The GB Album Club 050 - Love Over Gold by Dire Straits

Duders! Welcome to the 50th edition of the Unofficial Giant Bomb Album Club! 50! Who'd have thought we'd last this long? Everyone. That's fucking who. And hey, speaking of things that are most widely enjoyed by those in their 50s (no disrespect intended!) this week, our album is Love Over Gold by Dire Straits! This album was selected by our good friend @pauljeremiah, and you can listen with the links below:

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/album/4hJqOIahWodpSJU6uDgjvN?si=7H1Og-ETSdalUvD-jLj7Wg

Apple Music:https://music.apple.com/ie/album/love-over-gold-remastered/1440752001

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n6SBFCyrA2XKrQ_V3-xK9MBZb62b-l92c

Here at the Unofficial GB Album Club, we made a pool of albums in our Discord and we pick one at random every week to listen to and discuss. Sound good? Then come on down!

As a former Dire Straits sicko that owns all their albums on vinyl, that's a bold pick as far as their "peak" era albums go since it's probably the most in the weeds album and least approachable one (the shortest song is nearly 6 minutes and the first 20 minutes of the album is extremely slow and meandering compared to most of their other albums. If you've only heard their songs that are in commercials or on soundtracks this album is basically the opposite of those songs). Not that it's a bad album or anything but as an intro to the band it's probably one of the trickier albums to sell.

"Telegraph Road", "Private Investigations", and "It Never Rains" all slap. I straight up don't like "Industrial Disease". It's among a small set of Dire Straits songs I don't like for whatever reason. The title track is take it or leave it for me.

Anyhow shoutout to the last 2 minutes of the song "Tunnel Of Love" off their album Making Movies. That bit of that song is absolutely incredible, especially the piano part in the last 30 seconds. They didn't have to go so hard but they did anyway.

I told myself when we started this here album club that I was going to try as hard as I possibly could to not rely on snark. There's enough bullshit on the internet, particularly video game forums *cough cough* (I'm kidding!), that I don't feel the need to contribute to it. I've failed on the front. A few times lately. But I make a sincere effort to try not to do that. I can't prove that to you, but I do. (Says the guy who added a snarky joke to his point about not doing snark.)

Yet, as I listened to this album, the phrase, "This sounds like music specifically made to not do coke to" kept crossing my mind. Like I imagine someone saying, "I'm going to sit down, put on a Dire Straits album, and not do cocaine to it." I know what I'm really trying to say is that I found this album lacking a certain amount of juice, and as this is my first Dire Straits album, I get why some have referred to this band as "dad rock" now. However, I don't know why my mind wanted to phrase it like that. I don't even know if that's even an insult or not. It kind of sounds like it's in the cadence of an insult, but with a particular emphasis on "kind of."

I'm mentioning all this for one simple reason: To express that despite my best efforts, sometimes I'm an asshole and nothing I say about this album, and probably this band, should be taken seriously.

There is nothing wrong with Love Over Gold or Dire Straits. The talent on display is obvious, the songwriting is clever, it's deeply satisfying and cohesive. It's just not my tonality. Or rather, it's selling a mood and an experience I'm not personally buying. Broadly speaking, aggressively 80s ass 80s rock isn't my thing. I realize I'm wrong. But I get it! I really do! Again, don't turn to me when it comes to Dire Straits or this album.

Favorite Songs: "Telegraph Road" (I went K-6th grade on a Telegraph Road!), "Private Investigations," "It Never Rains"

Oh Dire Straits is definitely dad rock. As I mentioned, this album is a really tough one to be used as an intro to the band. This album has only one song that has anything resembling "energy" to it, and most of Dire Straits' best songs are generally more upbeat and energetic.

But seriously, just listen to Making Movies or their self-titled debut instead. Both albums are an order of magnitude better as an introduction to the band. This album is for people who are already a fan of the band and like their more in-the-weeds songs (a lot of their songs on other albums are not like this). This album as a first Dire Straits album is the equivalent of someone deciding to get into fancy cheeses then immediately going for the stinkiest, nastiest cheese that only hardcore cheese sickos like.