Dire Straits: Making movies Lp (Greek – Hellenic 1980 press copy w. glossy sheet). “Tunnel Of Love”, “Romeo And Juliet”. Blues Rock, Classic Rock.

Description

This is the only Dire Straits album not to feature a rhythm guitarist; instead, an added dimension is given to the sound by the addition of Roy Bittan, Bruce Springsteen’s pianist. In fact, there were several Springsteen connections to this album: Jimmy Iovine, the producer, was the engineer on Born To Run and the famous riff of “Romeo And Juliet” is a slowed-down version of the piano intro to that albums “Jungleland”. A more general connection is the torrent of imagery centred around the romance of the city, most notably on “Skateaway”, but also present in the perfectly-rendered teenage angst of hit single “Romeo and Juliet”, and the celebratory tale of tawdriness and passion that is “Tunnel Of Love”. Mark Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers were fresh from the honour of recording an album with Bob Dylan after he had seen and been impressed by the band playing in LA earlier in the year; but sadly this was to be Withers’ last album with Dire Straits, as he left for a career in jazz shortly after. A fine album, the most truly outstanding song is the devastating lovers’ lament of “Hand In Hand”.

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“Solid Rock”, “Tunnel Of Love”, “Romeo And Juliet” and “Skataway” would be on any decent greatest hits package. Following this artistic triumph they proceeded to release LOVE OVER GOLD

Check samples

Vertigo
Catalog#: 6359 034
Format: Vinyl LP w. glossy sheet w. lyrics and pictures + LP bag with info on Polygram Greece releases of the time and the offices of the company in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Country: Greece (Hellas)
Released: 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock

Tracklist
A1 Tunnel Of Love 8:09
A2 Romeo And Juliet 5:47
A3 Skateaway 6:32
B1 Expresso Love 5:17
B2 Hand In Hand 4:50
B3 Solid Rock 3:18
B4 Les Boys 4:07

Credits
Producer – Jimmy Iovine , Mark Knopfler
Notes
Intro to track A1 is Carousel Waltz by Rogers / Hammerstein.