From The Archive: Dire Straits- 'Making Movies'

The band's 3rd record was one forged in conflict.

Mar 01, 2024

Good Morning!

For your Friday, we’re taking a quick look at ‘Making Movies’ by Dire Straits

March 2024:

Discovering a band and working through their discography rarely follows a linear timeline. For every hipster sneering that they “only like the band’s early stuff,” 100s of other people come to any given group at the midpoint (or later) in their career.

So it is for me and Dire Straits. Like millions of other kids in the ’80s, my first taste of the group was “Money For Nothing,” off of 1985’s Brothers In Arms record.

Animation? Check.
Good groove? Check.
Sting showing up? Check. Check. Check.

So they sang about banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee, and we all danced along.

I — and I'm willing to bet most of us my age — didn't know that Brothers In Arms wasn’t the band’s 1st record; it was their 5th. By the time Mark Knopfler & co had us all talking about moving refrigerators, they’d already been together almost a decade and survived the sorts of pitfalls that often kill bands.

Summer 1980:

2 records and a full five years before Brothers in Arms came crashing through our TVs, Making Movies was released. The band spent 1979 on the road and the first half of 1980 writing new material. Jimmy Iovine was brought in to produce, and the group headed to the studio in late June 1980. David Knopfler left the band midway through the sessions after heated arguments with his older brother. Even though his guitar tracks were almost fully laid down, Mark re-recorded them.

But like a lot of things forged in fire, the end result was solid. It is a strong record that, to my ear, sounds more complex (if less anthemic ) than Brothers and delivers from beginning to end.

This isn’t a long record—less than 40 minutes—and that works in the band’s favor. You don’t have time to get tired of Making Movies, and it leaves you wanting more.

Top tracks:

Romeo & Juliet: The highest charting single off the record. Coming off the opening “Tunnel of Love,” it’s a nice downshift. I like its slower start and softer sound.
Skateaway: The guitar work here is catchy. And nothing says “rock and roll” like roller skating, right? At any rate, I can't shake the feeling that I’d seen this video before I saw ‘Money For Nothing,’ but I can’t say for certain.
Solid Rock: Far and away my favorite song on the record. Just a fantastic track that forces you to get swept up in it. It takes a lot for me to move at 4 AM. ‘Solid Rock’ did it.

Bottom Line:

Making Movies is a great record that came out of a period that would’ve destroyed a lesser band. The musicianship is tight, and the lyrics are as well. It wasn’t the first Dire Straits record I heard, but it’s become my favorite.

Listen:

Dire Straits | Making Movies, 1980

Click on the record to listen on your platform of choice.

What do you think? Did I get it right here, or did I miss the mark? Have a favorite song or memory of the record? Let me know in the comments!

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