Happy birthday Mark Knopfler.
It’s no surprise that I would pay tribute to you in this little blog… you were a touchstone to me in my musical genesis, proving that smart and complex recordings could compete for my attention with the big, dumb, awesome rock of the day. Your eponymous first release was part of my pre-pubescent record collection… along side sis’s Beatles, Monkees and whatever else I managed to not completely destroy:
My copy of your first record was an unplayable mess! Played, uncleaned, dozens of times on the family console… you deserved better. My replacement is still kind of a crackly, but fills the bill nicely. The hitless and wonderful side A of Dire Straits transports me back to 1978. Journey and Ted Nugent were huge, NYC punk was going mainstream, southern rock was migrating northward and Down to the Waterline/ Water of Love knocked my socks off!
Sultans of Swing, on side B, cemented the deal and I’ve been a fan ever since.
Good call. Knopfler is a great songwriter and guitar stylist. One of the few musicians who went from college lecturer to primo musician. Still love his score to The Local Hero.
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