Dire Straits remains an overgrown bar band with a Bob Dylan fixation, and that’s exactly how the crowd likes it.

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Dire Straits – Love Over Gold (1982) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 41:20 minutes | Scans included | 1,67 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 792 MB

Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players). DSD Transferred by Manabu Matsumura.

Adding a new rhythm guitarist, Dire Straits expands its sounds and ambitions on the sprawling Love Over Gold. In a sense, the album is their prog rock effort, containing only five songs, including the 14-minute opener “Telegraph Road.” Since Mark Knopfler is a skilled, tasteful guitarist, he can sustain interest even throughout the languid stretches, but the long, atmospheric, instrumental passages aren’t as effective as the group’s tight blues-rock, leaving Love Over Gold only a fitfully engaging listen.

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Dire Straits – Making Movies (1980) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2012]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 38:25 minutes | Scans included | 1,55 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 771 MB

Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players). DSD Transferred by Manabu Matsumura.

Without second guitarist David Knopfler, Dire Straits began to move away from its roots rock origins into a jazzier variation of country-rock and singer/songwriter folk-rock. Naturally, this means that Mark Knopfler’s ambitions as a songwriter are growing, as the storytelling pretensions of Making Movies indicate. Fortunately, his skills are increasing, as the lovely “Romeo and Juliet,” “Tunnel of Love,” and “Skateaway” indicate. And Making Movies is helped by a new wave-tinged pop production, which actually helps Knopfler’s jazzy inclinations take hold. The record runs out of steam toward the end, closing with the borderline offensive “Les Boys,” but the remainder of Making Movies ranks among the band’s finest work.

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Dire Straits – Communiqué (1979) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2012]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:35 minutes | Scans included | 1,71 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 840 MB

Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players). DSD Transferred by Manabu Matsumura.

Rushed out less than nine months after the surprise success of Dire Straits’ self-titled debut album, the group’s sophomore effort, Communiqué, seemed little more than a carbon copy of its predecessor with less compelling material. Mark Knopfler and co. had established a sound (derived largely from J.J. Cale) of laid-back shuffles and intricate, bluesy guitar playing, and Communiqué provided more examples of it. But there was no track as focused as “Sultans of Swing,” even if “Lady Writer” (a lesser singles chart entry on both sides of the Atlantic) nearly duplicated its sound. As a result, Communiqué sold immediately to Dire Straits’ established audience, but no more, and it did not fare as well critically as its predecessor or its follow-up.

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Dire Straits – Dire Straits (1978) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 41:49 minutes | Scans included | 1,68 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 833 MB

Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players) and the latest DSD mastering in 2010 based on Japanese original analog tape. DSD Transferred by Hitoshi Takiguchi.

Dire Straits’ minimalist interpretation of pub rock had already crystallized by the time they released their eponymous debut. Driven by Mark Knopfler’s spare, tasteful guitar lines and his husky warbling, the album is a set of bluesy rockers. And while the bar band mentality of pub-rock is at the core of Dire Straits — even the group’s breakthrough single, “Sultans of Swing,” offered a lament for a neglected pub rock band — their music is already beyond the simple boogies and shuffles of their forefathers, occasionally dipping into jazz and country. Knopfler also shows an inclination toward Dylanesque imagery, which enhances the smoky, low-key atmosphere of the album. While a few of the songs fall flat, the album is remarkably accomplished for a debut, and Dire Straits had difficulty surpassing it throughout their career.

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