Dire Straits gets real in ‘Making Movies’

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 | 8:44 a.m.

As a prolific film scorer, Mark Knopfler has become highly respected for his visual approach to music.

Go back and listen to the British guitarist/vocalist's work with classic rock band Dire Straits, however, and it's plain Knopfler's illustrative technique was well in effect before he went solo.

Look no further for proof than 1980's aptly titled "Making Movies," Dire Straits' third and best album.

Each of the disc's seven tracks paints a vivid picture, not just with descriptive lyrics, but also through cleverly devised song structures.

Opening cut "Tunnel of Love," for example, opens with a section of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Carousel Waltz," providing a fitting carnival atmosphere.

Knopfler's pretty acoustic intro to "Romeo and Juliet" is an ideal start to the charming love song, which finds the narrator "singing up on" the object of affection below her window.

The imagery on closing track "Les Boys" is more obvious, as Dire Straits sets into an oom-pah beat befitting the story of a gay cabaret troupe performing in Germany.

Perhaps the best use of visual artistry comes on "Skateaway," where Knopfler's light, finger-picking guitar touch conveys a bouncy feel ideal for his storyline.

You can practically see the song's central character skating down the streets listening to her headphones as Knopfler sings: "The cars do the usual dances / Same old cruise and the curbside crawl / But the rollergirl she's taking chances / They just love to see her take them all."

Disparate piano work helps supply the backdrops for the haunting "Espresso Love" and the graceful "Hand in Hand," while Knopfler turns "Solid Rock" into a barroom brawler with fiery guitar riffs.

On the follow-up to "Making Movies," 1982's "Love Over Gold," Dire Straits stretched its sound to epic proportions, opening with the atmospheric, 14-plus-minute "Telegraph Road."

While solid, that disc -- and more well-known future effort "Brothers in Arms" -- came up short next to "Making Movies," the album that truly set the scene, musically speaking.

Artist: Dire Straits.

Title: "Making Movies."

Year of release: 1980 (Warner Bros. Records).

Tracklisting: "Tunnel of Love," "Romeo and Juliet," "Skateaway," "Expresso Love," "Hand in Hand," "Solid Rock," "Les Boys."