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INXS: Hear That Sound // 1990
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Dire Straits

Calling elvis - is anybody home
Calling elvis - I'm here all alone
Did he leave the building
Or can he come to the phone

Sounds all too good. Guitar flicking is original, sound distinctive, there are dynamics and rolls. It's Dire Straits and that one was Calling Elvis (1991) from their last album. But what was Dire Straits? The answer is Mark Knopfler, the songwriter, guitar player and singer.

"Most creative people are like sponges - they absorb things and then squeeze something different out."
- Mark Knopfler

Dire's career is a solid packet. With six studio albums I think they were able to put everything on record they could contribute to the world of rock 'n roll. The music is quite mature, no wonder that the fellows put Dire up and to the charts at the time they were turning thirty. The music gets still today continuous radio play and classics are many. Knopfler just had the touch and sense of chords.

"You don't write good songs out of being in a normal happy middle-class-environment. You don't paint good pictures if you sit and watch TV every night. You live on the outside of all that sort of stuff. If you don't live on the edge, you don't live."
- John Illsley

Of all Dire albums I like most Making Movies (1980). It makes me feel like they would have so much more to say. Starts out with Tunnel of Love.

And in the roar of dust and diesel I stood and watched her walk away
I could have caught up with her easy enough but something must have made me stay

(C) 2001-2002 Mikko Välimäki // PGP