Dire Straits - Communique
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Free Music Notes for Communique
Free Music Review: Solid
Hit: 4 Stars
While there are no songs on this album that stand out like Dire Straits classics like Tunnel of Love, The Man's too Strong or Telegraph road, it is solid throughout without a single bad song on it. Not the best intro to the band, but a must for every fan.Free Music Review: Interesting followup
Hit: 4 Stars
Not as good as their Debut LP though. Although Angel ofMercy and Portobello Belle are as good as anything on the first one.Free Music Review: Probably the weakest of the canon - but still worth owning
Hit: 3 Stars
Communique is a classic "difficult second album". No question in my mind that Mark Knopfler felt impelled to repeat the formula of the band's debut LP - witness the reverb-drenched solo guitar intro to opener, "Once Upon a Time in the West", which bears more than a passing resemblance to "Down to the Waterline", which opened the first record.While the Dire Straits line-up, production values, and intrumentation are the same (it would be another two records before Mark Knopfler flipped the switch on his stratocaster out of the out-of-phase pickup position) there is a distinctive, and altogether pleasant, London-in-the-summertime feel to this record. If, like me, you're lucky enough to live in this great city, you'll know exactly what I mean.
It's best exemplified by the lovely "Portobello Belle" and the opener "Once Upon a Time in the West", which despite its title has as much in common with a Spaghetti Western as the Swindon Cowboy, but cruises along with an almost top-down, reggae feel to it. It's almost - and this comes as a massive surprise from Dire Staits - groovy.
"Where do you think you're going" is a nice tune - perhaps the first act of the melodrama/tragedy which culminates in Making Movies' "Romeo & Juliet", and "Follow Me Home" is a nice, brooding closer, picking up on the slaughter theme set out at the beginning of the record.
"Portobello Belle" is the real single of the album, though I don't think it was ever released. The trusty National Guitar gets an outing, and I think it's fair to say no-one's ever made a resonator sound quite so Notting Hill before. It's a lovely tune, lovely wistful lyrics, and makes up for a number of dud songs on the record.
And this is where I start subtracting stars. The dross count really is too high - "News", "Lady Writer" (a lame attempt to reprise Sultans of Swing, if ever there was one), title track "Communique" and "Single-Handed Sailor" aren't up to scratch as songs at all, and some of those that are have simply AWFUL lyrics. Knopfler is heavily influenced in his writing and singing by Bob Dylan, but - especially on this record - plainly lacks Dylan's gift for a crisp metaphor. The opening verse of "Once Upon a Time..." ruminates thematically on people who "get a cheap laugh breaking up the speed limit", and couples that line with "scaring the pedestrians for a minute", which is not very Rock 'n' Roll at all.
Communique is probably the weakest record of Dire Straits' oeuvre. That's not to say it isn't worth checking out, but it's an understated rather than a guilty pleasure to be found here.
Free Music Review: Classic Dire Straits
Hit: 3 Stars
Whilst this is not my favourite album of this classic band it is still better than probably ninety percent of the other albums by other groups on the market in my opinion. This remastering of the original album has been done with skill and consideration of the feel of this album. The tracks "Lady Writer" and "Portobello Belle" are my favourite tracks on this album. Worth a serious listen.Free Music Review: Inessential
Hit: 2 Stars
Interesting to see so much love for this; I find it sluggish, derivative of the debut, inessential, a sophomore slump. Still, it sounds pretty good and can be a pleasant listen if one doesn't concentrate too hard. "Once Upon a Time in the West" is a promising start, one of the better tracks, with Knopfler's sardonic writing in force, "Sitting on the fence, that's a dangerous course/ You could even catch a bullet from the peace-keeping force," but "News" stutters and "Where Do You Think You're Going" gets going only in the last minute. From "Communique", the album mellows a bit, and with a hint of flamenco and a hint of funk and the title track is a nice tune, though far from truly vital. The single, "Lady Writer" is rehashed Sultans of Swing, but a catchy song for all that, and so on...the songs taken on their own are just fine, but the sum is considerably less than its parts.