venta

On Fridays this year we ask...

What's in the Box?

The Box in question is the glovebox of my car, home to my extremely motley tape collection. By the time I owned a car with a tape player tapes were on the way out and most of my music was in CD format. However, charity shops were practically giving tapes away, which meant that I bought rapaciously and eclectically. A half-remembered 80s band who once released a single I'd liked a little ? A band I'd vaguely heard of ? An unknown group with good cover art ? Bring them on.

Of course, the net result is that I've ended up with a tape collection which any music-lover would be slightly ashamed of. There was a relatively narrow window (late 70s to later 80s) when tapes were big news, and my horde represents that. However, in amongst the terrible pop I've found some gems and I reckon its time to come clean about my guilty musical secrets.

Today in The Box we have:

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing

Years ago, a friend of mine made his first trip to the States; he went to California. I remember receiving an email enthusing about what a wonderful place it was, how different it was to the UK, and how everything seemed larger and freer and shinier. "I've got the radio on," he wrote, "and even Dire Straits sound good here."

I still find it difficult to believe that Dire Straits came out of a depressed north east in the 70's. They were completely out of step with the punk ethos and all the other things that spring to mind from that era of music: I bet no one has ever called Dire Straits "gritty".

OK, this album is a best-of; it's got the biggies on it. But regardless of which side you start with (Sultans of Swing or Walk of Life) the music just seems to belong to a world when you could drive a convertible with the froof down, sun blazing down, cruising through wide streets. It just doesn't belong in 70s Newcastle.

Listening to this always makes me think the sun is shining[*].

Walk of Life is a brilliant slice of feelgood pop-rock. It also has a surprisingly distinctive intro: someone rang me while I was mp3ing it off the tape and I accidentally started playing it. They recognised the song in under half a second[**].

Dire Straits - Walk of Life [link expired]

[Poll #1271727]

This week's post is specially for

ulfilias. Don't make me get the Genesis out as well.

[*] For comparison The Stone Roses, despite being one of my favourite albums of all times, always makes me think it's raining.

[**] You know who you are!