Making Movies

Product Information

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.

After Dire Straits' Communiqué Tour ended on 21 December 1979 in London, Mark Knopfler spent the first half of 1980 writing the songs for the band's next album. 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". Indeed, the first five tracks – "Tunnel of Love," "Romeo and Juliet," "Skateaway," "Expresso Love," "Hand in Hand" – comprise a mini-suite united by theme, harmony, and spirit.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. Side two of the vinyl disc is a bit of a letdown following three strong tracks but the instrumentation does make up for that shortcoming. Four songs were recorded during the sessions but not released on the album: "Making Movies," "Suicide Towers," " Twisting by the Pool" and "Sucker for Punishment.

Rolling Stone ranked Making Movies number 52 in their survey of the 100 Best Albums of the Eighties. Dire Straits also benefits from crucial contributions from Bruce Springsteen pianist Roy Bittan and the departure of rhythm guitarist David Knopfler.

Considered by many fans to be the group's most complete album, the 1980 set witnesses leader Mark Knopfler greatly expanding his songwriting palette and setting his storytelling amidst more complex, involving arrangements. Making Movies is the record on which Mark Knopfler comes out from behind his influences and Dire Straits come out from behind Mark Knopfler. 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 album includes the single " Romeo and Juliet", which reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as “ Tunnel of Love,” featured in the 1982 Richard Gere film An Officer and a Gentleman. The album's power isn't lost on Iovine, who later told Rolling Stone: "The right people were in the room together.

Having turned his back to superstardom after Dire Straits' _On every street_ album has done Knopfler's music a lot of good, and as he didn't have to play "Sultans of swing", "Money for nothing" and "Walk of life" anymore on his tour with Emmylou Harris it seems people are finally seeing him as a solo artist instead of that man from Dire straits. Well just received today from Music Direct and it sounds absolutely stunning on my system (Mofi Studiodeck, Outlaw Audio RR2160MKll, 2 Pioneer CS99-A's 2 Dahli Zenzors, Outlaw Audio M8 Subwoofer, everything under Herbie's tenderfoot except Dahlis on the wall) Perfect pressing! I'm inclined to agree with Rolling Stone magazine's assessment that had this record actually been a motion picture, it might have garnered a flock of Academy Awards.In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that Making Movies "ranks among the band's finest work. Iovine had also worked on Springsteen's Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums, and he was instrumental in recruiting E-Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan for the Making Movies sessions. 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. 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.