Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits album)

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Brothers in Arms
Studio album by Dire Straits
Released 13 May 1985
Recorded November 1984 - March 1985,
AIR Studios, Montserrat / AIR Studios, London / Power Station, New York
Genre Rock, roots rock, blues rock
Length 55:07 (CD)
47:21 (LP)
Label Vertigo (UK), Warner Bros. (U.S.)
Producer Mark Knopfler, Neil Dorfsman
Dire Straits chronology
Alchemy
(1984)		 Brothers in Arms
(1985)		 On Every Street
(1991)
Singles from Brothers in Arms
  1. "So Far Away"
    Released: 8 April 1985
  2. "Money for Nothing"
    Released: 24 June 1985
  3. "Brothers in Arms"
    Released: 14 October 1985
  4. "Walk of Life"
    Released: 30 December 1985
  5. "Your Latest Trick"
    Released: 28 April 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[1]
Robert Christgau B−[2]
Rolling Stone (mixed)[3]

Brothers in Arms is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1985. The first half of the album is a development of their unique brand of rock which had evolved in their music since the 1980 album Making Movies, while the second half consists of more folk-influenced material. The whole album maintains the original Dire Straits' bluesy and laid back guitar-based style whilst employing a more lavish production and overall sound.

Brothers in Arms charted number 1 worldwide, spending ten weeks at number one on the UK Album Chart (between 18 January and 22 March), nine weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. and thirty-four weeks at number one on the Australian Album Chart. It is the fifth best-selling album in UK chart history; is certified nine times platinum in the United States; and is one of the world's best selling albums having sold 30 million copies worldwide.[4][5][6][7]

Contents

[edit] History

Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums to be directed at the CD market, and was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment. It was also released on vinyl and cassette.

Brothers in Arms was the first album to sell one million copies in the CD format and to outsell its LP version. A Rykodisc employee would subsequently write, "[In 1985 we] were fighting to get our CDs manufactured because the entire worldwide manufacturing capacity was overwhelmed by demand for a single rock title (Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms)."[8]

It was remastered and released with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world outside the United States and on 19 September 2000 in the United States. It was also released in XRCD2 format in 2000, then the 20th Anniversary Edition was issued in Super Audio CD format on 26 July 2005 (becoming the 3000th title for the SACD format) and DualDisc format with DVD-Audio 24 bit/96 kHz track on 16 August 2005, remixed in 5.1 by Chuck Ainlay[9] and winning a Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album at the 48th Grammy Awards ceremony.[10]

In 2006, a half-speed-mastered vinyl version of the album was issued. Mastered by the renowned Stan Ricker, this version puts the full-length songs on vinyl for the first time. In order to do this, the album spans four sides on two 33 1/3 rpm discs.

[edit] Accolades

In 1986, Brothers In Arms won two Grammy Awards at the 28th Grammy Awards, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards.[11][12] In 2000, Q magazine placed the album at number 51 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.[13] In 2003, the album ranked number 351 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[14]

In November 2006, the results of a national poll conducted by the public of Australia revealed their top 100 favourite albums. Brothers in Arms came in at number 64 (see "My Favourite Album"). Brothers in Arms is ranked number 3 in the best albums of 1985 and number 31 in the best albums of the 1980s.

As of December 2011, Brothers in Arms is the 5th best-selling album of all-time in the UK, and the 107th best-selling album in the United States.[5]

[edit] Track listings

All songs written by Mark Knopfler, except where indicated. The track lengths on the LP version differ from the lengths on the CD and cassette versions, due to the limitations of the vinyl medium. The full tracks would not all fit on a single disc. (This was the first album where the CD was longer than the LP.)

[edit] CD/Cassette track listing

No. Title Length
1. "So Far Away"   5:12
2. "Money for Nothing" (Knopfler, Sting) 8:26
3. "Walk of Life"   4:12
4. "Your Latest Trick"   6:33
5. "Why Worry"   8:31
6. "Ride Across the River"   6:58
7. "The Man's Too Strong"   4:40
8. "One World"   3:40
9. "Brothers in Arms"   7:00

[edit] Original LP track listing

Side A
No. Title Length
1. "So Far Away"   3:59
2. "Money for Nothing" (Knopfler, Sting) 7:04
3. "Walk of Life"   4:12
4. "Your Latest Trick"   4:46
5. "Why Worry"   5:22
Side B
No. Title Length
6. "Ride Across the River"   6:58
7. "The Man's Too Strong"   4:40
8. "One World"   3:40
9. "Brothers in Arms"   7:00

[edit] Songs

[edit] Side 1

"Money for Nothing" was one of the most played music videos on MTV during the era. It is one of only two Dire Straits songs on a studio album to not be solely credited to Mark Knopfler - Sting was given a co-writing credit.

"Walk of Life" was a number 2 hit for the band in the UK in early 1986 and a number 7 hit in the United States later that year. The song was nearly left off the album, but was included after the band out-voted producer Neil Dorfsman.

[edit] Side 2

On the second side of the album, three songs ("Ride Across the River", "The Man's Too Strong" and "Brothers in Arms") are lyrically focused on militarism.

"Ride Across the River" uses immersive Latin American imagery, accompanied by synthesized pan flute,a reggae-influenced drum part and eerie background noises. "The Man's Too Strong" depicts the character of an ancient soldier (or war criminal) and his fear of showing feelings as a weakness. "Brothers in Arms" deals with the nonsense of war.

[edit] Cover

The guitar featured on the album cover is a National Style 0 Resonator. The Style 0 line of guitars was introduced in 1930 and discontinued in 1941. The guitar is now owned by a guitar shop in California called Fretted Americana. The photographer was Deborah Feingold.[15]

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Band personnel

with

[edit] Additional personnel

According to a 2006 Sound on Sound magazine interview with the co-producer/engineer of the album, Neil Dorfsman, then-permanent drummer Terry Williams' performance was found to be unsuitable for the desired sound of the album during the first month of the recording sessions. He was therefore temporarily replaced by one of the most popular jazz session drummers of the time, Omar Hakim, who recorded the whole album's drum parts in two days and then left.[16] Terry Williams' only contribution is the improvised crescendo at the beginning of "Money for Nothing." Everything else features Hakim's drumming, although Williams would be back in the band for the music videos and the tour.

[edit] Charts

The album was a hit for the group:

  • In Australia, Brothers in Arms was the biggest selling album in 1985 and the second best selling album in 1986, behind Whitney Houston's eponymous album. It topped the albums chart for 34 (non-consecutive) weeks, and is the album with the second most weeks at number-one in ARIA Albums Chart.
  • In the Netherlands, the album broke the all-time longest chart history with (non-consecutive) 269 weeks.
  • In the UK it reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart, and has achieved 228 weeks in the chart.[17]
  • In the United States it reached #1 on the Billboard 200 and remained there for nine weeks.
  • The album also topped the charts in Austria, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Yugoslavia, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Turkey.

[edit] Album

Year Chart Position
1986 UK Albums Chart 1
1985 Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1
1985 Austrian Albums Chart 1
1985 U.S. Billboard 200 1
1985 Canadian Albums Chart 1
1985 German Albums Chart 1
1985 French Albums Chart 1
1985 Norwegian Albums Chart 1
1985 Swedish Albums Chart 1
1985 Swiss Albums Chart 1
1985 Dutch Albums Chart 2
1985 Italian Albums Chart 4

[edit] Singles

Year Song Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Billboard Hot 100 Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Australian Singles Chart Austrian Singles Chart French Singles Chart Italian Singles Chart Norwegian Singles Chart Swedish Singles Chart Swiss Singles Chart UK Singles
1985 "Money for Nothing" - #1 #1 #4 #7 #34 - - - - #4
1985 "One World" - - #8 - - - - - - - -
1985 "So Far Away" - - #29 #22 - - #33 #4 #7 #6 #20
1985 "Brothers in Arms" - - #29 #57 - - - - - - #16
1986 "Walk of Life" #4 #7 #6 #11 #18 - - - - #24 #2
1986 "Ride Across the River" - - #21 - - - - - - - -
1986 "So Far Away" #3 #19 - - - - - - - - -
1986 "Your Latest Trick" - - - - - #1 - - - - #26

[edit] Awards

Grammy Awards
Year Winner Category
1985 Brothers in Arms Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical
1985 "Money for Nothing" Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
2006 Brothers in Arms Best Surround Sound Album

[edit] Certifications

Organisation Level Date
IFPI – Germany Platinum 1985
CRIA – Canada 10x Platinum (Diamond) 23 April 1986
SNEP – France Diamond[18] 1988
RIAA – U.S. 9x Platinum 7 August 1996
BPI – UK 13x Platinum (4,069,764)[19] 31 October 1997
ARIA – Australia 17x Platinum 2009
CAPIF – Argentina Gold[20] 1 December 1989

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Robert Christgau review
  3. ^ Rolling Stone review
  4. ^ Dire Straits
  5. ^ a b BPI Highest Retail Sales. British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 December 2011
  6. ^ "Mark Knopfler hurt in crash". BBC News. 18 March 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2859527.stm. 
  7. ^ Queen head all-time sales chart BBC News Retrieved 17 January 2011
  8. ^ "It was 20 — or maybe not — years ago today". Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070610095613/http://rykodisc.com/RykoInternal/20years/page_03.asp. Retrieved 14 June 2006. 
  9. ^ "High Fidelity Review - Interview with Chuck Ainlay, who remixed album in 5.1". Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080610132806/http://www.highfidelityreview.com/features/brothers_in_arms_01.asp. Retrieved 2 August 2009. 
  10. ^ Billboard 18 Feb 2006 Billboard Retrieved: 30 December 2010.
  11. ^ Grammy Winners. Grammy.com. Retrieved: 11 May 2007.
  12. ^ Brit Awards 1987 Brits.co.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2011
  13. ^ The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever Q Magazine. Retrieved 26 December 2011
  14. ^ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 December 2011
  15. ^ "Dire Straits/Brothers in Arms". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/86rg.mp. Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  16. ^ CLASSIC TRACKS: Dire Straits 'Money For Nothing'
  17. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/albuminfo.php?id=5972
  18. ^ http://www.infodisc.fr/CDCertif_D.php
  19. ^ "Top 40 Best Selling Albums 28 July 1956 – 14 June 2009" (PDF). British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/assets/files/top%2040%20albums.pdf. Retrieved 31 August 2011. 
  20. ^ Discos de Oro y Platino Capif.org
Preceded by
Songs from the Big Chair
by Tears for Fears		 Billboard 200 number-one album
31 August 1985 – 1 November 1985		 Succeeded by
Miami Vice I by Various Artists
Preceded by
Hits 2 by Various Artists
Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
Now That's What I Call Music 6 by Various Artists		 UK number one album
25 May 1985 – 7 June 1985
3 August 1985 – 16 August 1985
18 January 1986 – 28 March 1986		 Succeeded by
Our Favourite Shop by The Style Council
Now That's What I Call Music 5 by Various Artists
Hits 4 by Various Artists
Preceded by
No Jacket Required by Phil Collins		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
27 May – 30 June 1985
29 July – 13 October 1985
28 October – 15 December 1985
3 February 1986 – 20 April 1986		 Succeeded by
Be Yourself Tonight by Eurythmics
Dire Straits
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
EPs
Singles
Tours
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