As I mentioned in that last post, Dire Straits released the "Brothers in Arms" album in 1985, and it went on to sell over 30 million copies, making it one of the most successful albums of all time. The band's resulting success was so massive that it was all too much for band leader Mark Knopfler. After the obligatory concert tour to support the album, he effectively disbanded the band and seemingly stopping making any new music for a few years. He reformed the band in 1990 and they released the "On Every Street" album in 1991. But it seemed the thrill was gone, and the band disbanded again shortly after that.
You can see from the songs on this album that Knopfler never fully committed to Dire Straits in this second time period. Only five of the 12 songs were actually performed with Dire Straits. He seemingly was more interested in his new band, the Notting Hillbillies, which released an album in 1990 and continued to play in concert until 1998.
But after being overwhelmed with too much fame in the wake of "Brothers in Arms," Knopfler was content to only rarely sing lead with the Notting Hillbillies. I've included the only song from the band's studio album ("Missing... Presumed Having a Good Time") for which he wrote and sang lead vocals. I've also included a song, "When It Comes to You," that the Notting Hillbillies only played in concert. Knopfler wrote it and sang lead for it, and released a version of it on the "On Every Street" Dire Straits album. But this is a very different acoustic arrangement.
"Feel like Going Home" is a cover of a Charlie Rich song. A version of it was released on the Notting Hillbillies studio album, but that version was sung by someone else. This version is sung by Knopfler. Apparently, he only sang it this one time, at a concert that was a tribute to BBC DJ Roger Scott, who had recently died.
Four more songs are collaborations between Knopfler and legendary guitarist Chet Atkins. Two are instrumentals from a concert in 1987. The other two are from a 1990 album they did together called "Neck and Neck." The second of those, "The Next Time I'm in Town," was written and sung by Knopfler, and was later covered by Johnny Cash. I could have included more of the songs from that album, but most of them are as much or more about Atkins than they are about Knopfler.
The one bonus track, "Nadine," is a cover of a Chuck Berry song. Dire Straits played it every once in a blue moon since 1978, and it also was played occasionally by the Notting Hillbillies. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any really good sounding versions of it, due to it being played so rarely. This was the best one I came across, but I still felt it doesn't have the sound quality of the other songs on this album.
01 I'll See You in My Dreams [Instrumental] (Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins)
02 Imagine [Instrumental] (Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins)
03 Feel like Going Home (Mark Knopfler)
04 When It Comes to You [Acoustic Version] (Notting Hillbillies)
05 Your Own Sweet Way (Notting Hillbillies)
06 I Think I Love You Too Much (Dire Straits with Eric Clapton)
07 Poor Boy Blues (Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins)
08 The Next Time I'm in Town (Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins)
09 Kingdom Come (Dire Straits)
10 Millionaire Blues (Dire Straits)
11 The Long Highway (Dire Straits)
12 Wild Theme [Instrumental] (Dire Straits)
Nadine [Is It You] (Dire Straits)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15110367/DireSts_1987-1992_TheLongHighwy_atse.zip.html
For the album cover art, I used the cover of a bootleg Dire Straits concert DVD, with some adjustments. The "On Every Street" cover art is in the background as a part of that.
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