1978. Even if some remarkable albums will still be released ("The Wall" by Pink Floyd for example), progressive rock is running out of breath and has given way to disco and punk. The rock years are now far away and yet, newcomers will strike a blow. The Knopfler brothers, together with John Illsley and Pick Withers, are forming a classic quartet (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums), and are reviving a genre that was thought to be dead and buried. The "pub rock" is back to life, Dire Straits plays a music made for the stage, and that' s great !
There is nothing new in the compositions of the band, that Mark Knopfler signs entirely: we can find large rock influences (especially rock), folk and country, carried by a simple and terribly working rhythmic. Mark's voice is not outstanding, his timbre is sometimes close to Bob Dylan's, but he knows how to stick to the spirit of his compositions. Even his guitar performance is not innovative (he inherits directly from Chet Atkins or JJ Cale, little known by the FM public of the time), but he performs it with brio and sobriety (which is not incompatible). One of the keys to the success of Dire Straits lies in a meticulous production that perfectly distinguishes the instruments, which will give a particular relief to the precise guitar performance of Mark Knopfler.
These qualities are already present on the first album of the group, even though it was produced with minimal means (12,500 pounds sterling at the time), but it will make a tremendous impression among the hits of the moment (except, curiously, in the country of origin of the group, where success will be following).
Just to impress, the first track, Down to the Waterline, highlights all the qualities of the band: a fusion between the members to deliver a direct and immediately catchy music, carried by a simple rhythmic that highlights Mark's performance, precise and fluid. The group will drive the nail with the excellent Water of Love, with its studied percussions, and obviously with the inescapable Sultans of Swing, which has become a standard, with its super-efficient rhythmic, its continuous guitar relaunchings, and its breathtaking fast and millimetric soli, which will make the critics of the time say; "something is happening in rock'n roll! "
So who cares if the other tracks are more conventional, saved most of the time by Mark's interventions: Dire Straits has more than succeeded in its entry, it leaves its imprint on rock.