The #96 Album of All-Time in the Rock Era--"Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits

The next album in the Top 100 is from Dire Straits, their Brothers in Arms album.

Brothers in Arms has sold 9 million copies; it was the first CD to sell a million copies and also was the first album to sell more CD's than LP's.  The album topped the charts for nine weeks, spent an impressive 36 weeks in the Top 10 and 97 weeks total.  It's Track Rating is 8.77, one of the lowest in the Top 100, so clearly the album made it into the Top 100 largely because of sales and chart performance.  In fact, the track rating on this album is not nearly as good as the Dire Straits album, but this is the one that makes it into the Top 100 because the album-buying public has purchased this one instead.  Another factor contributing to its rating is its honors--the album won Grammies for Best Engineered Recording, Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group and Best Surround Sound Album.

1.  "So Far Away" (Knopfler) --5:12

2.  "Money for Nothing" (Knopfler, Sting) --8:26

3.  "Walk of Life" (Knopfler) --4:12

4.  "Your Latest Trick" (Knopfler) --6:33

5.  "Why Worry" (Knopfler) --8:31

6.  "Ride Across the River" (Knopfler) --6:58

7.  "The Man's Too Strong" (Knopfler) --4:40

8.  "One World" (Knopfler) --3:40

9.  "Brothers in Arms" --6:55

The group consisted of Mark Knopfler on guitars and vocals, John Illsley on bass and vocals, Alan Clark on keyboards, Guy Fletcher on keyboards and vocals and drummer Terry Williams. Additional musicians on the album were Omar Hakim on drums, Jack Sonni on guitar, Michael Brecker on saxophone, Randy Brecker and Dave Plews on horn, Malcolm Duncan on tenor sax, Neil Jason and Tony Levin on bass, Michael Mainieri on vibraphone, and of course Sting, who famously sings "I Want My MTV" on "Money for Nothing".

Brothers in Arms was recorded from November 1984 to March 1985 at AIR Studios in Montserrat and London and the Power Station in New York City and produced by Mark Knopfler and Neil Dorfsman. Dorfsman engineered the album while John Dent mastered it.  It was released on May 13, 1985 by Vertigo Records in the U.K. and Warner Brothers in the United States.


Dire Straits has the #96 Album--Brothers in Arms.