Dire Straits: On Every Street (2LP) [BACK TO BLACK/VERTIGO]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 2LP set on 180g vinyl gives the album's 12 songs plenty of room across four sides. On Every Street went to No. 1 in the UK and across Europe and was certified platinum in the US.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Remastered
• Download card included
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Following Brothers in Arms is the sort of job most bands would quietly turn down. Mark Knopfler took six years, gathered John Illsley, Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher, and filled out the sound with some of the best session players around, including Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, pedal steel ace Paul Franklin and guitarist Phil Palmer, with Chris White and Danny Cummings also on board.

The result is warmer and more rootsy than its predecessor. "Calling Elvis" opens with a rockabilly shuffle, the title track is a gorgeous slow build, "Heavy Fuel" is a gritty rocker, and "The Bug" swings with country twang. "Iron Hand" is a quiet, folk-tinged reflection on the 1984 miners' strike, and "How Long" closes the album on a gentle, easygoing note. Knopfler wrote every song and produced it with the band, so the warmth is entirely deliberate.

The band toured it for 14 months, playing 216 shows across Europe, North America and Australia, and documented it on the live album On the Night. That tour sold 7.1 million tickets, which is a lot of people humming "Calling Elvis" on the drive home.

Also at Kops: more Dire Straits on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Vertigo (cat# 3752914), a reissue of the 1991 album.