It’s Turntable Tuesday…because life is too short not to listen to great music! Turn that TV OFF and listen to some music to soothe your soul! The man I have seen perform live many times one Clarence Carter also known as the “Stravinsky of the ‘80s” once used a word he coined “sassification.” Now my word check tells me that is not a word but you can bet it is a feeling you only get when you are “sassified.” Now that I have you smiling let’s take a run at it and don’t forget to crank up some music on your local speaker. It’s Turntable Tuesday!
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Dire Straits hit the airwaves in 1978 and never really looked back as a band producing one album after another as well as hit after hit. The band started as the “Cafe Racers” until they changed their name to Dire Straits via a musician flatmate of Pick Withers during a practice session. They never seemed in dire straits as they all had day jobs and were mostly rooted in their working class lifestyles. After the release of the debut “Dire Straits” album they no longer had a need for day jobs. The album cost £12,500 ($17,000 US) to produce and sold well over four million copies worldwide. Soon the band was touring with the Talking Heads followed by a tour the next year that that documented the band playing 51 sold-out performances in less than two months. The band was all over the airwaves with the single release of “Sultans of Swing” having started with a demo in 1977 that made it to this initial recording in February of 1978. Another version of the song was recorded in April of 1978 which started climbing the charts all over the world. The lyrics of “Sultans of Swing” which is track one on side two of the vinyl were inspired by a performance of a jazz band playing in the corner of an almost empty pub in south London on a cold rainy night. At the end of their performance the name of the band was announced from the stage… the “Sultans of Swing.” Mark Knopfler found the contrast between the atmosphere of the bar, the somewhat haggard look of the performers, and the band’s grandiose name brought a smile to his face. Soon he had a hit song written from his experience. You can experience his night when you read the lyrics of the song and imagine how it felt. This is a great song translation of a personal experience and the lead guitar work is for lack of a better word, amazing. Being a student of the guitar I have to say that Mark used a National guitar in open tuning to compose this tune as well as a 1961 red Fender Stratocaster to record the hit. The rest as they say is musical history.
There is so much history from the late 1970’s when this band broke out internationally to sell millions of records. My intent here is not to cover all that history that is already mostly scattered across the internet but to provide some images and a few side-dishes to the podcast that I am recording as I finish writing this. I hope you join me on my passionate musical journey podcast. I love to share a good story with someone who wants to listen or share a great memory back with me. Go listen to this music. It stands the test of time so you should get a copy and crank it up real loud. The neighbors might be your next close friend.
Until next time, I’ll see you, down the road.