Brothers in Arms (album)
Brothers in Arms is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released on 17 May 1985[2] through Vertigo Records internationally and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It was the first album in history to sell over one million copies in CD format.[3]
For other albums, see Brothers in Arms (disambiguation).Brothers in Arms
17 May 1985
2 November 1984 – 31 March 1985[1]
- AIR Montserrat (Salem)
- Power Station (New York City)
- 55:11 (CD, cassette and double LP)
- 45:40 (vinyl)
Brothers in Arms spent a total of 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart (including ten consecutive weeks between 18 January and 22 March 1986), nine weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 in the United States and 34 weeks at number one on the Australian Albums Chart. It was the first album certified ten-times platinum in the UK[4] and is the eighth-best-selling album in UK chart history.[5] It is certified nine-times platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and is one of the world's best-selling albums, having sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.[6][7][8]
The album won a Grammy Award in 1986 for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards; the 20th Anniversary reissue won another Grammy in 2006 for Best Surround Sound Album. In 2020, Rolling Stone placed Brothers in Arms at number 418 on its "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Q magazine ranked Brothers in Arms number 51 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".
Composition[edit]
Brothers in Arms has been described musically as a pop rock album.[18] The music video for "Money for Nothing" received heavy rotation on MTV, and it was the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network launched on 1 August 1987.[19] It is one of only two Dire Straits songs on a studio album not to be solely credited to Knopfler (the other being "The Carousel Waltz", which opens Making Movies), with guest vocalist Sting given a co-writing credit due to the melody of the repeated "I want my MTV" (sung by Sting) at the start echoing the melody of the Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me".[20]
"Walk of Life" was a number two hit in the UK Singles Chart in early 1986 and a number seven hit in the US Billboard Hot 100 later that year. The song was nearly left off the album, but was included after the band out-voted producer Neil Dorfsman.
On the second side of the album, three songs ("Ride Across the River", "The Man's Too Strong" and "Brothers in Arms") are lyrically focused on militarism. "Ride Across the River" uses immersive Latin American imagery, accompanied by synthesized pan flute, mariachi trumpet, a reggae-influenced drum part and eerie background noises. "The Man's Too Strong" depicts the character of an ancient soldier (or war criminal) and his fear of showing feelings as a weakness. Written during the 1982 Falklands War, "Brothers in Arms" deals with the senselessness of war.[21]
In 2007, the 25th anniversary of the war, Knopfler recorded a new version of the song at Abbey Road Studios to raise funds for British veterans who he said "are still suffering from the effects of that conflict".[22]
Artwork[edit]
The guitar featured on the front of the album cover is Mark Knopfler's 1937 14-fret National Style "O" Resonator.[23] The Style "O" line of guitars was introduced in 1930 and discontinued in 1941. The photographer was Deborah Feingold.[24] The back cover features a painting of the same guitar, by German artist Thomas Steyer. A similar image was also used, with a similar colour scheme, for the 1989 album The Booze Brothers by Brewers Droop, which features Knopfler on a few tracks.
Release[edit]
Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums directed at the CD market, and it was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment. It was also released on vinyl (abridged to fit on one LP) and cassette. Producer Neil Dorfsman says the digital multitrack was mixed on an analog board with the resulting two track mix re-digitized via a Prism A/D converter and recorded on a DAT machine.
Brothers in Arms was the first album to sell one million copies in the CD format and to outsell its LP version. A Rykodisc employee subsequently wrote, "[In 1985 we] were fighting to get our CDs manufactured because the entire worldwide manufacturing capacity was overwhelmed by demand for a single rock title (Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms)."[25]
It was remastered and reissued with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world outside the United States and on 19 September 2000 in the United States, the remastering for both reissues was done by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering using the Super Bit Mapping process.[26] In 2000, it was released on XRCD2 format, this edition was remastered by Hiromichi Takiguchi using K2 20bit technology.[27] A 20th Anniversary Edition was issued in Super Audio CD on 26 July 2005 (becoming the 3000th title for the SACD format), it featured a 5.1 surround sound remix done by Chuck Ainlay at British Grove Studios, it was mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering.[28] The 5.1 mix was also released on DualDisc format with DVD-Audio 24 bit/96 kHz track on 16 August 2005. Ainlay's 5.1 remix won a Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album at the 48th Grammy Awards ceremony.[29][30] In 2006, a half-speed-mastered vinyl version of the album was issued. Mastered by Stan Ricker, this version consists of four sides on two 33 1/3 rpm discs, containing the full-length songs on vinyl for the first time. In 2013, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a hybrid SACD mastered from the original tapes by Shawn R. Britton, it includes the original stereo mix only.[31] In 2014, a new master was released in Japan on SHM-SACD - it's made from the original analogue master tapes and contains the original LP length of the album: 47:44 min, this edition was transferred by Mick McKenna and Richard Whittaker at FX Copyroom using Direct Stream Digital. On May 19, 2014, Vertigo reissued the album on double 180g vinyl, this edition contains the full-length songs of the album, it was mastered by Bob Ludwig, Bernie Grundman and Chris Bellman from the original analogue and digital tapes, this version was also included on The Studio Albums 1978 - 1991 the previous year.[32] In 2015, Mobile Fidelity also released the album on double 45 RPM vinyl, this edition was mastered by Krieg Wunderlich.[33] The same year, the album re-entered the UK Album Charts at #8 following the record being made available at a discounted price on digital music retailers. In March 2021, a new half-speed mastered edition was released, mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell. The release was a double-LP, 45 rpm, 180 gram edition, with the complete version of the album, for only the second time (the first being issued by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in 2015). The album has spent a total of 356 weeks on the UK Album Charts.