Making Movies

Product Information

Making Movies is the third studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 17 October 1980 by Vertigo Records internationally, Warner Bros. Mastered from analog tapes and pressed at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 45RPM 2LP set of Making Movies breathes with reference-caliber airiness, spaciousness, dynamics, and separation. Always more about the whole than the sum of their individual parts, Dire Straits demonstrate that while Knopfler is the lynchpin, this record is a true band effort. Knopfler doesn't give his characters names like Springsteen always does ("Rollergirl" is the best he can do) but the storytelling is definitely on a similar path. The song is filled with romantic projections, though in real life most women would run away from a creepy carnival worker hitting on them.

The second single release was " Skateaway," and the third and final single from the album was the lengthy opening track, " Tunnel of Love," with its intro "The Carousel Waltz" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, which only reached the number 54 position in the UK. He seems to be putting Roy Bittan's piano playing in the spotlight instead of his own guitar on most of the other tracks. David Knopfler left Dire Straits in August 1980 during the recording of the album, following heated arguments with his brother [4] and almost immediately after the recording of a BBC2 Arena documentary about the group featuring several individual interviews with the band members. The album was remastered and reissued on CD with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 internationally, and on 19 September 2000 in the United States. It's no surprise that it was one of the 3 Dire Straits songs included in the setlist of his tour with Emmylou Harris in 2006.

Rolling Stone ranked Making Movies number 52 in their survey of the 100 Best Albums of the Eighties. It appears mine was done at the Toronto plant and have seen decent pressings from there on occasion. Making Movies Is A Rock Masterpiece After Dire Straits second album was criticized as more of the same, Mark Knopfler responded with a rock masterpiece titled Making Movies. Everything sounds the same at a certain point, all of these songs start off good but trail off into nothing of note. In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that Making Movies "ranks among the band's finest work.

Expansive and cinematic, the aptly titled Making Movies puts a premium on interrelated subjects (love, relationships, heartbreak) and deep-seated emotions that play out in heartfelt lyrics, intense singing, and epic frameworks. However, this Mofi does an unbelievable job of separating the instruments to let them all breathe and give them space. A slightly noisy sound floor on the lead in on side one is the only production issue I noticed, not enough to complain about and hardly noticeable in the songs. However, I just picked one of these up used from the LRS in new condition, ultrasonic cleaned it in a double cycle, played it and was very happy with the purchase.Mark Knopfler's songwriting took a significant leap on "Making Movies" as if it were time to try more innovative techniques following two albums. Expresso love is single handedly the most underrated track in the history of tracks, the piano harmonies and lyrics are fantastic, check the first b-side out, trust me, mate. Produced by Jimmy Iovine and Knopfler, the record – which contains many Springsteen-esque elements – features the cleanliness and clarity that have long been Dire Straits trademarks. It’s not a Mofi 45 or UHQR but it’s as good or better than the 33 ⅓ versions that come from those efforts.

The songs spark with a mélange of poetry, passion, and cohesion that engages the senses and begs to be experienced again and again. The album's primary single was " Romeo and Juliet" which reached number 8 in the UK singles chart in early 1981.

A strong cinematic feel soaks the album from the opening "Tunnel Of Love" (featuring a fitting extract form Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel Waltz") which depicts a carnivalesque tale of romance and possible loss through "Romeo and Juliet" and the amusingly playful "Skateaway". He even went as far as getting Springsteen's piano player Roy Bittan to play lots of sweeping arpeggios and big full chords when needed, and at the very beginning of the album is an extract from Rogers and Hammerstein's The Carousel Waltz, a very Springsteenian theme. The three awesome songs are all on side one, the best of which is "Romeo and Juliet" (one of the rare songs that I used to listen to and get watery-eyed after the first chorus) although "Tunnel of Love" is pretty perfect too. The extra-wide 45RPM grooves on this edition provide previously unattainable detail, information, and soundstaging.

Tunnel of Love was a little closer for me comparing the two but still have the give the nod to this release. Dire Straits also benefits from crucial contributions from Bruce Springsteen pianist Roy Bittan and the departure of rhythm guitarist David Knopfler.This is another story song, but of a hot young girl that skates around the city listening and bobbing to music on her headphones engrossed in the fantasies of the songs and oblivious to the world.