Dire Straits - Communique

Fantastic album. Play their first 4 albums on vinyl regularly.

sell it to me guys, - it is not an album that I own, tell me why I should buy it

I tend to reflect on the first 3 albums as being almost a trilogy. Classic case of the band suddenly getting the success that the music had deserved for some time and then being forced to release 3 albums in short order.
I seem to recall seeing a very early gig (Red Cow was it?) and an early variation of 'Once upon a time in the west' was run out. So some of these tunes had already received a bit of an airing in some form.
When 'Communique' came out I was hot for it. Initially I felt it didn't match up to the debut album which was, of course, so refreshing at the time. However,  within a few plays it was clear, that although the song ideas may have been around in Knopfler's head for a bit, his artistry was already refining. The texts are typically full of neat observations. OUATITW is a great track. 'Lady Writer' gets acclaim as the successful single, but 'News', 'Where do you think you're going' and 'Single-Handed Sailor' are all glorious. Nevertheless, there was a band ethic to the album and it nicely continues the path of the debut.

Mark's brother David left during recording of 'Making Movies' and I find this the weakest of the 3, despite the stunning 'Romeo and Juliet'. But the signs were there. It was Mark's band and the album featured less songs, something that continued into the magnificent 'Love over Gold', which in terms of quality surpassed what had gone before. This was Pick Withers last album with the band and I think LOG closed off that early era.

You can pick up the early albums 'remastered' now for a few quid and if you are the completist type of person I wouldn't be without it. Communique has some really lovely moments on it and, just as with the first, when you listen to it without any distractions you are instantly teleported back to 78/79, even though the music itself has remained timeless. I was with my first serious love at the time and so the Dire Straits 'trilogy' of original band albums have a particular fine resonance with me and I remain a fan of Mark to this day.

My personal favorite Dire Straits album.