Dire Straits (album)

Dire Straits
Studio album by Dire Straits
Released	July 1978
Recorded	February 1978 at Basing Street Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	41:34
Label	Vertigo Records Warner Bros. Records (US)
Producer	Muff Winwood
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Dire Straits chronology
Dire Straits (1978) Communiqué (1979)

Dire Straits is the self-titled debut album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1978 (see 1978 in music). The album was noted for the single "Sultans of Swing", which at first broke a US Top Five early 1979 (being a hit full five months after the album was released there) and then raised up at #8 in the British charts. It was remastered and released with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world outside the U.S. and on September 19, 2000 in the United States. The cover image is taken from a painting by Chuck Loyola. Country band Highway 101 later covered "Setting Me Up", taking it to the top ten on the U.S. country singles charts in 1990.

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Knopfler.

1. "Down To The Waterline" – 3:55
2. "Water Of Love" – 5:23
3. "Setting Me Up" – 3:18
4. "Six Blade Knife" – 4:10
5. "Southbound Again" – 2:58
6. "Sultans of Swing" – 5:47
7. "In The Gallery" – 6:16
8. "Wild West End" – 4:42
9. "Lions" – 5:05

The original version of the album contained a slightly shorter version of "Sultans of Swing", omitting the last seconds of the guitar solo at the end of the song, but the full-length version was included on the remastered edition of the album.

Personnel

• Mark Knopfler – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
• John Illsley – bass, backing vocals
• David Knopfler – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Pick Withers – drums

Production

• Muff Winwood – production
• Rhett Davies – engineer
• Gregg Geller and Bob Ludwig – remastering
• Jo Motta – project coordinator
• Alan Schmidt – art direction

Charts

Album

Singles