The title of the album comes from a line in the song "Skateaway" and the unreleased song "Making Movies". Rolling Stone ranked the album #52 in their survey of the "100 Best Albums of the 80s". Making Movies was the biggest selling album in Italy in 1981 with one million copies; in Europe the album sold 3.8 million copies.
It was remastered and released with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world outside the U.S. and on September 19, 2000 in the United States.
The songs "Making Movies" and "Suicide Towers" were recorded during the sessions and were never officially released. They do however appear on bootlegs.
The popular singer, guitarist, composer and leader, has cleared the ideas and decides to push in the direction of success, without compromising on quality. And 'mature as a composer and musician, but also as a manager of his talent. A talent and ambition that in later years would have led to self-produced discs of the Straits, as well as to produce work of others (Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Aztec Camera, Tina Turner, etc..): The road to success for Ours is a relatively late begun, almost 30 years, but has been a dizzying speed, so that in the mid 80s the character showed signs of slowing down, choosing to pass on their ideas for the most side-projects, away from the spotlight and dall'insulso world of heavy rotation (but not before he made money hand over fist, selling tens of millions of records).
"Making Movies" then is the son of the most explosive phase of the ambitious and career Knopfler. Not surprisingly, the rhythm guitarist of the Straits, which is the little brother David, has moved away just when recording this album, apparently as a result of quarrels and misunderstandings with Mark, whose dominant figure and whose talents were probably incompatible with the despotic relationship of kin within the group.
The lyrics, from the beginning, are now 'universal' and more removed from direct personal experience of the author. At the base there are always hints of Dire Straits roots: the country-blues J. J. Cale, Springsteen ballads, echoes Dylaniani, guitar, and of excellent quality. But the music has evolved, perhaps a bit 'at the expense of simplicity and freshness in a fine mainstream rock, the kind that' infect 'the listener quickly. Credit goes to the production of solid Jimmy Iovine (who produced for Patti Smith, Tom Petty and many other tutelary deities in the 80s), which highlights the sounds, adds some splash of Hammond organ and piano, the guitar and makes a bit 'more aggressive and persuasive.
Explosive mix: perfect to enliven an evening in a pub on the road, or even to listen with headphones in your bedroom. The album is a hit (at the time, sells a lot in Italy) and has the merit to enrich the world of rock - after the historic "Sultans Of Swing" - with a couple of classics made by Dire Straits' Tunnel of Love "and" Romeo and Juliet ".
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