Dire Straits – ”Brothers In Arms” (1985)

This is one of the first LPs in my collection. I got it when I turned 13, the same year it was released. I remember it well, my birthday took place at Sweden’s west coast where we sometimes spent a few weeks in the summer. I became a teenager, and began increasingly to say farewell to my childhood. The sun was shining just like the day before, it was hot but something was still different.

Part of getting older was to start creating your own identity and in that process your own record collection. Brothers In Arms was a step along that way. Besides children albums that lingered on the shelf, the album had company by some KISS albums I received from my brother because I sometimes cleaned his room, Magnus Uggla’s Välkommen Till Folkhemmet, and at Christmas -85 Paul Young’s Secret Of Association showed up. Slowly but surely the children albums disappeared to give room to rock 'n ' roll. Brothers In Arms is part of the foundation of my collection, one of my first albums and has accompanied me for almost 30 years.

With that being said, it doesn’t mean I think it's an amazing album that is played daily at home. Truth is that I practically never listen to it today.

Brothers In Arms is Dire Straits fifth album and their most successful. The album is the seventh best selling album ever in the UK, and has spent countless number of weeks at the number one spot on national sales charts all around the world. It has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide. Brothers In Arms was also the first album that sold more in the CD format than in the vinyl format, for a time in 1985 it was difficult for other companies to release CDs since all the available CD manufacturing was occupied by Brothers In Arms.

Something that helped make Brothers In Arms such a success was the classic video for Money For Nothing. I remember how cool I thought it was, computer-animated and all. It was at the time MTV was new, fresh and cool and music videos were discussed extensively in the schoolyard. And that Sting helped with the singing made it even more interesting.

 

The reason I don’t listen to Brothers In Arms today is not that it's a bad album, because it’s not. It's a good album. It’s rather that I went further in my music listening and left this one behind after some years. After intensive listening in my early teenage years, I have also associated it with this particular period in my life, and have found it difficult to relate to it as an adult. But the truth is, it has now passed enough time since this album was played, so I can actually appreciate it again. When I listened through it before writing this text, I realize it is with new ears I listen to it.

Money For Nothing no longer feels like I’ve heard it too many times. Instead it feels quite fresh and its cool guitar hook really sounds great. The Man 's Too Strong is as good as before and the title track is still beautifully melancholic and slightly suggestive. The opening song So Far Away is actually better than before and the beautiful Why Worry has probably become even more beautiful. And still really dislike the hit Walk Of Life, Your Latest Trick and One World.

 

I will still probably not listen very often on Brothers In Arms in the future, since I have so much else to choose from today. But I have certainly gained a renewed respect for the album and actually think it's really good.

Tracklist

Side A

1. So Far Away 3:59
2. Money For Nothing 7:04
3. Walk Of Life 4:12
4. Your Latest Trick 4:46
5. Why Worry 5:22

Side B

1. Ride Across The River 6:58
2. The Man’s Too Strong 4:40
3. One World 3:40
4. Brothers In Arms 7:00