Author:John Illsley
Along with Mark Knopfler, bassist John Illsley was the only constant presence in the line up of Dire Straits until the band went on indefinite hiatus after the On Every Street tour wound up almost thirty years ago, having sold over 120 million albums, including 30 million copies of Brothers In Arms alone, in a fifteen year career. Despite its title, this autobiography covers the author’s life from his middle class childhood onwards, taking in his early forays into music before a chance meeting, created by looking for a flat mate, brought him into contact with David Knopfler and eventually his brother Mark, who contributes a pleasant if rather low key foreword. His best writing comes in describing the early days of the band in the pubs of London before the band hit the big time, and on his long-standing and enduring friendship with Mark Knopfler. He’s also sadly reflective on the cost of success, as ever-longer tours, particularly for the last three albums, kept him away from home for prolonged periods of time and ultimately resulted in two failed marriages. He’s rather diplomatic about the fall out that saw David Knopfler leave the band during the recording of Making Movies, and indeed he maintains an air of discretion throughout, so there are no great revelations to be found or secrets revealed. Nevertheless, this is a very pleasant read, honest and written with a dry sense of humour, and quite gentle in its overall tone, which seems to reflect the author’s unassuming personality. I’d certainly recommended it to fans of a band that could at one time have arguably claimed to have been the biggest act in the world but seem to be strangely unfashionable nowadays.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Dire Straits.
One thing you’ve learned
As well as maintaining a parallel career as an artist, the author has released no less than eight solo albums, which actually trumps the number of studio albums by the band.
Not really my cup-of-tea, though they had some good bits. The funny thing is how much they fell from sight given how big they were.
I recall a conversation with a publisher of music books in the 90s, who sagely observed that millions of people bought Dire Straits records yet nobody wanted to read a book about them.
Without the title case, this could just be my autobiography… Bdum tisssh
PS Pick Withers’s extremely brief tenure as Van Morrison’s drummer is a good story. One for another book, I suspect.
His last solo album is very good and wears it’s Dire Straits influences on its sleeve.
Mark Knopfler still playing sell out tours around the World and still has to play songs from his Straits back catalogue. The fact they are no longer fashionable probably bothers him not one jot and his solo career has been longer and better imho.
@niallb regards Knopfler as our best current songwriter – I tend to agree that he is up there.
Has to? I would argue that he would still sell those tickets even if he didn’t.
Saw MK in DC a few years back.
An interesting demographic in the audience. Quite a lot of folks who you would expect to be the Dire Straits fanbase. Also quite a few younger folks as well who seemed more (or just as) interested in the solo work as they were Romeo and Juliet.
That’s how I feel about him as a songwriter – one of the best in that line of melodic and literate. It’s a very long line but hard to do well. I really appreciate that Knopfler is never obviously autobiographical but even when he does something as simple as Miss You Blues it is really engaging. His success in Dire Straits has created a void of appreciation for him as a songwriter – a void he can live with I am sure. But Back to Tupelo is a great, powerful song about Presley and the culture around him.
My very first post on the old Word blog (2008 maybe??? Something like that) was a post to ask why Dire Straits were unfashionable. So it’s obviously not a new thing! (Note: I was very proud when the first person to comment was David Hepworth).
They were determinedly unfashionable from the beginning. The first few albums have nothing to do with what was happening in music at the time. People who do that, as in this case, often find that history is on their side in the end.
Yes I recall Andrew Harrison declaring that Money for Nothing was a ‘bad song’ or even a terrible song. He was operating in that place where disaffection with popularity had leaked into critical rejection – I am quite fascinated by this process.
I don’t think they ever were fashionable. They looked the part in 1980 with the skinny jeans and jackets of the era, and Making Movies had a slightly ragged edge to the sound of it. But I think that was the closest they came.
I was and remain a fan, mostly up to and including Love Over Gold. After Alchemy it was a case of diminishing returns. I never understood the fuss about Brothers In Arms at all.
I enjoy trawling YouTube for footage of the early days, doing telly shows round the world. Looking very thin and very skint and sounding quite trebly.
Like this:
Making Movies had a ragged edge? That would be a surprise to Jimmy Iovine.
Yes. To me, anyway. There’s a bit of growl and bite in the clean tones of the guitars not present previously. Especially on Expresso Love, Tunnel of Love and Solid Rock.
I’m no expert on Dire Straits but I’d agree that there is an aggression in the guitar playing and band sound on Making Movies that is absent on other DS albums I’ve heard. I haven’t heard one or two, mind.
Love Over Gold is my favourite! In fact I wrote a review of it on these pages, where I felt the need to rave about it.
And the inspiration for some heartwarming coffee commercials. See also Cafe Hag by Faust.
The Pickmeister (drums), immediately prior to being in dire straits, was in a dead end, with a perpetually rehearsing (in Putney) Bert Jansch combo, which eventually became the Bert Jansch Conundrum of BJ, Nigel Portman Smith (bass) and Martin Jenkins (fiddle, mandocello). That late 70s band period wasn’t Bert’s finest hour, though he and Martin did manage to create the career-high ‘Avocet’ in 1978.
Here they are in 1976, with Rod Clements on bass, not long before the first of many Lindisfarne reunions (Rod is currently fronting the 50th anniversary version of the ‘Farne).
They were a great band with one top tier album (Making Movies) who became defined in the eye of the public by their least-representative album (BIA), and were then abandoned as 80s cultural residue. Mark Knopfler is a fine, fine guitarist and songwriter.
I’d agree Making Movies is their best album, but is there really any difference between Knopfler’s solo albums and Straits albums – pretty much interchangeable?
The change happens when Guy Fletcher arrives- talented enough to do whatever MK needed, modest enough to keep his own ego out of it. Also, could program a Synclavier to do most of it.
I can’t really tell the difference between one MK album and another but I don’t think of the solo albums as sounding much like Dire Straits – though given that its him singing, playing and writing, I guess they must in places. I think Sailing to Philadelphia is somewhat like that. You don’t tend to hear the big overdriven guitar very often (the industrial Disease/Money for Nothing sound). Never do you hear the really choppy rhythm playing of the first two albums.
I personally dont think Dire Straits albums sound anything like Mark Knopfler solo albums and I have all of both (except Alchemy). Mark’s country influences are much more to the fore on his solo albums.
Aside from his solo albums Screenplaying and the Notting Hillbillies albums are both excellent.
This is how i feel about it too.
I recall commenting elsewhere in this place, oh, aeons ago, that the first Dire Straits album, for me, was a huge burst of absolutely top quality songwriting and playing that stood head and shoulders above the sea of amateurish late punk dross that was otherwise everywhere in record stores at the time. They were a genuine breath of fresh, talented, homegrown air that finally spoke to me with musicality and thought after a tidal wave of noisy shite had washed up on our shores over the previous year or so.
Spurred on by this thread, I’ve just listened to Knopfler’s album “The Ragpicker’s Dream” for the first time.
Yeah … sounds pretty good on first listen. Lovely guitar sound. But you expect that with Knopfler, of course.
I think Get Lucky is remarkable.
I remember hearing this song by The Croz in a shop and thinking ‘that’s great, tasteful guitar – I wonder who’s playing it?’ The answer made me go ‘Doh!’, but MK had been off my radar that long.
I always liked Dire Straits but more the recorded outbput than the performance. Mark Knophler always seemed insecure on stage as if he was forcing himself to play the rock star. He dressed the part as mentioned above but it never seemed natural. Peter Buck was the same.
I very much enjoyed his album/tour with Emmylou Harris – I liked the way he just stepped back and blended with the band when Emmylou was up front; and everything he played was just right…
There was a whole bunch of us (Me, Jazzer, Terry, Hard Boil, lots and lots of us) who dismissed Dire Straits cos “The poncey singer sounds like a very poor man’s Bob Dylan”.
Then Dire Straits became popular, ubiquitous even. Every civilian we knew, including Hard Boil’s mum, had Brother In Arms. So we dismissed them even more.
We might have been Wrong
Warning: Guitar nerd content ahead.
As a complete coincidence, I just bought a Tone King Imperial Mkii amp yesterday as a 50th birthday present to myself. It has been one of Knopfler’s stage amps for the past couple of decades and I can see why: thick, chewy cleans and gorgeous reverb. Best amp I’ve ever played, let alone owned (and I’ve played/owned a few).
Nurse, the Kleenex!
Also had the advantage of significantly decluttering my bank account.
The large tree in my back garden has done that after the storm on Saturday night. Probably a nice US Fender P bass worth already. And one branch is still to be braced. As am I.
You poor soul. We had an absolute drenching up here in Brisbane, but all the trees stayed vertical this time. We once had a massive tree come down in a storm and the removal bill was 12 grand. The crew were here for a week and we still have piles of woodchips everywhere (This was in Jan 2013). Luckily insurance ponied up, because the tree took out our power and phone line on the way down.
Yeah we had a branch come off it a few years ago and it clipped the corner of the house – just knocked off a few tiles – consequently the insurance paid for everything. I fear they won’t pay this as there was no damage other than enormous branches in someone’s garden.
Chewy Cleans…third call sessioneer on pedal steel (when Sneaky Pete and BJ are otherwise employed…)
JI was good on the Rockonteurs podcast – modest and sounds like a nice bloke. I loved the early Dire Straits stuff and one way or the other I’ve probably got most of the albums. I haven’t heard any MK solo stuff though doubtless they are too quality as he is a terrific player. Mind you, I saw him live in Paris in about 95 and it was one of the most boring gigs I have ever been to. Dreadful sound too – the sound guy clearly had the instruction “Make Mark loud”, consequently the rest of the band sounded like they were in the next arrondissement.
I saw Straits on the Making Movies tour in the 2000 seat capacity Newcastle City Hall and the sound was incredible. Mucho loud and very crisp.
I’ve seen Knopfler solo a few times since, all at the Albert Hall and the sound was a bit muddy each time. Except for one occasion about 20 minutes in when the sound desk must have worked some spell and it cleared beautifully.
@Beezer the Albert Hall is a crap venue for music. The sound is rarely any good. The building might be iconic but thats about it.
@SteveT I agree. It’s the smaller venues that have the better sound. The Town and Country Club and The Sheperds Bush Empire are two London ones that spring to mind with regularly excellent sound experiences.
The Albert Hall doesn’t seem fond of amplified sound. Mushrooms from the ceiling or not.
There was a huge investment in the sound at the RHA a few years ago. Basically, they replaced the relatively small line array on the front truss with a lot more arrays around the venue to fill in the gaps rather than just putting bigger boxes at the front. I haven’t been in there since but the spec is on line somewhere, all d&b boxes which you’ll see at festivals and all sorts of venues.
“small line array on the front truss” – doesn’t this belong on the Trousers thread?
(sorry)
The old ‘Tenor’s Friend’
Sounds like good news. I haven’t been to the Albert Hall for some years so I’ll put this to the test next time.
Back in the sixties the sound was terrible because it was full of holes.
I remember us discussing it at the time. I haven’t been back to the RAH to test it, though.
I saw the Human League there in the mid-90s (before the refit) and it put me off going again.
Michael Kiwanuka was triff in 2018 or thereabouts
I saw Rubrig there more than one. Their performance seemed unaffected by the acoustics.
Ahem.
Best typo ever. Assuming it isn’t a typo and you were watching a slightly pervy tribute band.
The only time you get a decent sound there is for essentially acoustic acts with minimal amplifications. Big band sound – forget it.
It is fine in the lower area. Less good in the “nosebleeds”
I loved Private Investigations. Which one was that on? Otherwise generally, despite the obvious technical ability, I found them fairly dull. Sultans is good and Money For Nothing is a great pop single.
Saw Knopfler live supporting Dylan in 2012, he did one Dire Straits song (So Far Away), but, for me, I found the rest to be rather samey and unmemorable and actually a little soporific, I was caning it at that time though 🙁 Not a great stage presence, our Mark, he even came on and played with Dylan a bit and you wouldn’t have known it unless your eyesight was good.
Private Investigations was on Love Over Gold – which is my favourite, as per my comment above! 🙂
There’s a lot of talk here about Mark Knoppo. Is Illsley any good? Was he just a guy playing three or four notes at the back?
Good as in “flashy”, no; good as in “in the service of the song”, yes.
There is some nice fretless bass on the title track of Love Over Gold. Although I suspect that is either Neil Jason or Tony Levin (uncredited but on the Local Hero soundtrack from the same time period).
Actually his solo album Never Told a Soul is pretty good, IIRC.
Always had a soft spot for the Notting Hillbillies album he did with Ed Bicknell
Coming at it from a different angle..
In about 1986 weren’t Dire Straits voted the no. 5th or 6th most collectable act in the annual Record Collector poll?
As someone who avoided the dire 1980s (and Dire Straits) at the time remembers, I think it was based almost entirely on the fact that a particular CD pressing of Brother in Arms accrued a ridiculous value – much lauded and promoted in the editorial and adverts of the now ‘holier than thou’ “vinly” Record Collector.
How much would that “Brother in Arms” CD promo, £500 at the time if memory serves, accrue now?
£10?
Did anyone on here buy one?
Be warned, vinlys, we’ve been here before.
I remember CDs used to seem like magical artifacts. When I bought the White Album for £27.99 (a massive amount of money for a youngster like me back then) it seemed like a piece of the Holy Grail or something.
Whither the little squares of foam we got in the White Album fat-boy CD case?
They’re still arguing over the impact of those on the DR over at Hoffman.
I seem to remember a 30th anniversary of the White Album was released in different packaging. Some waxed lyrically about the improvement in SQ over the “inferior” 1987 version before discovering it was exactly the same version as before
Yes, 1998. Little cardboard replica of the LP sleeve. Same price as the fat box – and, as you say, the same music.
The first tentative remasterings came with the Yellow Sub Songtrack. Didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
My white foam square is yellow, simulating exactly what happened to most original White albums…
I was conned – paid the full price and didn’t get the foam inserts
Inserts? Plural? I only got one. What is this shit? I’m going back to Woolworths in Mansfield this instant to get my money back even though a) it’s closed b) it’s 80 miles away c) it’s TOTALLY closed anyway and d) this was 30 years ago.
Martin Lewis will hear of this!!
And what is the former BBC newsreader going to do about it.
That’s Martyn Lewis.
Y, not I.
Something that I often wail. Ungrammatically.
This is fun. I seem to have de-railed a thread about Dire Straits and made it about the Beatles again. I must try to do this with every thread! 🙂
Is the source of contempt for DS simply familiarity?
Apparently it breeds it.
Yeah. Fucken’ Beatles.
They were slightly cool briefly, around the time of the first album, like they were vaguely new wave despite being suspiciously competent as musicians. Then I think it was snobbery , too popular, too mainstream, not at all attempting to be fashionable. I was OK with that personally as long as the music was good enough. I was always a little disappointed that Knopfler never let rip and rocked out on a long solo, a la pre-punk 70s bands. It was always restrained, tasteful, coming to an end when you were hoping for something a bit heavier, that went on for another 10 minutes but which never came, despite him having the means. and capability Tunnel of Love gets the thumbs up though. I have time for that one.