Dire Straits —
Making Movies
album review

LYRICS FROM "SKATEAWAY"
She gets rock 'n' roll on a rock 'n' roll station,
And a rock n roll dream . . .
She's making movies on location;
She don't know what it means.
And the music make her wanna be the story,
And the story was whatever was the song, what it was . . .
Rollergirl don't worry—
D.J. play the movies all night long . . .

Album Review: Somewhere between their hits with "Sultans of Swing" and "Money For Nothing," Dire Straits found time to craft one of the finest albums of all time—Making Movies. Though it did not produce a hit single on a similar order of magnitude, it features a collection of top-notch progressive pop songs that do not disappoint.

The album opens with the sound of an old-timey Hammond organ, reminiscent of the silent movie era, but quickly progresses into the Dire Straits voice-guitar-drum music we're so familiar with. But right away it's pretty obvious that there is something going on here that is above and beyond what we normally hear from the boys—a combination of energy and nuance that is palpable but not quiet describable.

Fortunately for our ears, the towering opening track does not give way to mediocrity in the subsequent track, but rather to the best song on the album. "Romeo and Juliet" honors Shakespeare in a modern way, painting an aching portrait of romantic trials that is extremely powerful. (Stevie Nicks was reportedly so blown away by the song that she announced she would have to write her own tribute to Romeo and Juliet.)

Amazingly, there are two more songs on the album that achieve this level of near-perfection: "Skateaway" and "Hand in Hand." The former is a rhythmic stroll through summer city life, punctuated with more great guitar licks from Mark Knopfler; the latter picks up the theme of bitter-sweet romance where "Romeo and Juliet" leaves off.

The three remaining tracks on the album are all solid, though they are much more along the lines of the tunes Dire Straits did on their first two albums (which makes them good, but not quite amazing, like the other songs on Making Movies).

Overall, the album contains Dire Straits' strongest, most consistent work. I once told a friend how excellent "Making Movies" was, but he was skeptical, since he already thought other Dire Straits albums were excellent. His comment later, after listening to it: "Man, you were right!" I still am. :-)

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