I like them, and have all their studio albums.
I never saw Dire Straits live, though the second time I saw Eric Clapton in concert, Mark Knopfler was the other guitarist on stage.
I'm a great fan of Clapton and of the various bands he's been in, however, I recall being more impressed that night with Knopfler than Clapton.
The first two DS albums are my favourites. If I was to rank their entire studio output, I would end up listing their albums chronologically except the first two would switch spots — Communiqué is my favourite.
The only Knopfler solo album I have is Golden Heart, which I also like — not as much as the DS albums, though.
Nonetheless, I keep meaning to add more of his solo stuff.
Are they a band / artist you like?
Definitely yes. I still remember the moment, when I first heard Sultans Of Swing back in 1978. The band were performing a show at the famous German "Rockpalast" TV-show and I was blown away. The guitar riff of Sultans Of Swing kept ringing in my ears for days. I have been a fan of the band since this very moment.
Rank Their Albums:
01. Making Movies
02. Communiqué
03. Dire Streits
04. Brothers In Arms
05. Love Over Gold
06. On Every Street
Live Show Experiences:
Saw them live on their OES-Tour in Frankfurt. Quite a relaxed gig. I thought, that everyone in the audience should have had a martini in hand.
Comments About Each Member of DS
nice blokes
Post videos you like of them
I would post the Money For Nothing Video, but don't know how to do it....
DS are my third favourite band after the Beatles & Led Zeppelin. Mark Knopfler is my favourite singer, songwriter & guitarist.
The albums I rank as follows:
Making Movies (this is my second favourite album of all time, after Revolver)
Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
Communiqué
Love Over Gold
On Every Street
I was lucky enough to see them twice, on the Brothers In Arms record breaking run in Sydney, and on the On Every Street tour. So that seems to be something I have above the rest of you Genesis fans! Hubby & I saw Mark on his only solo tour here, in 2005 on the Shangri-La tour. I was also at a Bob Dylan/Tom Petty show & he appeared as a special guest. I have a photo of that. Sadly I can't seem to post it.
Knopfler's solo albums I will rank as follows:
Sailing To Philadelphia
Shangri-La
Tracker
Golden Heart
Privateering
Get Lucky
The Ragpicker's Dream
Down The Road Wherever (this is new & I'm still getting to know it)
Kill To Get Crimson
I am happy to go into more detail on any of this at a later date.
Here's Money For Nothing:
Here's Mark's latest video Good On You Son:
Hey! Our thread is here! 
I'll cut to the chase...
My personal rankings:
1) Making Movies (their best, IMHO, and a classic of the era it was released in (and beyond, really))
2) Brothers In Arms (absolutely amazing - enough said)
3) Dire Straits/Love Over Gold (tie) (neither rise to the classic level of the other two (IMHO, of course), but are great nonetheless)
5) Communique (I'm surprised that this album is higher in other people's rankings, but to each their own - to me, it is very similar to the first album in sound, and I thought they did it better on the debut album)
6) On Every Street (it's hard to follow up an album like "Brothers In Arms", esp. when you wait a few years to do it)
I never got to see them live and I regret it - realistically, I only could have seen them on the "On Every Street" tour and, had I known it would be their last tour, I would have made a special point of going. Oh well...
Along with the Talking Heads, they top my "most-desired-reunion-which-will-never-happen" list.
That's it for now.
I must say - I have all their studio albums, but don't remember stuff on Communique for example.
I also quite like On Every Street, in contrast to most others here.
Brothers In Arms was released on SACD and this is a superb mix!
solo stuff: Golden Heart and Ragpicker's Dream are my favorites.
My first concert back in December 1980.
Makin Movies tour in Aberdeen.
Best album: Communique
Regarding On Every Street, it followed Brothers In Arms. It couldn't live up to that masterwork (and it is a masterwork, despite all the sneers about 'people only bought it to test their new CD players'). For the title track alone OES is worth hearing, as is the country flavoured How Long & a rare piece of political comment, Iron Hand, plus a couple of 'noir' moments in Fade To Black & When It Comes To You.
I am glad to see that others feel as I do about Making Movies. I will only say at the outset that I first heard it at university. As a Shakespearean, Romeo & Juliet hit a very long, deep chord with me. I have my own personal connection with it when he sings 'Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time' . (My mother wanted to call me Juliet but my father thought Julie was simpler). As for Tunnel Of Love, I always loved the fairground imagery, but I wondered what the Spanish City stuff was about. Then I got acquainted with my future husband who comes from South Shields, not too far away from Whitley Bay where the Spanish City is located. If I wasn't already a dedicated fan, that was the end of it. I just got more & more obsessive after that.
Regarding the other band members the core was always Knopfler & Illsley. David Knopfler & Pick Withers left after the first two albums, even though they were inducted into the Hall of Fame along with keyboardists Guy Fletcher (the only one who still works with Mark today) & Alan Clark. There is perhaps a case for stating that the classic lineup is on the Alchemy DVD (with drummer Terry Williams & guitarist Hal Lindes). They had a fairly fluid structure. Genesis they were not.
I must be careful not to start raving too much because the fact is I can do this about Dire Straits & Knopfler, far easier than I can about Genesis. I suppose I could say I followed their career from the start, including when they were probably the biggest band in the world in the Brothers In Arms period. So I do have form. Anyway that's enough...
... it followed Brothers In Arms. It couldn't live up to that masterwork (and it is a masterwork, despite all the sneers about 'people only bought it to test their new CD players').
Just an aside that some of us didn’t have CD players but bought the Brothers in Arms LP, then got Making Movies on cassette so it could be played in the car. Despite playing both a great deal, somehow never got around to their other albums. In the UK they were universally popular in the mid-80s, & then in the early 90s they suddenly became the old dinosaurs everyone sneered at. Maybe a reaction against over-exposure, similar to what happened to Phil Collins?
Just an aside that some of us didn’t have CD players but bought the Brothers in Arms LP, then got Making Movies on cassette so it could be played in the car. Despite playing both a great deal, somehow never got around to their other albums. In the UK they were universally popular in the mid-80s, & then in the early 90s they suddenly became the old dinosaurs everyone sneered at. Maybe a reaction against over-exposure, similar to what happened to Phil Collins?
Well yes, I had the BIA LP first as well, obviously! But they got hit with this 'music for yuppies' tag just as Phil did. Were they over-exposed? It's true that for a while there Mark was playing with every big all star band in sight, just as Phil was, and they did of course appear together on a few occasions. Was the overexposure one of the reasons he disbanded them after On Every Street? He says in his episode of Brian Johnson's Life On The Road that they got too 'big'. An example of how 'big' they were is the Heavy Fuel video which show the sort of lifestyle they were enjoying at this point.
As a solo artist Mark has been very low key. He ploughs his own furrow & in that regard he is more like Peter than Phil or even more like Robert Plant. I don't think any of his solo albums had significant sales figures but as a fan that doesn't bother me. I just wish he would return to Australia. It's been far too long.
...
5) Communique (I'm surprised that this album is higher in other people's rankings, but to each their own - to me, it is very similar to the first album in sound, and I thought they did it better on the debut album)
...
By the mid 80s, I had heard about 4 or 5 hit songs on the radio from various albums of DS. They seemed like a decent band with a good guitarist but I wasn’t really convinced this was a group I would want to buy an album of until one day I was at a friend’s place and someone put on Communiqué.
Never heard the album before, never heard any of these songs before but it immediately piqued my interest from the opening notes of Once Upon A Time In The West.
As the album went on, I found the music endearing and I remained completely captivated throughout.
By the time I had heard Lady Writer and Portobello Belle – which to this day are my two favourite DS songs – not only did I feel I had to have this album in my collection, I needed to have all of Dire Straits in my collection.
That’s how much of an impact Communiqué had on me.
Although I like Dire Straits, I have not been a completist fan and cannot rank all their albums, although I generally like the ones I have heard through Brothers In Arms. I also really like Alchemy, the live album from the early 80s. I think the live versions of some of the earlier classic are really powerful.
Display MoreRanking the Mark Knopfler solo albums I have
1 Sailing To Philadelphia
2 Shangri-La
3 Get Lucky
4 Privateering
5 Tracker
6 Down The Road Wherever
7 The Ragpicker's Dream
8 One Take Radio Sessions
9 Golden Heart
10 Kill To Get Crimson
Soundtracks that I have
1 Local Hero
2 The Princess Bride
3 Cal
4 Altamira
5 Last Exit To Brooklyn
6 Wag The Dog
7 Comfort And Joy
8 A Shot At Glory
9 Metroland
10 Screenplaying
Collaborations that I have
1 All The Roadrunning with Emmylou Harris (both studio and live version)
2 Neck And Neck with Chet Atkins
3 Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time with The Notting Hillbillies
I’m officially nominating you for the site’s biggest MK fan!
Well, I didn't buy the soundtracks, that's true, except for A Shot At Glory which has a beautiful version of Wild Mountain Thyme. I have some of the soundtrack songs on iTunes. I've got the Harris & Atkins CDs (and the DVD he did with Harris).
I will give it some thought & try listing my top 20 DS & MK songs.
I noticed Sailing To Philadelphia was ranked No. 1 for a couple of you who seem very familiar with MK's solo work.
I took that as a recommendation from a pair of reliable sources 
and just ordered it.
Display MoreBy the mid 80s, I had heard about 4 or 5 hit songs on the radio from various albums of DS. They seemed like a decent band with a good guitarist but I wasn’t really convinced this was a group I would want to buy an album of until one day I was at a friend’s place and someone put on Communiqué.
Never heard the album before, never heard any of these songs before but it immediately piqued my interest from the opening notes of Once Upon A Time In The West.
As the album went on, I found the music endearing and I remained completely captivated throughout.
By the time I had heard Lady Writer and Portobello Belle – which to this day are my two favourite DS songs – not only did I feel I had to have this album in my collection, I needed to have all of Dire Straits in my collection.
That’s how much of an impact Communiqué had on me.
Yes - I have to walk back my original comment about "Communique" a bit. I was too hasty in saying what I did originally.
Everyone's liking of a particular band is unique. You experienced the DS albums differently from how I did. Communique was the album that you heard all the way through for the first time, and you liked it; thus, it will always be a favorite for you - the same way that those who experienced the albums chronologically would value the early albums a bit more too.
The first DS album I got into first was "Love Over Gold" (and I'm still confused why "Industrial Disease" is never included on DS compilations). Then, I fell in love with "Brothers In Arms". "Making Movies" was next, and I was amazed that I liked that even more than the other two. I got the first two after that - thus, those two would not quite live up to the other three for me. I liked "Sultans Of Swing" the first time I heard it, but I never heard anything else from the album - thus, I never bought it. I always liked "Lady Writer" and "Once Upon A Time In The West" too.
Heck, their whole catalogue is great, isn't it? I really like "Alchemy" too - I never understood the dislike directed toward it from some circles.
The version of Expresso Love on Alchemy (Hey Maestro! Expresso!) rocks.
My current Top 20 DS songs would probably be:
1. Romeo & Juliet
2. Tunnel Of Love
3. Brothers In Arms
4. Sultans Of Swing
5. Solid Rock
6. Industrial Disease
7. Expresso Love
8. Wild West End
9. Ride Across The River
10. Once Upon A Time In The West
11. Down To The Waterline
12. Skateaway
13.Money For Nothing
14. Telegraph Road
15. In The Gallery
16. Private Investigations
17. The Man's Too Strong
18. Hand In Hand
19. Single Handed Sailor
20. Lady Writer
The title track of On Every Street was unlucky as was Portobello Belle. The catalogue is relatively small. It will be harder to do a top 20 of Knopfler's songs.
