Any Dire Straits Fans Here?

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

“Calling Elvis” is one of my favorite driving tunes.

Great tune, for sure, Tony!

As I think that Mark K (MK) is a bona fide genius, I hate to bring any dark clouds to this discussion, but I have to ask: Did anyone else experience "remix trauma" while listening to this 20th Anniversary SACD?

Let me explain...I listened to this album, intently, back in the day (in the early-80s). In fact, other than the original eponymous album, I found Brothers in Arms (BIA) to be his most well-weighted album, meaning that it has a lot of good work on it. Anyway, I can recall just about every time MK put a finger on a string...and, quite frankly, this SACD -- although incredibly detailed -- has clearly been remixed.

If you listen to Why Worry, for example, the guitar licks that one normally hears while the song is winding down have been nearly eliminated in this mix. I don't know about you, but the subtleties of an album are what set the classics apart from the wannabes for me. To turn down (or eliminate) something like Knopfler's guitar work from the mix is a crime...and I won't even get into how the mix I heard essentially features the background vocals. In short, if it ain't MK or Sting, I don't want to sacrifice the beautiful music for some background vocalist I can't even identify.


It reminds me of the last Jean-Luc Ponty (JLP) concert I saw, in the Summer of 2018. Somehow, JLP allowed the guy on the sound board to bring up Rayford Griffin's drum kit to the point where the other musicians were buried...and when you've got a band like that one together, on one stage, you shouldn't feature one virtuoso over the other. That's my humble opinion...

POST SCRIPT: The BIA version that I'm referring to was mixed by Chuck Ainlay at British Grove Studios. It was copyrighted by Mercury Records Ltd. in 2005.

[doggiehowser]

Originally Posted by 70sMac

We recently received a new Oppo 203 player and were finally able to hear our new Brothers In Arms 20th Anniversary SACD.

If anyone has heard this SACD, I'd love to read your impressions.

The original 1980s Pressed in West Germany is better by a long shot than the 20th Anniversary.

A close second is the MoFi SACD.

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by doggiehowser

The original 1980s Pressed in West Germany is better by a long shot than the 20th Anniversary.

A close second is the MoFi SACD.

DoggieHowser..... Could I trouble you for a bit more information about the West German version, mate? If you have it, would you mind posting any identification numbers and so forth? Perhaps I could search for that version. I just can't get over how Chuck Ainlay mixed the 20th Anniversary Edition of, what I always considered to be, a guitar-laden masterpiece.

[doggiehowser]

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/li...others+in+arms


ArtistDire Straits
AlbumBrothers In Arms
Year1985
Album DR16
Min. track DR13
Max. track DR20
Track DR20 19 13 14 13 17 14 18 15 (might not be in original order)
CodecFree Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
SourceCD
LabelWarner Bros. Records
Label code
Catalog number9 25264-2
Bar code0 7599-25264-2

The recording level starts off much lower on the 1985 so you’ve got to turn the volume up to 11. Literally [emoji51]

But that dynamic range is awesome

I usually check that database if I want to buy a reissue or remaster.