Start at the end. Don't make the usual gesture of pressing the "play" button and letting yourself be carried away by the succession of tracks. Immediately jump to the final track, number 9, the one with the album title, 'Brothers in Arms'. Immerse yourself in the atmosphere created in a few ripped guitar notes standing out against a continuous background of keyboards, and let Mark Knopfler's voice whisper. He is not a great singer, but he delivers here, in all intimacy, an interpretation all in restraint, unique in the history of Dire Straits, and which contributes greatly to give this extremely touching tone which speaks directly to the soul. And when the guitar, with floydian accents tinged with despair, pulls out a beautiful solo on a background of "neo" keyboards before the time (the use of the organ is here a great success), then you will understand the spirit of this record, where the whole production, very far from the one of the first albums, is entirely at the service of the successive ambiances.
"Brothers in Arms" is indeed an ultimate album in Dire Straits' discography, the culmination of a logical evolution that Rock purists have largely reviled because it is far from the simplicity of the beginnings. The care brought by the musicians to the implementation of their music made it, since the beginning of their career in 1978, a reference in the sound quality. No wonder then that this record was one of the first CDs to be released, in this year 1985.
If the fans of the first hour have, for some, cried betrayal, it's because this opus doesn't really contain one of those Rocks that Dire Straits had championed. Here, the listener discovers a 'Money for Nothing' with Sting in the chorus, launched by a soaring intro (a reference to test the HiFi systems at the time), leading to a good big Rock, far from elegant titles like 'Sultans of Swing' or 'Telegraph Road'. The rhythmic is much more electric than on these mythical titles, and we will not have the right to the detached solo of which Mark had the secret on the old hits.
Breaking his brand image of pure and hard rocker - an image seriously dented since "Love Over Gold"- Mark Knopfler thus takes his musicians to wander in different atmospheres, from the country 'So Far Away' to the funky 'One World', passing by the tropical atmospheres of 'Ride Across the River' or the bluesy one of 'Your Latest Trick', to go up to the totally atmospheric 'Why Worry', a track which plays on the progressive immersion. Let's also salute the excellent contrasts of 'The Man's Too Strong', where the sounds of acoustic guitar, banjo and electric guitar intertwine. The rhythm section, as for it, always knows how to show the same dynamism, like on 'Walk of Life', very effective.
The appreciation of this "Brothers in Arms" is obviously function of the prism according to which one looks at the album. The rock afficionados will complain about what they will call lengths. But the pleasure of listening is largely with the appointment for which knows to benefit from the care brought by the realization of the climates, and this, throughout the album.