Dire Straits - Love Over Gold - Album Review

Floyd

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This album is Dire Straits 4th after 'Making Movies', 2 years of production brings Love Over Gold, an album filled with long, experimental passages, plus the single "Private Investigations," which became a number two hit in the U.K. The album went gold in America and spent four weeks at number one in Britain. This album is an LP but it only has 5 songs but they are all quite long.

--- The Review ---

Telegraph Road kicks off with a quiet whistling sound then the piano and acoustic guitar comes in with a dark element in it. Then it moves to the rhythm itself which has a slow rock lead guitar as its melody which is Mark Knopfler which is fantastic. Then the scene goes quiet then vocals come in and the whole song picks up really nicely. Mark's voice in this really suits the song as he has that crooning voice and it sounds
excellent. The solo is perfect as always from Mark. Halfway through the song the whole song slows down to bring the piano role in to give that classical feeling and guitar comes in with its soothing solo which sounds beautiful with the piano. After 3 minutes, the whole song picks its momentum and carrys on its original sequence. The ending has one of the best solos I have IMO ever heard, it lasts for at least 3 minutes and it always varies which is so damn good!!! This song is just genius and is epic, one of the best of Dire Straits. Damn excellent guitar song and an excellent start to an album. Couldn't ask for more.

Private Investigations is a very slow song but mighty powerful. It starts off with a kind of japanese sounding guitar then moves to the acoustic guitar with gives it now a spanish feel. Mark actually talks in this song as you cant actually sing in this song so it suits the song. It is a very dark song and mysterious. It has many instruments like caribbiean instruments and japanese as well so it is very varible as well. The acoustic is superb with its really hard notes and hard hitting lyrics. At the middle of the song, the bass plays one note in 4 by 4 timing on each beat making the rhythm. Here there is only the bass and the guitar playing. Then the powerful distortion of the guitar strikes you with few chords, fantastic tension put towards it. This process is repeated again but then goes silent after it which has a great finish. Really powerful song.

Industrial Disease is very lively. It starts of with an organ playing then clean guitar strumming then it goes to some sort of wah-wah/phaser sound which is really cool. This song picks up with Mark talking again but with a fast pace talking about symptoms of Industrial Disease. The song sounds like it is based on a rock n roll style on verses with brings up the catchiness in the song. All the instrumentation is great and the guitar is superb as always. It is a very good song and fun to listen to.

Love Over Gold is beautiful with its soothing piano and acoustic guitar. Marks voice is at its best with him actually singing beautifully. The piano is one of the main rhythm playing in here, which plays notes from the low range to the highest which brings variety of sound and it sound perfect. Guitar is just lovely with its spanish style picking and fast tempo fretting. The whole song is about people loving over gold and it takes more than that to live life to the full. This song is heart-warming to listen to and I find this song brings up my mood with its beautifulness. IMO, the best song on the album.

It Never Rains
starts with a nice sound of organ and guitar playing which tells you that this is a song that puts up your mood. The instrumentation is the main point here as it is beautifully constructed together bring out its joy to the song. Marks voice has its crooning voice but he picks it up after a while which makes the song more rocky at the chorus which makes the whole song pick up. It gets more rock towards the end with its excellent long solo that is spectacular as always. Thats why Mark Knopfler is one of the best guitarest ever!!! This song is excellent and the most rockiest song on this album. A great finisher to the album.

--- Overview ---

The ratings of the songs:

1. Telegraph Road - 5/5

2. Private Investigations - 5/5

3. Industrial Disease - 4.5/5

4. Love Over Gold - 5/5

5. It Never Rains - 5/5


Overall, this album is a jem and should be looked by everyone in the world for all genres, it is superb and should be brought when seen. All the songs here are quite long so it will still keep you occupied even with only 5 songs. It is so essiential. It may seem that I am being very generous but I am not, every song here is classic and all superb by honesty. One of the most superior albums I have and it never fails to get your attention when listening to it.

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