DIRE STRAITS - LOVE OVER GOLD

DIRE STRAITS - LOVE OVER GOLD

(Vertigo 1982)

"A long time ago came a man on a track,
walking thirty miles with a pack on his back.."

Love Over Gold is the fourth studio album by British rock band Dire Straits. It was released on September 20, 1982 after it's first single "Private Investigations" peaked at number 2 in the UK earlier the same month. With only five songs, dark themes and moody but stunningly melodic music, Love Over Gold is possibly and most seriously Dire Straits masterpiece and it's hard to believe in hindsight that such, complex, sophisticated music and themes followed only four short years after the bands self-titled 1978 debut which was heavy on the Blues and Country and sounded like pure fun with singer songwriter Mark Knopfler's slick and silky chicken' pickin' Fender Strat licks. Album number two, Communique from 1979 was a watered down version of the debut, while album three, 1980s Making Movies contained the once in a lifetime heartache classic "Romeo and Juliet" and the mighty rocking "Tunnel Of Love", but it was album number four that took things to the boozy dark and dangerous world of Love Over Gold and that's what I'm going to talk about right here, right now.

By 1980 Dire Straits had cracked America and were already big in Europe. 1981 was a busy year touring and doing interviews plus TV appearances. It seemed like and endless carouselle but the observant eye and recording pen of Mark Knopfler was going like a VU meter on a big amplifier. He started writing longer songs and the themes were becoming more cinematic than ever. The band entered The Power Station Studio, New York City in early March 1982, with Knopfler producing and Neil Dorfsman engineering. Sessions continued for about twelve weeks finishing in early June. The album was painstakingly put together with emphasis on clarity and every sound was finely honed to perfection. Although the band was technically a three piece in 1980 for Making Movies, after Mark's brother David quit, 1981 saw the addition of two new members, ex Gallagher and Lyle keyboard player Alan Clarke and ex Darling guitarist Hal Lindes.
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THE POWER STATION

The Power Station Studio where the album was recorded at 441 West 53rd street between 9th and 10th avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Originally opened in 1977, it was renamed Avatar Studios in 1996 but recently Berklee College bought it and will reopen it as The Power Station in 2020.

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THE SONGS
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SIDE ONE

TELEGRAPH ROAD

This magnum opus opens the album as it menacingly drifts in like fog on a dull day and a thunderstorm growls in the distance. A flute-like synth melody whistles over the heavy droning and Knopfler's plinky National Steel gently shines a light to guide us through the mist. Next Pick Withers ticking hi-hat and John Illsleys bass give us some structure to follow and once set up, Knopfler kicks his Strat into gear. The tone is more harsh and the notes more serious with Clarke's pearl-like grand piano flourishes lifting the mood in a sort of counter-balance. The songs lyrics are generally about the building and industrialisation of America throughout the years, the cities, factories and the roads that seem to on forever. Touring itself is said to eventually get monotonous between gigs and what's an inquizitive ex newspaper journalist meant to do: write about what he sees. After the first section of lyrics there's a solo and one of his finest, it's honest and tries to lift you out of the mire only to flutter to earth like a wounded butterfly to the solo piano section that almost stops to cry but is pulled on with another guitar solo, this time more sober and melancholy. After this we're into the lyrics section that deals with unemployment and the Great Depression of the the Thirties I presume. The last lyric deals with a failing relationship where a man is asking for a one last chance and convincing his girl he can get her out of the darkness and into the light. Did he succeed? I guess we'll never know as we're washed away in the finale which is a high paced race with the band throttled up to the max and Knopfler soloing as if his life is depending on it. After 14 plus minutes it gallops away into infinity. It's a big song and a very ambitious undertaking by a bad that were playing in pubs around South London less than five years earlier. Dire Straits go from pub to Prog. Almost.

PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS

Just when you thought things couldn't get more serious, what happens, they get more serious! Again this moody and minimalistic and crawls in with a synth drone. A guitar figure calls out and is responded to by another, then a piano melody underwrites a nylon string guitar. It's very gentle, kind of sad and quite beautiful but very, very serious. Knopfler almost mutters the verse. He's a private detective in this song thinking aloud but still whispering away to nobody in particular. The melody continues and there's one more verse which ends with the words Private Investigations then the bass just throbs, cats wail, glasses break, there's footsteps, somebody breathing. It's a pretty unusual song, more like a modern opera. The climax builds and the drums are huge, it calms and does the same again and then fades into the 'dark'. Yes this album is night to me, ever since I first heard it back in 1986. My mind's made up and not going to change now. So with side one of the album under the bridge and standing in the dark where to now?

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GIVE US A BITTA GUITAR THEN!
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Left: "Was it really that bad, Neil?" Mark laughing at a playback during the sessions. Right: Publicity shot with Fernandes Strat. Mark began moving away from Fenders and using Schecter Strats from 1980 onwards and they feature on this album but he also used Fernandes Japanese made Strat copies through a Mesa-Boogie MKII amplifier which gave him a grittier and sometimes darker sound which continued onto Brothers In Arms in 1985 and beyond.

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SIDE TWO

INDUSTRIAL DISEASE

This is where the comedy comes in for a little light relief. Mass production. The working man. The strikes. The unions. Foreign imports. They're all here in happy rocking fashion. The guitar here snaps and snarls and is a new sound in Mark's arsenal for it's an Erlewine Automatic, a handmade Strat-shaped single pickup job with a honking growl, nicknamed 'The Pig'. He even sounds like Bob Dylan in delivery here except for the 'Dr. Parkinson' camp comedy lines halfway through. It's the most casual and throwaway song on the album but still fits in with the rest in a quirky but flawed manner.

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ERELWINE AUTOMATIC
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Mark plays an Erelwine Automatic 'Superstrat' on Industrial Disease, identified by it's honking nasal tone.

This rare custom built guitar was nicknamed 'The Pig'.

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LOVE OVER GOLD

Possibly the most beautiful song Mark ever wrote not just for it's lovely melodies but the whole arrangement is fluid and well composed. Again lyrics are sparse but the music certainly speaks for itself. Clarke's piano under the nylon guitar is a gift in itself. The story is one of balance and skill by an unknown that has the ability to love and be fickle at the same time while risking everything. The instrumental outro has vibraphone playing call and response with the classical guitar. Very beautiful indeed and with repeated listens you want to hear it even more. 

IT NEVER RAINS

The last one, but a menacing one. Just who is the finger being pointed to as Mark rants away for most of the song again very reminiscent of Dylan with a lover warning an ex of the pitfalls of a situation they've gotten themself into and the damning of the 'I told you so' lecture. It's a song that harks to the past and cries over lost or neglected opportunities. Anyway it really doesn't matter now as the band are boiling and the guitar solos are even more distorted and angrier than ever before with a wah pedal snarling like a wild dog. The song fades away, again, into the night. Love Over Gold is gone but certainly not forgotten.
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THE FORMATS
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The menacing and moody album art that fits perfectly with the music.


Rear sleeve - tracks and running times are listen on a computer screen


UK Vertigo label.

 UK Cassette  - Chrome tape and Dolby B

On the CD the artwork has been altered!

Left: W. German CD 1983 'staircase' design and Right: W. German CD 1984

Ultimate Gold! The Mobile Fidelity 2019 remastered, numbered limited edition double vinyl is the jewel in the crown for fans of this album. Meticulously remastered and cut at 45rpm offering unprecedented audio listening pleasure.  

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LIFE AFTER GOLD

After the Sessions ended, Pick Withers quit, which is a pity as he was a top class drummer with great touch and style. He was replaced by Terry Williams who was a veteran of the rock circuit and very energetic player.
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NON RUNNERS

There's lots of material that didn't make it to the original album as it was rumoured to be planned to be a double, "Private Dancer" was given to Tina Turner, as Mark felt it would be better sung by a woman. All of the band play on it except Mark and guitar whizz Jeff Beck plays the worst solo of his his career on it funnily enough!  "The Way It Always Starts" sung by Gerry Rafferty, ended up on the Local Hero soundtrack. This is a lovely song and it would be great to hear Mark singing it too. "Badges, Posters, Stickers, T-Shirts" is a a boogie woogie with some superb guitar work by Knopfler. It became the B side of "Private Investigations"

Private Investigations single was released August 23, 1982

DS-MK 1982

L to R:- Mark Knopfler, guitar. John Illsley, Bass. Hal Lindes, guitar.

Terry Williams, drums. Alan Clarke, keyboards.

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LOCAL HERO

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During that Summer Mark was also working on his first soundtrack, composting the music for the David Puttnam film Local Hero, and while members of the band were also playing on the sessions, some serious session musicians were also drafted in such as Neil Jason, Steve Jordan, Mike Manieri, Gerry Rafferty, Mike Brecker,

Tony Levin and Eddie Gomez.

The sessions were finished in September 1982 in London. Local Hero is a wonderful soundtrack to a pretty balmy cult film written by Bill Forsythe. The plot is essentially about a Texas oil baron that wants to buy a beach in a remote Scottish seaside village and all but one old beach bum stand in his way refusing to sell his beach shack. It's a quirky comedy with a great score by Knopfler. It features atmospheric synth textures, acoustic guitar solos, Ceilidh music performed by The Ace Tones and Alan Clarke appears on piano in the film! The instrumental "Going Home : Theme from Local Hero" was a hit in 1983.

Going Home and Wild Theme single 1983

EXTENDED DANCE EP

Relax, the Straits did not make a disco EP, instead they hit a studio in London in October 1982 and recorded the Rock 'N' Rolling "Twisting By The Pool", "Two Young Lovers" and "If I had You". The seriousness of the Love Over Gold album called for a bit of a casual blowout and this EP was released. This is the Straits going back to basics after the film noir of the album but think of how mundane the music could have been if there was just straight ahead Rock 'N' Roll and no Love Over Gold! I'd hate to think, but that's the genius of Mark Knopfler, roots music one minute and epic pieces the next.

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LOVE OVER GOLD TURNS TO ALCHEMY

The Love Over Gold Tour ploughed on in 1983 and in the Spring of 1984 Alchemy Live

was released, edited from two performances at Hammersmith Odeon, London July 1983.

It was also a big hit on VHS video all through the 80s. The album features, along with other Dire Straits classics "Private Investigations", "Telegraph Road" but "Love Over Gold" itself only featured on the Cassette and CD formats. "Industrial Disease" and "It Never Rains" were on the setlist but don't make the double LP cut!

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COMFORT AND JOY

Recorded in March 1984 in London, the arrangements are more Jazz than Rock and highlight Knopflers growing guitar vocabulary. "A Fistful Of Ice Cream" is a version of "Private Investigations" that sounds very Greek indeed! 

Only three tracks were ever issued so it's more an EP than a soundtrack.

Mark sports his Miami Vice attire and red Schecter "Walk Of Life" Telecaster.

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CAL

In the Spring of 1984 Mark produced another film soundtrack, Cal, the story of a love born in the troubles of Northern Ireland. The it was on to write and record of of the biggest selling albums ever, Brothers In Arms. But that's another story, and one I haven't the time to get into here! 

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 FINAL THOUGHTS

The period from late 1981 to early 1984 was one of the most creative periods for Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits and Love Over Gold is an album that asks you something, and that's probably the fascination for me. In the deep, dark night of the storm, there's eventually light at the end of the tunnel. It seems to be the creative pinnacle of the band and writer. What came after went on to dominate the whole catalog but Love Over Gold is a classic classic!

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