After mentioning the “Money for Nothing” video in the favorite video thread, I happened to catch the “Skateaway” video on VH1 Classic. Not that it was a great video, except for the roller-skating dancer, but that it’s a great song.
So how is it possible that Dire Straits, one of the best bands of all time, doesn’t have a single box set available? That it doesn’t have even a two-CD compilation? That it has two short “greatest hits” albums out and neither one has “Skateaway” on it?
I have most of the albums on vinyl but that’s not the point. They - especially Mark Knopfler - deserve the recognition.
Only Steely Dan did it right. Their box set has every song from every album in the original order, plus the half dozen essential extras, compressed onto four discs. Perfect.
You know, the only boxed set I have is Warren Zevon, and yeah, they didn’t do it the Steely Dan way. And while I do listen to it, I keep expecting to hear certain songs and they don’t come on and I get a little pang every time.
If there were a Dire Straits boxed set with every song from every album in order, I would definitely buy it.
I think it’s possible that Mark Knopfler just isn’t interested in putting one together.
He’s had one of the all time great careers in music. Pop star and sort of uninterested in it. Once he had the money to do whatever the hell he wanted that’s what he did.
Album with Chet Atkins? Check.
Play with Weird Al? Check.
Soundtracks? Check.
Form new band to do bluegrass-tinged stuff? Check.
I’ve seen them live twice and, I admit, as a band at a big venue they don’t really have it. I think they’d be great in a small club where the audience can interact with the band a bit but outside of that they’re another band that strives for perfection (no fault there!) but lacks the showmanship and charisma necessary to do the whole ‘rock star’ thing.
If all you want is the original tracks, in original album order, why not just buy the CDs (which presumably you have already anyway)? Import them onto your PC and re-burn them 2-albums-per-disk to approximate that box-set anthology feel. Presto.
It’s like the Pink Floyd box set. I didn’t get the point of that at all; every fan already has those disks, they don’t sound appreciably better, and if what you’re looking for is the disk of early cuts, you can find those easily enough with a little sleuthing.
Well, no, I don’t have the CDs. I have the vinyl. So for me that would involve paying twice as much money to buy the CDs, spending a huge amount of time to import and export them, using software I don’t have and have no idea how to use, and wind up with a product that from what I understand would be sonically inferior to the original.
And that still wouldn’t give me any of the desired extras. The Steely Dan box set had such goodies as the “FM” single and the live version of Bodhisattva, a b-side that forever refutes the charge that the Dan couldn’t cook as hard in concert as any other rock band that ever lived.
So, thanks for the advice, but it doesn’t work that well for me, or for any of us dinosaurs from the age of vinyl.
P.S. Anybody want to explain why my spell-checker chokes on “CDs” but passes through “Bodhisattva” without a blink?
Just a WAG, but have you instructed your spell checker to ignore it at some time in the past? I’d say either that, or a software writer somewhere has a keen appreciation of Steely Dan.
I am in the same vinyl boat as Exapno Mapcase.
I have the newer works on CD, but not the older stuff. Would love a boxed set.
Only saw Mark Knopfler, not the band, but it was at Red Rocks Amphitheater, outside on a late summer night a couple years ago. Red Rocks is certainly bigger than a small club, but the sound there is exquisite, much better than a stadium experience. Knopfler was relaxed and playing at the top of his game.
If they do release one, they’ll have to include the AM radio edit of “Sultans of Swing”.
On the album version, the guitar solo at the end was prone to DJs talking over it.
In response, Mark Knopler and the boys went back to the studio and completely re-recorded the song with a lesser solo at the end and a quicker fade out.
You can tell the difference in the last stanza. In the album cut it goes:
