It’s still the same song but better… bigger, fuller, more oomf… that whole live show is WAY up there. You can tell they had a great time playing that show.
I am a heavy metal head, but I can put some Dire Straits hits in my car and listen them for days. Some of the best songs, music, performance and one of the best band of the 20th century for sure...
Yup, they had me from the get-go. I'd put this tune a playlist with *Let There Be Rock* by AC/DC and *You Can't Kill Rock And Roll* by Ozzy. Throw in *American Pie* by Don McClean and *We Rock* by Dio and you have the start of a hard/soft music playlist... S.W.
As a guitarist, I hear so much in the guitar playing of Mark. His talent is immeasurable. In this song, if you listen, every guitar embellishment in between each verse line is completely different yet still retains the them of the song. absolutely brilliant.
I totally agree!!! Even though the musical style is totally different, I feel that Mark and David Gilmore are similar in that their guitar playing allows the song to breathe. Their solos flow like a river and increases the continuity of the song rather than breaking it up like other guitarists solos do.
@@osterpenpen9379 I'm a huge Clapton fan (with ~50 of his records on actual physical media) and I'm not sure this is the case at all. I certainly don't feel it when listening to the two of them. I used to have a Facebook friend who had Mark Knopfler as her guitar teacher and, from that and maybe other things, I got the impression that Knopfler was classically trained - which Clapton definitely isn't. I'm not sure Clapton sets out to have fun that often, either, being a bit of a Blues player. ;) Incidentally, they've played together quite often, you know. Btw, try Motherless Children on either 461 or playing Live in San Diego to see whether he's able to have fun. :)
I love the way Mark Knopfler is having a conversation with his guitar - he sings a few bars, his guitar answers him - a few more - an answer etc - it is much more interesting than doing both things at the same time... beautiful
Years ago, I heard MK relaying the story of the original Sultans in the pub and how the song came to be and I've always loved the fact that he then wrote it as a sweet and good natured tribute to these guys, who were just doing their thing. There isn't any teasing or ridicule in the song. The Sultans were legends in their own minds and MK then elevated them to true legends through this brilliant, imaginative tribute. It says a great deal about Knopfler's character, I would imagine.
KEY MOMENT IN THE LYRICS; when they refer to south of the river, you know this band is never going to make it. If they are playing in a pub in South London they have missed the big time. (I speak as a proud South Londoner.) The time bell refers to last orders, which would be called at 10.50 pm so you then have 20 minutes to get your last drink ordered and drunk.
"Time" is different from "last orders". Last orders is ten minutes before the bar closes (ie, the pub stops serving). Time is when the bar closes, from which point you have 20 minutes drinking up time.
I still think this song is an homage to all small time bands playing crappy little joints. I've seen so many of them, and almost all were just empty dreams. I LOVE this song, one of my all time favorites, but it makes me cry for that reason.
Fiz Gig Agreed.I find some melancholy in this tune knowing its background. A rainy night in London, Mark ducks into a pub club to get dry, and hears this group who call themselves 'The Sultans of Swing'. Not many faces on tap in this joint, lame crowd, so Knopfler pays tribute to these young 'going nowhere' guys by writing a song about them, thus immortalizing them. You can't make this shit up.
No one sounds like Mark Knopfler. You hear one note and you know exactly what you're listening to. Also, he wrote the soundtrack for "The Princess Bride", which is my favorite movie.😊 But his playing in the song "Brothers in Arms" sends shivers down my spine every time, the amount of emotion he put there is unbelievable.
@@obeythemoo the ending guitar solo is one of the most emotionally charged guitar performances in history. Everything that Mark has just told you in lyrics he makes you feel in the music with his playing.
As someone who spent a few years in radio, I just listened to your video, without watching the screen, and it occurs to me that what I heard would make a great radio show.
When I hear this song I like to think about a small group of musicians, somewhere in England, that hear this song and yell, "That's us! We were the Sultans of Swing!"
Knopfler just bends those notes so naturally. One of my favorites of theirs that no one reacts to is ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, from the album Communique'.
I'd been thinking for months about asking you to do Dire Straits "Telegraph Road" - definitely the album version. It's Mark Knopfler's masterpiece and one of the greatest epic rock songs ever written.
Doug here's some interesting recommendations I started hearing some time ago: -No quarter by Led Zeppelin. -Equinoxe by Jean Michael Jarre -La carrozza di Hans by Premiata Forneria Marconi. -Viatge a Íaca by Lluis Llach. -Abre la puerta by Triana. -La poderosa muerte by Los Jaivas. -ElDorado: album by ELO. -Days of future passed: album by The Moody Blues. -The snow goose: album by Camel.
It's cultural importance cannot be denied, in a time of straight Disco and before punk and New Wave, this song was a beacon for Rock. All alone, check the charts!!!!
SUCH a good number! Glad to see you do this one, Doug. Great solos, but gotta say, awesome drumming as well. KILLER back beats and one of my favorite fills towards the end, accompanying one of my favorite lyrics ever: "Come on in out of the rain and hear the jazz pour down". SHIVERS... ;)
I was lucky enough to see Dire Straits numerous times in 1979 and 1980, right after Sultans of Swing was released, but before they became really big and playing large venues. Once was in a small nightclub in New Jersey. My friend and I were literally leaning on the stage right in front of Mark. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but that was the best I’ve ever been to. Watching Mark’s finger-picking work up close is simply awe-inspiring. Almost every song performed live ended with a extended outro. Their studio work is beautiful, but Mark’s brilliance shines even more in concert. The best live solo I ever heard from him was the outro from Tunnel of Love where he incorporated a phrase from the song “Maria” from West Side Story. Took my breath away. Their most critically acclaimed album was probably Making Movies, but my favorite is still the first one. “In The Gallery” and “Setting Me Up” have some of the best finger picking he’s done, imo.
I love Dire Straits. The solos are just so melodic. Mark is such a unique player in the way he uses his fingers to play the solos. Everything is good about this tune.
I think the melodic composition of this song is so easily overlooked. The chords are pretty standard as far as I can tell, but the solos are just phrased so well.
There was an Australian band called The Easybeats who had hits in the UK in the late 1960s. Two of the members were Harry Vanda and George Young. In later years they were incredibly influential in Australian music as songwriters and as producers for bands including AC/DC (featuring George's brothers Angus and Malcolm). Mark Knopfler paid tribute to them in this song by giving the Sultans musicians the names Harry and Guitar George.
Talk about a great year! I was in college and this came out the same year as Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True. Talk about thinking you've died and gone to heaven!!!! To this day, both Sultans of Swing, and Alison still sound as great and are as powerful as they were when they were first released.
Apparently Harry and George who are mentioned are Harry Vanda and George Young, the songwriting duo Vanda & Young. George was the older brother of the Young brothers from AC/DC
I have also heard this, and not only were they in The Easybeats they had their own group, Flash and the Pan, they had some great songs like Down amongst the dead men and St Peter
The really magical guitar work in this one, to me, is all in the fills. The solos are great, but the fills do just about everything you can do with a riff on a guitar without using effects.
Dire Straits drummer Pick Withers was in a short-lived progressive band in the 70s called Spring. They made just the one, eponymous, album. They were based in my hometown and their keyboard player is a mate of mine.
I have just completed listening to Dire Straits' complete discography, and had a blast. Telegraph Road is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Sultans of Swings is also very impressive! Doug, please react to the song "Sapphire" by a Swiss gothic metal band Lacrimosa
One of my all time favourite bands, one of my all time favourite guitarists and probably my favourite song of all time. No wonder this was one of the few guitar solos I still remember note per note even years after learning it!
I'll never forget hearing this on the radio for the first time in 1978. I was in nineth grade and it BLEW. ME. AWAY. Been one of my favorites ever since...
First single off of debut album becomes international show-stopper - Dire Straits was a band that didn't need a couple of albums to suss out who they were. They had their sound nailed from the get-go.
Been playing this for 35+ years, it took on a new importance when my nephew and I jammed it at my mothers wake. Even my sister in law (who hates me) said she enjoyed us playing the song. I was doing the rhythm guitar. Love Straits, first song I played live in front of a paying audience was So Far Away, but it was nearly Sultans. Both are part of the inner circle of songs that I can just pick up a guitar and play, because I play them so often. Like Roxanne, Lick It Up, Rebel Rebel, China Girl, Turn It on Again and Message in a Bottle.
It’s amazing the love Sultans Of Swing has accumulated over the years. When I first first heard it in 1979 I wasn’t so sure about it. But my brother Doug immediately bought the single and I fell in love with it. I thought the B-Side titled Southbound Again was incredible as well. I fell in love with their first three albums: Dire Straits; Communique; and Making Movies. Mark’s album from 2009 titled Get Lucky is also a big favorite. I think it holds up with his best work. In fact, I’d say as a songwriter maybe it’s his best.
I bought the first five Dire Straits albums on vinyl as they were released and remember happy times sitting around the record player in the downstairs teen cave with my buddies listening to them for the first time. The Mark K and Pick Withers combo was always an understated highlight of their early work. For me, Single Handed Sailor is Mark's best song ever out of a fantastic body of work.
One of their best is Telegraph Road. Another of his songs that tells a true story: the lyrics are so pertinent and the main solo is one of the best ever IMHO>
I stand by what I said in my fan favourites recommendation blurb: that outro is one of the greatest guitar solos *ever* written in the history of the instrument. It stands and will forever stand the test of time. And yes, I picked the studio version of the song because that, to me, is the ultimate version of that solo. Mark loves to extend it and modify it when he plays it live, like Doug said, but for my money, he has never come even close to topping the masterpiece that the original is.
I so AGREE with what you just said.. That's exactly why this became my favorite song, even though I love so many other songs too. That guitar solo is just amazing.
Doug!!! Thank you for critiquing this song, it was one of my Dad's favorite and in high school when it came out, he was asking me who they were, how many records do they have, "Just one, dad!" "Okay when do they come out w/another one??" It was so funny, but cool w/him liking this music. I was more into hard rock/metal, but these are great tunes. He loved playing Dire on his sailboat on a cassette player, back then. Keep up the great work, Doug!
Knopfler is a guitarists guitarist. So clean, such elegant lines. A true expert who makes it sound effortless. My favorite Knopfler story is one day after several hours of band practice, the rest of the band went to the pub, Knopfler stayed behind to practice some more. His mates came back hours later to find Mark passed out on the couch, guitar still in hand. He had literally played until he dropped. And that's a significant part of why he's a legendary guitarist. The more I learned about guitar, the more I loved MK.
@doughelvering I saw your first reaction to Sultans of Swing, and now this redux. I bought the LP when in college and when it first came out, and little cash on hand. I still have it, but listen via MP3 now. I play it a LOT as I do other DS songs. The song is mesmerizing. Since I first heard it, I have wanted to be able to play like that, and that song. That isn't going to happen. But I will always have my recordings, in all the variety possible. I love that you are going to look into more DS songs. There are some real gems in there.
I'm glad you mentioned the story telling aspect of this number. In the 70s indifferent DIxieland Jazz combos were quite common in English pubs often with pretentious names e.g. Sultans of Swing. There was a group in a Manchester pub we used to go to after a weekend rock climbing that called themselves The Chicago Teddy Bears. These bands often played to nearly empty rooms (Don't see many faces) until closing time, usually 11pm (Time to go home.) I thought this would interest people not familiar with the 70s pub scene in the UK.
Some music trivia - in the song, Mark Knopfler has a shout out to two of the giants of the Australian Rock Music history - George Young ('guitar George') and Harry Vanda - in the 1960's, they were members of the Easybeats, then went on to write and produce so many rock hits of the 1970s and 1980s George is the older brother of AC/DC members Angus and Malcolm (RIP) Young.
You missed a trick. The best performance of this song is the live version on the album Alchemy. Fun fact- the bass player John Illsley went to my high school. He came. Back to do a concert in ‘19 and played a mixture of his own music and Dire Straits standards, along with interview sections about his time in the band and memories of school. Great evening.
To me, "Telegraph Road" is so beautiful in the live Alchemy... "Romeo and Juliet" too... The music is fantastic and the lyrics are the most beautiful ones in the English language. By the way, I'm watching your Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother" every day, my favorite one and the best reaction on UA-cam. I'm French and one of my English teachers, French anyway, said that Dire Straits had the best lyrics, like a poetry, and he was right. I saw Dire Straits in concert twice, with great pleasure. Thanks for your knowledge, so interesting. Love from France 🇫🇷😘
Mark's guitar style is amazing. He's a finger picker on an electric, which is where that distinct sound comes from. It means that he's able to pull off double and triple-notes very quickly and easily, arpeggio triplets are nothing, sudden stops, and playing chords by raking his fingers across the strings.. very versatile. He rehearsed the band so hard in the early days, and it showed because they were the tightest act out there at the time, and they cut through the UK charts like butter.
I really enjoy your reaction Doug - and I feel like I've learned a lot from you, I really like your knowledge and capability and easy pitch recognition too.... but super humbly, i do ask of you notice some elements of ornamentation and particularly drum flourishes, while concentrating on core structure and chord progressions... rhythm and feeling are the other side of the coin perhaps?
The solos are beautiful but what really makes this song are the short guitar phrases between lines of lyrics. Each has its own characteristic riff. Also it's one of those laid back story songs like American Pie, The Boxer and Suzanne.
I want to leave aside that MK is among my all-time favourite artists and songwriters. I recently found a UA-cam video with the isolated individual tracks of Sultans of Swing. This is insane… the way the kick drum and the bass guitar are a groove unit in themselves, the way you can feel the rhythm guitar by listening to the hi-hats on the isolated drum track… Every rhythmical accent in the entire song is carried by all the individual instruments. Awesome at its best!
Regarding "the band in the pub was not exactly dynamic": We were in a bar in Montmatre, Paris, France (all harmless, with my parents), and they had a piano player, playing listlessly on his instrument in that noisy bar. But when he noticed that we were looking at him, that we LISTENED, he began to put more effort in it, and got better and better by the minute, started smiling instead of staring dreamily into the distance. And I think that we really got it going, that others started to listen, too, and that others also started applauding.
Since then I know that when you want to have a good experience, it is your job to participate. Show the band that you like it. Do something that they can perceive, that they can see, that they can hear. So raise your hands to clap so they see it.
I remember seeing Dire Straits playing this on Top of the Pops in the UK when I was 16 and I was like "What's this??? Nobody told me about this! This is amazing!" Considering most of the rest of the chart was mostly disco with a smidgeon of punk, it's not surprising. (Though Kate Bush had her first single that year too...)
Down To The Waterline is the first track of the first album and is still my favorite song of all time. No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn Your hands are cold But your lips are warm They don't write em like that anymore. Hope you give it a listen, y'all! Peace!
I remember at 17 buying the album, putting it on my second-hand Lenco and "Down to the waterline" came on... Never heard anything like it; that cool clean guitar. Next I bought "New boots and panties" by Ian Dury & The Blockheads and got blown away again, with their take on life.
this is my favorite song ever, it is just so unique, there are very few songs that are so complex and interesting as this one, and for some reason this tune especifically just cativates me, i cant even count the many times i have heard it and never get tired of it, still very new to music in general, but every time i find a song just so visibaly cared about like this one it just gets me..
Mark is amazing and all, but can we talk about John's bass line? For such a simple line it feels so energetic and groovy! Always puts a smile on my face. I catch myself bobbing my head every single time.. Cheers!
As others have said, Sultans of Swing Alchemy Live is so increadibly good you wont regret reacting to it again. You'll be glad you did. A classic for sure. The main solo is perhaps 1 of the best ever. His no guitar pick style is on full display. He looks so relaxed its hard to believe he's actually playing what you're hearing. Lol
This is actually about the famous Australian band the Easybeats. Guitar George is George Young, brother of Angus and Malcolm Young from ACDC and Harry is Harry Vanda. Saying that, they didn't play any of these styles really, but they are the inspiration.
Hi Doug. I have not so much a correction as a clarification. Sultans was indeed a hit in a number of countries - but only on reissue. The original release sank without trace. Which partly explains how come, in that seven- or eight-month hitless hiatus, I managed to see Dire Straits performing in a Birmingham (England) nightclub as the *support* band. Usually, when one has an opening act anecdote, the story unfurls that the bill-toppers were left looking limp after the first-up band stunned the audience (and I have a few like that), but the lead act in this night of 'bands you haven't heard of but they won't be playing small venues like this for long' was… er… Talking Heads. You don't get many double-headers like that in a lifetime. Two soon-to-be stadium acts double-whammying a late-night audience of maybe 400 people. A fond memory.
I totally agree that Telegraph Road is one you should review. To this day I don't think Mark Knopfler has ever written a better song. Another great one is Tunnel Of Love. I live near Newcastle (where Mark is from) and it's go so many references to his home town in it. Another great song is one of Mark's solo songs, "Why Aye Man!" I'd love it if you reviewed this one.
When this came out in ‘78, damned the guitar solos were like a bolt of lightning…but what elevated this song from a really terrific single to the stratospheric level of rock songs, was when Allan Clark joined Dire Straits and they added all the dynamics between Knopfler’s guitar and Clark’s piano, and then, in Knopfler’s solo career, Jimmy Cox on piano. Alan Clark deserves a ton of credit for his work with Dire Straits.
The story of Sultans of Swing supposedly starts after a late recording session in Nashville and actually takes place in the US. That's why the band was blowin' dixie double four time, because it was way on down south, in London town (London somewhere in the southern US, not England). The "pub" was supposedly the bar at the local Holliday Inn.
I was a huge Dire Straits fan back in the day; Mark is a hugely underrated guitarist. Telegraph Road is the standout for me. i think you'd like it too, Doug, as it has large instrumental sections, as well as being a narrative story. 10/10 would recommend
I play guitar myself, and I would like to put forward, what I consider to be one of the best guitar solo's ever, by Ugly Kid Joe. The song is Panhandlin Prince, and the solo is also the outro. It has so much creativity and awesomeness. At least, that is my opinion. I have been trying to learn how to play it for 30 years, and still havent mastered it. Would make a great Metal Monday tune.
The live version on "Alchemy" and the version recorded by the BBC for Wembly Does The Walk (live at Wembley Arena) are possibly two of the all-time ever favorite recordings I know. The other song - also found on both of those live performances - that has utterly astounding solos by Mark is "Tunnel of Love." The original studio recording of "Tunnel" was under 6 minutes, but Mark takes it out to 15-17 minutes when performing it live. There's a famous quote about the Wembley performance of Tunnel of Love by Douglas Adams, author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy." I can't put it here for copyright strike reasons, but it's worth looking up what Adams had to say about Mark, his Schecter strat, and Tunnel of Love. There are so many really good live Dire Straits songs that its hard to pick favorites, but that one, and the live versions of Sultans are kind of no-brainers. As often as I've listened to them, they never get old.
The alchemy live version of this is arguably the greatest concert version of any song, ever.
was looking for this comment! :)
I actually prefer the Live in London version, also long and almost the same but it sounds better to me.
Damn - just realised I still haven't listened to that . . . It's sitting untouched in my vinyl shelves . . .
It’s still the same song but better… bigger, fuller, more oomf… that whole live show is WAY up there. You can tell they had a great time playing that show.
I'd agree with you but there is one but. Comfortably Numb Pulse version exists
I am a heavy metal head, but I can put some Dire Straits hits in my car and listen them for days. Some of the best songs, music, performance and one of the best band of the 20th century for sure...
Then you would like Leo Moracchioli's metal cover of it (with Mary Spender)
Fellow metalhead, agreed.
Yup, they had me from the get-go. I'd put this tune a playlist with *Let There Be Rock* by AC/DC and *You Can't Kill Rock And Roll* by Ozzy. Throw in *American Pie* by Don McClean and *We Rock* by Dio and you have the start of a hard/soft music playlist...
S.W.
Am gonna agree with you, just shows metal fans have great taste
@@conallmclaughlin4545 Metal fans LOVE Classical music too! Give me some Wagner or Grieg and I'm just as happy as listening to Metallica or Megadeth!
As a guitarist, I hear so much in the guitar playing of Mark. His talent is immeasurable. In this song, if you listen, every guitar embellishment in between each verse line is completely different yet still retains the them of the song. absolutely brilliant.
I totally agree!!! Even though the musical style is totally different, I feel that Mark and David Gilmore are similar in that their guitar playing allows the song to breathe. Their solos flow like a river and increases the continuity of the song rather than breaking it up like other guitarists solos do.
Never has a guitarist had a better sense of "feel" than Mark Knopfler. He couldn't play a wrong note if he tried.
Clapton is the more technically skilled guitarist, but Knopfler is just so much more fun to listen to.
@@osterpenpen9379 I'm a huge Clapton fan (with ~50 of his records on actual physical media) and I'm not sure this is the case at all. I certainly don't feel it when listening to the two of them. I used to have a Facebook friend who had Mark Knopfler as her guitar teacher and, from that and maybe other things, I got the impression that Knopfler was classically trained - which Clapton definitely isn't. I'm not sure Clapton sets out to have fun that often, either, being a bit of a Blues player. ;) Incidentally, they've played together quite often, you know.
Btw, try Motherless Children on either 461 or playing Live in San Diego to see whether he's able to have fun. :)
Doug, this song was huge in the UK when it was released. Nobody had heard such fantastic guitar as played by Mark Knopffler. It launced his career.
I love the way Mark Knopfler is having a conversation with his guitar - he sings a few bars, his guitar answers him - a few more - an answer etc - it is much more interesting than doing both things at the same time... beautiful
That's very blues-like I'd say
just like the Beale St Blues Boy
Years ago, I heard MK relaying the story of the original Sultans in the pub and how the song came to be and I've always loved the fact that he then wrote it as a sweet and good natured tribute to these guys, who were just doing their thing. There isn't any teasing or ridicule in the song. The Sultans were legends in their own minds and MK then elevated them to true legends through this brilliant, imaginative tribute. It says a great deal about Knopfler's character, I would imagine.
…and says a lot about his experience as a journalist - observation skills and making wonderful stories out of these observations. Legend!
KEY MOMENT IN THE LYRICS; when they refer to south of the river, you know this band is never going to make it. If they are playing in a pub in South London they have missed the big time. (I speak as a proud South Londoner.) The time bell refers to last orders, which would be called at 10.50 pm so you then have 20 minutes to get your last drink ordered and drunk.
Deptford, to be precise.
"Time" is different from "last orders". Last orders is ten minutes before the bar closes (ie, the pub stops serving). Time is when the bar closes, from which point you have 20 minutes drinking up time.
Your country is dead.
I still think this song is an homage to all small time bands playing crappy little joints. I've seen so many of them, and almost all were just empty dreams. I LOVE this song, one of my all time favorites, but it makes me cry for that reason.
Fiz Gig Agreed.I find some melancholy in this tune knowing its background. A rainy night in London, Mark ducks into a pub club to get dry, and hears this group who call themselves 'The Sultans of Swing'. Not many faces on tap in this joint, lame crowd, so Knopfler pays tribute to these young 'going nowhere' guys by writing a song about them, thus immortalizing them. You can't make this shit up.
Doug, you should react to "Telegraph road" by this guys. Either version, live or studio.
Agreed. I know lots of people prefer the Alchemy Live version, but the original album version is an absolute masterpiece.
I second. Album version. One of the most beautifully orchestrated pieces of pop music I've ever heard.
I would add Tunnel of Love to the requests. Again-either version, live or studio.
i hope he listen to you. at me never read mesenjes
YES! Original studio performance please! Live ones are usually too fast. Do Tunnel of Love too please!
they seriously kept their guitar tones the cleanest way possible and still made the coolest songs of the 70s/80s
It's not the notes you play, but how you play each note, that makes the difference.
He's gifted.
You should check out an album he did with Chet Atkins in the 90's I believe. Pure magic.
No one sounds like Mark Knopfler. You hear one note and you know exactly what you're listening to. Also, he wrote the soundtrack for "The Princess Bride", which is my favorite movie.😊 But his playing in the song "Brothers in Arms" sends shivers down my spine every time, the amount of emotion he put there is unbelievable.
You must listen to Telegraph Road next. Then Tunnel Of Love. Two brilliant tracks.
I concur!
Dan Vitale: You are so right !!!
God, Tunnel of Love is a perfect tune!
@@obeythemoo the ending guitar solo is one of the most emotionally charged guitar performances in history. Everything that Mark has just told you in lyrics he makes you feel in the music with his playing.
Telegraph Road is my pick for the best of Dire Straits
As someone who spent a few years in radio, I just listened to your video, without watching the screen, and it occurs to me that what I heard would make a great radio show.
When I hear this song I like to think about a small group of musicians, somewhere in England, that hear this song and yell, "That's us! We were the Sultans of Swing!"
Knopfler just bends those notes so naturally. One of my favorites of theirs that no one reacts to is ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, from the album Communique'.
Bass is so important to this song. So is the drumming, really. Neat, driving forward.
The drums are so good, the way he uses the percussion is just perfect.
@@asbjrnmaus7666 Pick Withers is a great drummer.
Withers was amazing, those 2 first Straits albums were excellent. I think they lost a bit of their originality when they started adding synths
I'd been thinking for months about asking you to do Dire Straits "Telegraph Road" - definitely the album version. It's Mark Knopfler's masterpiece and one of the greatest epic rock songs ever written.
Actually the whole "Lover over Gold" album is art perfection
I love the Alchemy live version.
I feel like the drum groove is the unsung hero of this track. Absolutely superb.
Drumming doesn't get any 'tighter'.
Pi ck is a very underapreciated drummer .
Pick Withers was a rythm genius! So underrated..i think the smoothest DS have ever had
Doug here's some interesting recommendations I started hearing some time ago:
-No quarter by Led Zeppelin.
-Equinoxe by Jean Michael Jarre
-La carrozza di Hans by Premiata Forneria Marconi.
-Viatge a Íaca by Lluis Llach.
-Abre la puerta by Triana.
-La poderosa muerte by Los Jaivas.
-ElDorado: album by ELO.
-Days of future passed: album by The Moody Blues.
-The snow goose: album by Camel.
I don’t like Zep as a psychedelic band. No Quarter is meh.
It's cultural importance cannot be denied, in a time of straight Disco and before punk and New Wave, this song was a beacon for Rock. All alone, check the charts!!!!
SUCH a good number! Glad to see you do this one, Doug.
Great solos, but gotta say, awesome drumming as well. KILLER back beats and one of my favorite fills towards the end, accompanying one of my favorite lyrics ever: "Come on in out of the rain and hear the jazz pour down".
SHIVERS... ;)
Love Pick Withers on drums.... And John Illsley on bass is rock solid. He was with the band all the way through.
I was lucky enough to see Dire Straits numerous times in 1979 and 1980, right after Sultans of Swing was released, but before they became really big and playing large venues. Once was in a small nightclub in New Jersey. My friend and I were literally leaning on the stage right in front of Mark. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but that was the best I’ve ever been to. Watching Mark’s finger-picking work up close is simply awe-inspiring. Almost every song performed live ended with a extended outro. Their studio work is beautiful, but Mark’s brilliance shines even more in concert. The best live solo I ever heard from him was the outro from Tunnel of Love where he incorporated a phrase from the song “Maria” from West Side Story. Took my breath away.
Their most critically acclaimed album was probably Making Movies, but my favorite is still the first one. “In The Gallery” and “Setting Me Up” have some of the best finger picking he’s done, imo.
Mark Knopfler is a favorite of mine. His touch on the strings is eerily similar to Steve Hackett.
And unsurprisingly they both play with their fingers quite often
I love Dire Straits. The solos are just so melodic. Mark is such a unique player in the way he uses his fingers to play the solos. Everything is good about this tune.
I think the melodic composition of this song is so easily overlooked. The chords are pretty standard as far as I can tell, but the solos are just phrased so well.
There was an Australian band called The Easybeats who had hits in the UK in the late 1960s. Two of the members were Harry Vanda and George Young. In later years they were incredibly influential in Australian music as songwriters and as producers for bands including AC/DC (featuring George's brothers Angus and Malcolm). Mark Knopfler paid tribute to them in this song by giving the Sultans musicians the names Harry and Guitar George.
Well Doug, this South African thanks you from the bottom of his heart for this, it's been decades since I heard this and, aah the memories.
Talk about a great year! I was in college and this came out the same year as Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True. Talk about thinking you've died and gone to heaven!!!! To this day, both Sultans of Swing, and Alison still sound as great and are as powerful as they were when they were first released.
Apparently Harry and George who are mentioned are Harry Vanda and George Young, the songwriting duo Vanda & Young. George was the older brother of the Young brothers from AC/DC
Now I didn't know that, tnx
Yeah, and Harry and George were in Aussie 1960's pop band The Easybeats. The Easybeats biggest hit was "Friday On My Mind".
I have also heard this, and not only were they in The Easybeats they had their own group, Flash and the Pan, they had some great songs like Down amongst the dead men and St Peter
Did not know, either!!
@Stephen Thomas. Flash and The Pan also had a minor hit with "Waiting For A Train". Stay safe and well,
I think this is a universal piece of music, The world isn't big enough! Thanks Doug 🎸
I love how there's a new guitar lick pretty much after every line he sings. One of my all time favorites, this one!
The really magical guitar work in this one, to me, is all in the fills. The solos are great, but the fills do just about everything you can do with a riff on a guitar without using effects.
Dire Straits drummer Pick Withers was in a short-lived progressive band in the 70s called Spring. They made just the one, eponymous, album. They were based in my hometown and their keyboard player is a mate of mine.
I have just completed listening to Dire Straits' complete discography, and had a blast. Telegraph Road is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Sultans of Swings is also very impressive!
Doug, please react to the song "Sapphire" by a Swiss gothic metal band Lacrimosa
People rave about the outro guitar but for me the main solo is a thing of melodic beauty. Every chord implied..fantastic player
One of my all time favourite bands, one of my all time favourite guitarists and probably my favourite song of all time. No wonder this was one of the few guitar solos I still remember note per note even years after learning it!
The amount of music that came out of the 70's that'll last for centuries is mind-blowing.
I'll never forget hearing this on the radio for the first time in 1978. I was in nineth grade and it BLEW. ME. AWAY. Been one of my favorites ever since...
First single off of debut album becomes international show-stopper - Dire Straits was a band that didn't need a couple of albums to suss out who they were. They had their sound nailed from the get-go.
How about Dire Straits' "Tunnel Of Love"? Another great outro solo...
Hey! There ya go, Doug!!! Having a nice drink, while you listen to a great song! Love your channel!
Been playing this for 35+ years, it took on a new importance when my nephew and I jammed it at my mothers wake. Even my sister in law (who hates me) said she enjoyed us playing the song. I was doing the rhythm guitar.
Love Straits, first song I played live in front of a paying audience was So Far Away, but it was nearly Sultans.
Both are part of the inner circle of songs that I can just pick up a guitar and play, because I play them so often. Like Roxanne, Lick It Up, Rebel Rebel, China Girl, Turn It on Again and Message in a Bottle.
Don’t know what more to add then, you can ALWAYS tell when Mark is playing. Sharp bright, beautiful timing, hollow, brilliant
It’s amazing the love Sultans Of Swing has accumulated over the years. When I first first heard it in 1979 I wasn’t so sure about it. But my brother Doug immediately bought the single and I fell in love with it. I thought the B-Side titled Southbound Again was incredible as well. I fell in love with their first three albums: Dire Straits; Communique; and Making Movies. Mark’s album from 2009 titled Get Lucky is also a big favorite. I think it holds up with his best work. In fact, I’d say as a songwriter maybe it’s his best.
I bought the first five Dire Straits albums on vinyl as they were released and remember happy times sitting around the record player in the downstairs teen cave with my buddies listening to them for the first time. The Mark K and Pick Withers combo was always an understated highlight of their early work. For me, Single Handed Sailor is Mark's best song ever out of a fantastic body of work.
One of their best is Telegraph Road. Another of his songs that tells a true story: the lyrics are so pertinent and the main solo is one of the best ever IMHO>
FINALLY! Dire Straits! :)
I never tire of hearing this song. Perfect in every way, every note.
I stand by what I said in my fan favourites recommendation blurb: that outro is one of the greatest guitar solos *ever* written in the history of the instrument. It stands and will forever stand the test of time.
And yes, I picked the studio version of the song because that, to me, is the ultimate version of that solo. Mark loves to extend it and modify it when he plays it live, like Doug said, but for my money, he has never come even close to topping the masterpiece that the original is.
I so AGREE with what you just said.. That's exactly why this became my favorite song, even though I love so many other songs too. That guitar solo is just amazing.
His finger picking rather than flat picking gives him such a unique sound
Doug!!! Thank you for critiquing this song, it was one of my Dad's favorite and in high school when it came out, he was asking me who they were, how many records do they have, "Just one, dad!" "Okay when do they come out w/another one??" It was so funny, but cool w/him liking this music. I was more into hard rock/metal, but these are great tunes. He loved playing Dire on his sailboat on a cassette player, back then. Keep up the great work, Doug!
Just adding that there is some stuff deeper in Dire Straits' catalog that is profoundly unique and brilliant.
Knopfler is a guitarists guitarist. So clean, such elegant lines. A true expert who makes it sound effortless. My favorite Knopfler story is one day after several hours of band practice, the rest of the band went to the pub, Knopfler stayed behind to practice some more. His mates came back hours later to find Mark passed out on the couch, guitar still in hand. He had literally played until he dropped. And that's a significant part of why he's a legendary guitarist. The more I learned about guitar, the more I loved MK.
@doughelvering
I saw your first reaction to Sultans of Swing, and now this redux.
I bought the LP when in college and when it first came out, and little cash on hand. I still have it, but listen via MP3 now. I play it a LOT as I do other DS songs. The song is mesmerizing. Since I first heard it, I have wanted to be able to play like that, and that song.
That isn't going to happen. But I will always have my recordings, in all the variety possible.
I love that you are going to look into more DS songs. There are some real gems in there.
I'm glad you mentioned the story telling aspect of this number. In the 70s indifferent DIxieland Jazz combos were quite common in English pubs often with pretentious names e.g. Sultans of Swing. There was a group in a Manchester pub we used to go to after a weekend rock climbing that called themselves The Chicago Teddy Bears. These bands often played to nearly empty rooms (Don't see many faces) until closing time, usually 11pm (Time to go home.) I thought this would interest people not familiar with the 70s pub scene in the UK.
I would STRONGLY recommend listening to the Alchemy Live version. It is F'n incredible
The musicality of the guitar is really amazing
That drum fill at 6.45... Absolutely magical...
Some music trivia - in the song, Mark Knopfler has a shout out to two of the giants of the Australian Rock Music history - George Young ('guitar George') and Harry Vanda - in the 1960's, they were members of the Easybeats, then went on to write and produce so many rock hits of the 1970s and 1980s George is the older brother of AC/DC members Angus and Malcolm (RIP) Young.
Yeah, Doug, Songfacts is a great source for getting background on songs.
Dam, it gives me chills down the spine everytime!
Thanks for that. The analysis was interesting. Great choice of number.
You missed a trick. The best performance of this song is the live version on the album Alchemy.
Fun fact- the bass player John Illsley went to my high school. He came. Back to do a concert in ‘19 and played a mixture of his own music and Dire Straits standards, along with interview sections about his time in the band and memories of school. Great evening.
I really appreciate that you list all the band mates at the beginning. It's nice to see the musicians being given credit.
To me, "Telegraph Road" is so beautiful in the live Alchemy... "Romeo and Juliet" too... The music is fantastic and the lyrics are the most beautiful ones in the English language. By the way, I'm watching your Pink Floyd "Atom Heart Mother" every day, my favorite one and the best reaction on UA-cam. I'm French and one of my English teachers, French anyway, said that Dire Straits had the best lyrics, like a poetry, and he was right. I saw Dire Straits in concert twice, with great pleasure. Thanks for your knowledge, so interesting. Love from France 🇫🇷😘
Sorry to say that, but the live "Alchemy" is so much better than the studio version, please, believe me... This live is awesome!
I have always loved the perfectly clean Strat sound of this track.
Dire Straits deserves an entire playlist, I swear
Mark's guitar style is amazing. He's a finger picker on an electric, which is where that distinct sound comes from. It means that he's able to pull off double and triple-notes very quickly and easily, arpeggio triplets are nothing, sudden stops, and playing chords by raking his fingers across the strings.. very versatile. He rehearsed the band so hard in the early days, and it showed because they were the tightest act out there at the time, and they cut through the UK charts like butter.
Its amazing how you know the notes so well
I really enjoy your reaction Doug - and I feel like I've learned a lot from you, I really like your knowledge and capability and easy pitch recognition too.... but super humbly, i do ask of you notice some elements of ornamentation and particularly drum flourishes, while concentrating on core structure and chord progressions... rhythm and feeling are the other side of the coin perhaps?
The solos are beautiful but what really makes this song are the short guitar phrases between lines of lyrics. Each has its own characteristic riff.
Also it's one of those laid back story songs like American Pie, The Boxer and Suzanne.
Oh yeah, this song is the de facto best way to learn how to do guitar fills.
Always loved this song for the great guitar work.... clean and sharp.
I want to leave aside that MK is among my all-time favourite artists and songwriters. I recently found a UA-cam video with the isolated individual tracks of Sultans of Swing. This is insane…
the way the kick drum and the bass guitar are a groove unit in themselves,
the way you can feel the rhythm guitar by listening to the hi-hats on the isolated drum track…
Every rhythmical accent in the entire song is carried by all the individual instruments.
Awesome at its best!
Please post the link to the UA-cam video you mention
And the video I mentioned:
ua-cam.com/video/odMCo7TI10k/v-deo.html
@@RhiannonFan thanks for your reply. I just posted the link as a reply to my comment. All the best to you. :)
@@MarkusBoettner Many thanks for the link
You should do the whole album of Making Movies. It's such a perfect album.
I love that every Dire Straits fan I know has a different favorite album. Communique was my fave, now it's on every street
Love over gold is the best. One of their best
IMO the live version from Alchemy live is even better. The crescendo gives me chills every time I watch it and the solos have even more impact for me
Such a great tempo kept by David on Rhythm guitar. Mark plays with such a clean sound you can hear every note
Regarding "the band in the pub was not exactly dynamic":
We were in a bar in Montmatre, Paris, France (all harmless, with my parents), and they had a piano player, playing listlessly on his instrument in that noisy bar. But when he noticed that we were looking at him, that we LISTENED, he began to put more effort in it, and got better and better by the minute, started smiling instead of staring dreamily into the distance.
And I think that we really got it going, that others started to listen, too, and that others also started applauding.
Since then I know that when you want to have a good experience, it is your job to participate. Show the band that you like it. Do something that they can perceive, that they can see, that they can hear. So raise your hands to clap so they see it.
I remember seeing Dire Straits playing this on Top of the Pops in the UK when I was 16 and I was like "What's this??? Nobody told me about this! This is amazing!" Considering most of the rest of the chart was mostly disco with a smidgeon of punk, it's not surprising. (Though Kate Bush had her first single that year too...)
I was 12 at that time, and my Dad bought the LP and the second, Communique which was also released in same year 1978.
Down To The Waterline is the first track of the first album and is still my favorite song of all time.
No money in our jackets
and our jeans are torn
Your hands are cold
But your lips are warm
They don't write em like that anymore. Hope you give it a listen, y'all! Peace!
Good choice! Love the fast echo!
yes ,reminder of teen romance with nowhere to go.
I remember at 17 buying the album, putting it on my second-hand Lenco and "Down to the waterline" came on... Never heard anything like it; that cool clean guitar. Next I bought "New boots and panties" by Ian Dury & The Blockheads and got blown away again, with their take on life.
Please do the live versions, they are unbelievably good!
this is my favorite song ever, it is just so unique, there are very few songs that are so complex and interesting as this one, and for some reason this tune especifically just cativates me, i cant even count the many times i have heard it and never get tired of it, still very new to music in general, but every time i find a song just so visibaly cared about like this one it just gets me..
Mark is amazing and all, but can we talk about John's bass line? For such a simple line it feels so energetic and groovy! Always puts a smile on my face. I catch myself bobbing my head every single time.. Cheers!
Many a car ride listening to the radio, I'd be doing the bass parts to this. No singing, just bass, brilliant!
As others have said, Sultans of Swing Alchemy Live is so increadibly good you wont regret reacting to it again. You'll be glad you did. A classic for sure. The main solo is perhaps 1 of the best ever. His no guitar pick style is on full display. He looks so relaxed its hard to believe he's actually playing what you're hearing. Lol
This is actually about the famous Australian band the Easybeats. Guitar George is George Young, brother of Angus and Malcolm Young from ACDC and Harry is Harry Vanda. Saying that, they didn't play any of these styles really, but they are the inspiration.
Hi Doug. I have not so much a correction as a clarification. Sultans was indeed a hit in a number of countries - but only on reissue. The original release sank without trace.
Which partly explains how come, in that seven- or eight-month hitless hiatus, I managed to see Dire Straits performing in a Birmingham (England) nightclub as the *support* band. Usually, when one has an opening act anecdote, the story unfurls that the bill-toppers were left looking limp after the first-up band stunned the audience (and I have a few like that), but the lead act in this night of 'bands you haven't heard of but they won't be playing small venues like this for long' was… er… Talking Heads.
You don't get many double-headers like that in a lifetime. Two soon-to-be stadium acts double-whammying a late-night audience of maybe 400 people. A fond memory.
I totally agree that Telegraph Road is one you should review. To this day I don't think Mark Knopfler has ever written a better song. Another great one is Tunnel Of Love. I live near Newcastle (where Mark is from) and it's go so many references to his home town in it. Another great song is one of Mark's solo songs, "Why Aye Man!" I'd love it if you reviewed this one.
Add my vote for Telegraph Road, and a sentimental extra vote for Romeo and Juliet.
Agree 100%. Tunnel of Love has an arguably better guitar solo than Sultans of Swing. And it got used in "An Officer and a Gentlemen:!
When this came out in ‘78, damned the guitar solos were like a bolt of lightning…but what elevated this song from a really terrific single to the stratospheric level of rock songs, was when Allan Clark joined Dire Straits and they added all the dynamics between Knopfler’s guitar and Clark’s piano, and then, in Knopfler’s solo career, Jimmy Cox on piano. Alan Clark deserves a ton of credit for his work with Dire Straits.
Thanks for your reaction to this classic Dire Straits song, with your touch of musical references along with just pure enjoyment.
The clean tone means everything to me!
The story of Sultans of Swing supposedly starts after a late recording session in Nashville and actually takes place in the US. That's why the band was blowin' dixie double four time, because it was way on down south, in London town (London somewhere in the southern US, not England). The "pub" was supposedly the bar at the local Holliday Inn.
I was a huge Dire Straits fan back in the day; Mark is a hugely underrated guitarist. Telegraph Road is the standout for me. i think you'd like it too, Doug, as it has large instrumental sections, as well as being a narrative story. 10/10 would recommend
One of my top 5 all time favorites! Right on!
I honestly prefer the live version from what is in my humble opinion the best live album of the 1980s: Alchemy
Probably one of the best live versions of any song. The loud and soft dynamics are class
most if not all of dire straits is best when it's live. He should check live 1992 in basel .
I don't know if I prefer the Alchemy version, but that live is amazing! One of the best live version of a song I've ever hear!
Yup. The breakdown at the end of that version is unlike anything else. One of the best outros ever (sorry, Layla)
Live version is what i would prefer too. Wembley 1985 is my favourite to listen to.
I play guitar myself, and I would like to put forward, what I consider to be one of the best guitar solo's ever, by Ugly Kid Joe. The song is Panhandlin Prince, and the solo is also the outro. It has so much creativity and awesomeness. At least, that is my opinion. I have been trying to learn how to play it for 30 years, and still havent mastered it. Would make a great Metal Monday tune.
The pub was in Greenwich, south London, the park is Greenwich Park.
The live version is outrageous!
Just found you, your a tripper , love it your makimg the Melbourne winter very entertaining., Thanks Sean.
The live version on "Alchemy" and the version recorded by the BBC for Wembly Does The Walk (live at Wembley Arena) are possibly two of the all-time ever favorite recordings I know. The other song - also found on both of those live performances - that has utterly astounding solos by Mark is "Tunnel of Love." The original studio recording of "Tunnel" was under 6 minutes, but Mark takes it out to 15-17 minutes when performing it live. There's a famous quote about the Wembley performance of Tunnel of Love by Douglas Adams, author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy." I can't put it here for copyright strike reasons, but it's worth looking up what Adams had to say about Mark, his Schecter strat, and Tunnel of Love. There are so many really good live Dire Straits songs that its hard to pick favorites, but that one, and the live versions of Sultans are kind of no-brainers. As often as I've listened to them, they never get old.
It is just a joy to watch you go through all of my favorite music and provide musical analysis