Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Dire Straits
Dire Straits tabs Dire Straits discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Dire Straits guitar tabs

CD reviews

Communiqu�

Dire Straits - Communiqu� Audio CD

A fair review of the Dire Straits "Communiqu�" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Dire Straits reviews here, or go back to the Dire Straits tabs.

Band: Dire Straits
Title: Communiqu�
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Once Upon a Time in the West 2: News 3: Where Do You Think You're Going? 4: Communiqu� 5: Lady Writer 6: Angel of Mercy 7: Portobello Belle 8: Single-Handed Sailor 9: Follow Me Home

One Great Album
I literally wore out the grooves on it. This was my first Dire Straits purchase back in 1979. No release of their's or Marks has taken me like this one did. In fact I rate it as one of my favorites of all time. Every song is exceptional.

I was at the time anti-pop and Sultans of Swing had attracted me to the band because of Mark Knopflers soaring guitar riffs. "Communique" had just been released and "Lady Writer" was getting some airplay (it was released as a single). I was not immediately sold on the album. I liked it, but was buying records at a rather fast pace in those days. Communique grew on me quickly, though.

This record is an excellent example of what album making USED to be all about. It has a great flow to it. The songs seem to be made to follow one another. Add in that marks songwriting was the best of anyone at the time and the overall talent of the group and we have one excellent album.

Make no mistake Mark Knopfler was recognized by a great many musicians at the time. Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton all revealed Dire Straits to be a favorite new band. They were so much so, that Dylan and Clapton covered his songs.

Great follow up!
is
just the man. Excellent second album from the most underrated musican ever! Mark K. He can switch from a beautiful ballad to a catchy rocker
without effort. Ranks right up there with Clapton, etc.

Communiqu�
The booklet is quite simple but effective. Communiqu� being the Dire Straits 1979 release and their 2nd studio album was a smash hit for the band with #1 in Germany, Sweden and New Zealand. It contains all the lyrics and presents the muisicians and what they play with photos on the back. 4/5.

Worst Reviews - Best Album
This and the group's first album portray the heart and soul of Dire Straits. There's little doubt Communique has received the poorest reviews of any of the six albums, but I like it the best. They tell stories running the gamut of life experiences and tell them in a variety of styles . . . ballads, rock, country, R&B. They are not "catchy tune" jingles that immediately grab your attention and then lose your interest after listening to them a few times. Instead, they are substantive songs that you may not even like at first, but grow on you the more you listen to them. What do the critics know?

Tuneful Once Upon a Time in the West has some wicked guitar playing, while Lady Writer adds zest to a mainly melancholic collection. News is an unheralded jewel of a song with mesmerizing lyrics and melody. Portobello Belle and Single-Handed Sailor are beautiful ballads. Angel of Mercy shows that DS can do Nashville and do it well. Although offbeat Communique and mysterious Follow Me Home take some getting used to, your patience will be rewarded. The haunting Where Do You Think You're Going is my all-time favorite DS song, but to gain a full appreciation of the song you should check out the live performances on YouTube, which include a passionate and extended outro. It's frustrating that the recorded version, while excellent, does not include the extended outro, nor does the song appear on any of their live albums.

Some complain that Communique is a re-hash of the first album. I think the songs are unique, although there do appear to be parallels (a sort of kinship)between songs of the two albums which I've listed below(just for fun):

Dire Straits album tracks and Communique album "sister songs"

Down to the Waterline and Single-Handed Sailor (nautical theme)
Water of Love and Communique (choppy tempo)
Setting Me Up and Angel of Mercy (country flavor)
Six Blade Knife and Where Do You Think You're Going (grim, threatening)
Southbound Again and Follow Me Home (heading my way)
Sultans of Swing and Lady Writer (lively, fast-paced)
Wild West End and Portobello Belle (streets of London)
In the Gallery and Once Upon a Time in the West (life's not fair)
Lions and News (angst)

Communique is the most unappreciated album of the most unappreciated band, but both will stand the test of time.

Notes: 1. Lady Writer was released as a single with Where Do You Think You're Going on the flip side. 2. The Money For Nothing "best-of" album includes a very good live rendition of Portobello Belle. The album also has Lady Writer and Where Do You Think You're Going, but for some unfathomable reason uses a different studio version of the latter that is good, but not as good as the Communique version. 3. Lady Writer sounds a lot like What's the Matter Baby, a real rocker co-authored by Mark and David Knopfler that only appears on the Live at the BBC album. 4. At a concert in Germany in 1980 MK dedicated News to the memory of John Lennon.
.

Quite possibly Dire Straits' best work
While Love Over Gold had long been my favorite, I have fallen in love anew with all of the earlier CDs, particularly Communique. I've been a huge Dire Straits fan for almost 30 years now, and have just gotten around to replacing all of their albums with CDs and giving everything a thorough listen. There simply is not a weak track on the disk.

While Mark Knopfler has consistently written exceptionally strong music (and his voice, while not technically very good, suits his compositions perfectly), each of the band's disks has at least one, if not more, weak track. Even Love Over Gold has, well, "Love Over Gold," which while lovely, probably goes on about 2 minutes too long. Communique does not have that problem. The songs, while for the most part understated, each showcase different aspects of Knopfler's playing that would come to the forefront on later songs. Particular favorites are "Where Do You Think You're Going?", "News", "Lady Writer", and "Single-Handed Sailor. " The lyrics show a maturity and darkness not readily available to the casual listener. The variety of playing styles is incredible.

If you're a fan at all of the band and have hesitated checking this disk out because of it's age or some of the reviews here, please give his disk a chance. You will be greatly surprised and thoroughly pleased. Besides, it's only $7 brand new.

Haunting, lovely, and a clear roadmap for the band they would become in the future. A best buy.

You can see a complete list of all Dire Straits discography, or go back to the Dire Straits tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.