I was actually gonna say it was a perfect album until the final song, but I figured no one on your Substack cared to hear my thoughts on Side Two of "Making Movies."
Dan, I really enjoyed this. It's true, nothing sounded quite like "Skateaway," for reasons you enunciate so well. It has an amazing feel to it. I wonder if any other Dire Straits song has this sinewy quality.. And yeah, "Les Boys" is a real groaner indeed -- sort of a spiritual cousin of the Kinks' "Out of the Wardrobe."
Best wishes, fourteen joys and a will to be merry to you and yours ...
You asked whether there was anything special I wanted for Xmas? I could have said “Rollergirl”. But the shout out to me about your adolescent infatuation with New York (which has never ceased) is gift enough. But next year Rollergirl! 🤷🏽❤️
Another Holiday adventure of yours I learned about for the first time. Your 1979 wide-eyed with awe for your first real look at Manhattan!. Reminded me of our first family Christmas living in Morningside Heights in 1960. We three DQ girls discovered the very same joys and delights of the season, including the Tree at RC and New Year's Eve at Times Square with warm chestnuts in our mittens and a crowd of cheery people all ready to celebrate the midnight moment. That season did truly change our lives....we became urban New Yorkers! Merry Christmas
This song embedded itself in my adolescent heart and mind as well, and I come back to it and this album often. The timbres of the instruments, and the atmosphere created by the reverb and echo do all work together, as you point out, and that long outro is just gorgeous. That sort of thing did seem more common on the AOR stations of the time.
Fascinating band & dude, loads of great work. It took me a while to get on to the rest of the studio albums after their first, which to me will always be the best but hell, the lyric, "Just the way that her hair fell down around her face" from "Lady Writer" has always slayed me - that's the only cut from Communiqué that's in my DS song list, along with the far better version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" off of "Alchemy". Same goes for "Skateaway" - good on Making Movies, but "Tunnel of Love," "Romeo & Juliet,"Expresso Love" & "Solid Rock" much better on "Alchemy". Again same, "Telegraph Road" & "Love Over Gold" much better live than on "Making Movies." I do like "Private Investigations" off of Making Movies. Point being, once I consolidated the cherry picks along with the entirety of the debut, I listen to a lot more DS than I did when I wasn't paying enough attention, plus it was rough when "Brothers in Arms" came out and oversaturated us on mtv, etc. I do include "So Far Away," "Man's too Strong" and "Walk of Life" from that one.
Oh yeah, that line is what really makes “Lady Writer,” which I agree is far and away the best thing on the second LP. I loved Love Over Gold and Alchemy at the time, but the drum sounds really “take me out of it” these days. I read John Illsey’s extremely enjoyable memoir a few years ago, and he said that Knopfler was always looking to do something different — and up the technological ante — with each album after the second one, which is why they went down such a digital rabbit hole on Brothers in Arms. I can respect that outlook, but BIA was unlistenable for me from the moment I first dropped a needle on it. I did still see them on that tour, however, and they were reliably fantastic live.
When I was 10, I was convinced this was the greatest album ever made. Thanks for making me feel 10 again for a couple minutes, Dan. Happy holidays.
My pleasure, Tommy. I still love most of this LP, though “Les Boys” hasn’t aged so well. Happy Holidays to you, too!
I was actually gonna say it was a perfect album until the final song, but I figured no one on your Substack cared to hear my thoughts on Side Two of "Making Movies."
Evocative. I’d just moved to NYC when that song came out. Wonderful writing.
Thanks, Jeff! Happy Holidays!
Dan, I really enjoyed this. It's true, nothing sounded quite like "Skateaway," for reasons you enunciate so well. It has an amazing feel to it. I wonder if any other Dire Straits song has this sinewy quality.. And yeah, "Les Boys" is a real groaner indeed -- sort of a spiritual cousin of the Kinks' "Out of the Wardrobe."
Best wishes, fourteen joys and a will to be merry to you and yours ...
Thanks, David - same to you and yours! And thanks for the book!
Thanks Dan 🙌 peace on earth ✨
Peace and Love to you and Chris!
You asked whether there was anything special I wanted for Xmas? I could have said “Rollergirl”. But the shout out to me about your adolescent infatuation with New York (which has never ceased) is gift enough. But next year Rollergirl! 🤷🏽❤️
I’ll have a word with Santa for you…
🙏🏻
Another Holiday adventure of yours I learned about for the first time. Your 1979 wide-eyed with awe for your first real look at Manhattan!. Reminded me of our first family Christmas living in Morningside Heights in 1960. We three DQ girls discovered the very same joys and delights of the season, including the Tree at RC and New Year's Eve at Times Square with warm chestnuts in our mittens and a crowd of cheery people all ready to celebrate the midnight moment. That season did truly change our lives....we became urban New Yorkers! Merry Christmas
This song embedded itself in my adolescent heart and mind as well, and I come back to it and this album often. The timbres of the instruments, and the atmosphere created by the reverb and echo do all work together, as you point out, and that long outro is just gorgeous. That sort of thing did seem more common on the AOR stations of the time.
There was so much more space in the music back then - and space on the radio for it!
One of my favorite Dire Straits songs along with Romeo And Juliet! 🎶
Side 1 of Making Movies is their absolute peak, as far as I’m concerned.
Amen.
Fascinating band & dude, loads of great work. It took me a while to get on to the rest of the studio albums after their first, which to me will always be the best but hell, the lyric, "Just the way that her hair fell down around her face" from "Lady Writer" has always slayed me - that's the only cut from Communiqué that's in my DS song list, along with the far better version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" off of "Alchemy". Same goes for "Skateaway" - good on Making Movies, but "Tunnel of Love," "Romeo & Juliet,"Expresso Love" & "Solid Rock" much better on "Alchemy". Again same, "Telegraph Road" & "Love Over Gold" much better live than on "Making Movies." I do like "Private Investigations" off of Making Movies. Point being, once I consolidated the cherry picks along with the entirety of the debut, I listen to a lot more DS than I did when I wasn't paying enough attention, plus it was rough when "Brothers in Arms" came out and oversaturated us on mtv, etc. I do include "So Far Away," "Man's too Strong" and "Walk of Life" from that one.
Oh yeah, that line is what really makes “Lady Writer,” which I agree is far and away the best thing on the second LP. I loved Love Over Gold and Alchemy at the time, but the drum sounds really “take me out of it” these days. I read John Illsey’s extremely enjoyable memoir a few years ago, and he said that Knopfler was always looking to do something different — and up the technological ante — with each album after the second one, which is why they went down such a digital rabbit hole on Brothers in Arms. I can respect that outlook, but BIA was unlistenable for me from the moment I first dropped a needle on it. I did still see them on that tour, however, and they were reliably fantastic live.
Yes, so much otherwise great music ruined with those tech fetishes, especially the 80's ones.