Dire Straits – Dire Straits (1978)

It seems remarkable, but some acts appear fully formed on their debut release.  Dire Straits, which featured Mark Knopfler as lead singer, guitarist extraordinaire and songwriter were one such.  However, this may have been more luck than judgement.  Mark had written and made a pretty good demo of ‘Sultans of Swing’ which DJ Charlie Gillett played without their knowledge and was immediately approached by several record companies wanting to sign the group.  Muff Winwood produced this immaculate and almost perfect album in 1978 and it was an immediate success, as was the single ‘Sultans’.  The group went on to sell 140 million albums before disbanding in 1995, or rather Mark deciding to go solo and much more folky at that.  This album also featured ‘Down By The Waterline’ and ‘Wild West End’ – in fact there isn’t a poor track on it, or on any of their albums.  A true phenomenon.