Thus began the meteoric rise of the one of the finest British band of all time. All the thanks to one person: Mark Knopfler. Born in Glasgow to a Hungarian father and a Scottish mother, young Mark grew up in Newcastle-on-Tyne in Northeast England. He got his first guitar at the age of 15, a red Hofner v2. A mostly self-taught musician, Mak Knopfler was man behind Dire Straits. He has written, sung, played guitar on, and produced almost everything that Dire Straits has made for the last two decades.

The first album, Dire Straits (1978), sold rapidly with groovy songs like "sultans of swing", "down to waterline" and "six blade knife".A fantastic first effort, it laid to the foundation for what was to come. I still fail to understand why the absolutely brilliant "down to waterline" didn’t make it to their recent ‘best-of’ release. They soon followed up with their next offering Communiqué (1979), which carries some traces of Knopfler’s journalistic career in songs like "news" and "communiqué". Their LP continued where the previous one had left off. "Portobello Belle" and "once upon a time in the west " stand out; my favorite is the poignant acoustic number "where do ya think you’re going". Knopfler’s straightforward lyrical style and laid-back signing along with his scintillating fingerpicked guitar work soon built up a sizeable fan following. Knopfler wrote songs about people from a narrator’s point of view. He saw people in different places and penned song about them. He and brother David once saw an up and coming band playing in a London pub which inspired him to write about their dreams and aspirations, giving rise to "sultans of swing", their first big hit which shot them to fame.

But Knopfler viewed Dire Straits as His band, (and it was, indeed!!). This led to differences within the group, which led to David Knopfler’s departure. Drummer Withers followed suit a couple of albums later. But with the next two albums the introduction of keyboard helped broaden the band’s sound. The band released making movies (1980) and love over gold (1982), which included some of the best music, they had ever made so far. Roy Bittan(of Bruce springsteen ‘s E-street band ) provided some splendid keyboard playing on "tunnel of love" and "Romeo & Juliet" two of the best songs on Making movies. The music on the album changed quite from the earlier albums later. Knopfler’s songwriting was more confident. The narrator had now moved to the center of songs, especially on tunes like the racy fairground saga, "tunnel of love". Arguably the best song ever made, it had great interplay between Bittan’s piano and Knopfler’s six string. While a lot of people feel that Mark Knopfler’s guitar on this album is a bit subdued, the music certainly better than before.

The album is aptly named too, each song feels like a scenario, just waiting to be filmed. And brother David’s departure probably inspired "hand in hand". I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a passage like "if I been hard on you I never close to be/I never wanted no one else/I tried my best to be somebody you’d be close to/hand in hand like lovers are supposed to,". Works just as well with ‘brother’s instead of ‘lovers’. And of course no mention of Making movies with the melodious love song "Romeo & Juliet" with it’s simple but enchanting starting notes. The album remains one of the finest pieces of work to date.

The spacious arrangements, saxophones and good keyboards (Alan Clarke had joined by then) continued with Love over gold. The title track "love over gold", "private investigations" and the marathon " Telegraph road" are some of the better songs on this LP. As usual, Knopfler sang a song about a huge variety of subjects; like "private investigations"- from a detective’s point of view and "industrial disease", about the perils of industrialization.

Love over gold was a album that saw Britain finally waking up to the Dire Straits. It was their first album to top the charts. And the Knopfler-Illesly partnership (the only two people to stay from the beginning till the end) was firmly in place. Then they put on the EP Extendedance play, featuring fast, rock’n’rollish "twisting by the pool" which received a lot of radio airplay.

Dire Straits, as a band, had certainly come into their own, efficiently working Mark Knopfler’s music into brilliant, complete songs. A lot of people like to think of their music as Bob Dylan put together with J J Cale, two people anybody’d be proud to be compared with. It certainly make sense – the quirky lyrics, the vocal style and those distinctive, fluid licks. Knopfler himself has admitted to their influences. He himself had even contributed to two Dylan albums.

But, the best was yet to come. In 1985, Dire Straits released their fifth studio album Brothers in Arms on new Compact Disc Format (he first LP to do so, incidentally). It was their most successful album till then (and still is). One of the outstanding albums of the 1980’s, it contained great songs like "brothers in arms" and the rock guitar-charged "money for nothing"(with backing vocals by Sting) both of which shot to #1 on the charts. The album starts gently with the trick of a high-hat and dies away nine tracks later with a wash of keyboards and aching guitar. Keyboardist Guy Fletcher had joined the band and his output included the catchy keyboard playing on the ever-popular "Walk of life". Its only ’happy’ song on an album filled with beautiful songs; songs of soldierly regret and remorse like the title track."Brothers in arms", "ride across the river" and the poignant song from a war criminal’s point of view: "The man’s too strong". Then their’s the wistful song on separation "So far away". And no Dire Straits album is complete without a song about someone Knopfler met somewhere. On Brothers in arms it’s the one about a grumbling salesman in a electric good store: "Money for nothing". Brothers in arms still remains one of the best albums to come out during the 1980s and you’ll realize as soon as you give it a good listen. It certainly deserves its place in any classy collection of Rock music.

While a lot of people consider Mark Knopfler’s brilliant guitaring the reason behind the band’s success, it must be noted there’s certainly more to Knopfler than just his guitar. While it is his trump card, there is vast body of music he wrote which stands testimony to his musical genius. He has brandished his six-string alongside some of the biggest names in music world, like Bob Dylan (on Infidels and slow train coming), Eric Clapton (on tour), Randy Newman, his childhood hero Chet Atkins (neck and neck, 1990) among others.

He also holds quite a few film score credits, like Cal, Comfort and joy and the critically acclaimed Local Hero, his most recent work was on Wag the Dog. The best of his work on movie soundtracks has been released as Screenplaying., which is very good buy foranybody who likes instrumental music.

His other efforts include a tie-up with some old friends from his pub-rock days for a band called the Notting Hillbiries, and a solo album Goldenheart (1996), which has a fabulous number about an erstwhile Filipine first lady called "Imelda". But all said & done it doesn’t have that typical Dire Straits falvour to it. Another Mark Knopfler solo album is now in the stores titled "Sailing to Philadelphia" which really a great buy.

Six years after the worldwide success of Brothers in arms, Dire Straits released their last studio effort, on every street. While it didn’t match the popularity of Brothers in arms (what could possibly eclipse it?) it still remains as good a Straits album as any. It contains the catchy "Calling Elvis" (which was inspired by something as trivial Knopfler’s brother-in-law saying that getting through a telephone to his wife was like "calling Elvis") with its funky chorus strung together with names of Elvis Presley’s songs. The other good songs included "On every street", "the bug"(subsequently covered by Mary Chapin-Carpenter), the sarcastic song about the rich," My parties". And "Heavy fuel", a groovy number about drinking which is one of the universal favorites on the album.

The best part of Dire Straits’s music is its accessibility. Their lyrics are down to earth and straightforward, at the same time they say a lot. Mark Knopfler, with his reputation for being a hard worker, always executed his music very well. And the obvious influences of Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson (though Knopfler said in an interview once that he hadn’t heard much by Thompson) and J J Cale certainly make their presence felt with lyrics and the magical finger-picked guitar riffs.

Dire Straits has a unique sound, drawn from a lot of different music source like rock’n’roll, country, and Knopfler’s native Celtic music, combined with his Dylanesque vocal delivery style & his magical bluesy finger-picked guitar riffs woven around Illsely’s steady bass guitar-work. The keyboards provide an ideal foil to guitars and in the end you have some excellent music, Suitable for any sort of mood, intense or easy. The Straits’s songs can have you in a Varity of moods. Sometimes you want to just sit, stare out the window and imagine a new world, not too different from yours, a world of swarthy sailors, heartbroken lovers, old soldiers and just plain ordinary people. At other times you can just sing along with the funky rhythm, unrestricted by anything or anyone. At still other times you want to release your feelings of disgust and frustration.

During their career Dire Straits released three live albums, alcamy(1984), on the night(1993), and live at BBC(1995). While all of them are excellent listeners undeniably, they don’t differ much from the studio albums expect for the long drawn out guitar solos and the lack of too much mixing. To me, the straits worked little better in their studio releases, driven by Knopfler’s quest for the ‘perfect sound’. But you must want to listen to their live work if you’re a big fan of his guitar playing, like me. For someone who has never heard them, the best way to start off would be their greatest hit packages, two of which has been released: Money for nothing in1988 and sultans of swing in 1998; both of these have been runaway successes.