In the wake of their eponymous first album, Dire Straits recorded Communiqué, which was released eight months later. Using the same recipes as their first opus that revealed them to the public, the band did it again: the perfect production made us forget the simplicity of the means used and allowed us to find that "clear line" so characteristic of Mark Knopfler's guitar playing.
Obviously, after the brilliant performance of Sultans Of Swing, which will remain as a benchmark in Dire Straits' music, the band was widely expected and the surprise effect is less. Communiqué is less sharp than the previous album, some tracks like Once Upon A Time In The West or Portobello Belle seem a bit sluggish, in freewheel, and the tone is more confidential or intimate than before. There's little innovation here, apart from a few touches of piano on Communiqué and a (very measured) use of backing vocals on Angel Of Mercy.
Altogether, the album is unsurprising, contrasting Mark's nonchalant vocals with the impeccable groove of the musicians: pay attention to the lesson in rhythmic guitar mastery, discreet but essential to underline Mark's always successful solo guitar refinements on Single Handed Sailor. Nevertheless, surprised or not, it's always a treat to hear the band in the light rock that revealed them; in this register, two tracks remained unavoidable: Lady Writer put forward a hell of a rhythmic, then a nimble and precise guitar, and remained a very emblematic track of the band's first period, timeless. And Where Do You Think You're Going? gave a glimpse of the atmospheric possibilities of Dire Straits and ended with an extremely sympathetic solo.
Communiqué appeared to be an album that was still very close to the rock roots that were the basis of Dire Straits' inspiration. An opus a tone below their first work, but developing a sound that marked its time, and therefore to be listened to again with all the nostalgia that is required!