Dire Straits - Dire Straits

Being the serious teenager that I was, I was well into this album and anything Strait related around 1986. So much so that when we went camping with the school that summer, a C90 with this and the following album accompanied me to the Lake District, along with my trusty Walkman.

Mmm camping with the school. It was great and certainly cemented my love of the outdoors, and in particular that magical part of Cumbria. Looking back at that trip I am astounded at the amount of responsibility we were given. At the tender age of 15 me and several others were taken in the mini bus to the stone circle at Keswick and dropped off. We then had three days to hike across the Lakeland fells back to Langdale Valley, stopping off in pre-arranged campsites. I just can't imagine pupils being given that sort of opportunity these days.

It was an eventful trip. Perhaps the most memorable event was when we were trying to negotiate a particularly piece of boggy land. DB took the lead and confidently set off to navigate us through the hazard. With a firm "Follow me lads!" we all did as we were told and.....plunged up to our knees in thick brown gloop. Cheers DB.

So is it appropraite that the debut Dire Straits album will always remind me of being up to my knees in crud? Probably not - It's a great album and devoid of the extended solos that would embellish their later work. This gives it a much more leaner sound that really allows the great songwriting to shine.

Anyone who doubts this should check out 'Six Blade Knife', a song so cool it was chosen for an Antonio Banderas film soundtrack, 'Wild West End' with its beautiful National Guitar opening riff or 'Southbound Again'. Not a wasted or superfluous note in sight.

Meanwhile, back in the Lake District, after a slog of a hike, we dined in on rehydrated beef risotto and Federation lager and promptly fell asleep, exhausted. You just can't get better than that!