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The UK CD.
The album from
Japan. All albums looked much
the same as this. The Japanese Album had a wrap-around strip
giving additional information, including price (2,800 Yen). All
albums came with full lyrics, either on the inner sleeve or on a
separate sheet. Albums from the UK, The USA, Italy, Germany,
Czechoslovakia, Canada, Israel, Korea, Mexico, Portugal,
Colombia, Australia and Yugoslavia (and no doubt most other
counties), looked a lot like this. The album from Israel has no
country of origin on the disc, and looks identical to the UK
issue. I am assured that this is common practise for records sold
in Israel, the discs are imported from the UK or Holland, and the
sleeves are printed in Israel. The only evidence IS
on the sleeve, "Product of Phonokol Ltd, TEL-AVIV".
Early editions of the Italian LP credited Money For Nothing to Mark Knopfler only, Sting got no mention at all. The back of the album Sleeve from Argentina differed slightly from the above. The sleeve notes and track titles were printed in Spanish (or Portuguese, I'm not too sure), on the back of the sleeve, (as apposed to the insert), but the English track titles were listed in brackets, and all the lyrics were in English.
The guitar logo
from the rear of the Yugoslavia album. Note the darker colour of the blue, the entire
album cover was a shade darker.
An Image of the
label of the Yugoslavia Album. Note
the spelling of track 4 (Your
Latest Trick). I doubt if the
record has any extra value, I suspect that this was a genuine
error through interpretation. The lyrics were spelt correctly and
the track listing on the back of the album were also correct. The
lyrics suplied on the inner sleeve, were early versions of the
songs, for Money For Nothing, the original line "See that little faggot
with the tutu and the earings" is printed, instead of "See the little faggot with the earring
and the makeup". The second line of One World reads, "Can't get no socks for my
shoes", instead of "Can't get no laces for my
shoes". There are other subtle changes here and there,
probably compiled from Mark's Original lyrics.
The
USA cassette version of the album. Unlike the European versions, the cassette from
the USA carried an additional footnote, "This cassette features extended versions of four
songs. Blank tape at the end of Side Two is necessary to
duplicate sequence of LP". It
isn't obvious, until you listen to the cassette version, that
side one is so much longer in terms of playing time, 10:34
minutes to be exact. That is one heck of a long time. When the
original Album track listing was first conceived, I guess no one
considered the cassette, and how much blank tape would be left on
the B-side. I wonder how many people bought the cassette, and
added more of their own music to the end of the second side?
Most countries issued a cassette version, including UK, USA and The Netherlands, pretty much a standard release on High Quality tape. I believe the cassette itself could vary, not necessarily from country to country, but during 'production runs'. My USA cassette is made of clear plastic, no label, with white writing direct to the cassette, the UK cassette I have is black, with a blue label, and my cassette from the Netherlands is black, with a silver grey label.
The
Japanese Re-mastered CD, complete with 'obi' strip, and
additional lyric sheet in Japanese. The wrap around strip, (often called the 'obi'
strip), contains additional detailed information for the Japanese
market, including track list and price, 1,800 Yen. Issued in
1996, it already shows a saving of 1,000 Yen, on the album from
11 years before. The Japanese lyric sheet is tucked neatly inside
the inlay.
18 years after release the album is still available in most countries, though more readily available on CD and Cassette than 12 inch vinyl.
In the UK combined sales of CD, Cassette and vinyl add up to almost 4 million. That must make it one of the 10 most successful albums in the UK. The CD accounted for slightly more than 500,000 sales, but has been re-mastered and now issued at budget price (about £8.00- about 12 US Dollars). The only significant difference between the original issue of the CD and the re-mastered CD was the introduction of an "Appreciation" at the beginning of the sleeve notes. Subtle differences were apparent, the discs can be separated by their date, the original from 1985, and the re-issue dated 1996, the colours of the re-issue ae slightly darker. It was, of course, one of the first albums to be recorded in digital, as opposed to analogue sound.
Various promos, special editions and formats have been available around the World. The UK issued a one-sided promo, using the same sleeve as the normal album, and a very limited two-sided promo. A 12 inch mini album was also promoted, featuring So Far away, Money For Nothing, Brothers In Arms and Ride Across The River, although I must confess, I'm unsure when it was released, probably about the same time as the video itself, mid 1986. The front of the sleeve was the same as the album, the reverse of the sleeve featured two photographs, one of the band (Black and white) and a photograph of all 3 UK formats (i.e. Album, CD and cassette).
Also available in the early days of production is a single sided test pressing, with proof sleeve, and a more normal double sided Test Pressing.
An Album Box set was issued for "Scandinavian Music", entitled Dire Straits Complete, and contained their first six LP's, including Brothers In Arms.
In The USA a special 'Quiex II 'limited edition pressing was issued as a promo, and is of slightly higher musical quality, but still does not compare with the CD.
Side A and B labels of the White Label Promo
from Poland. A unique album in
terms of the track listing. Unlike every other regular release
from around the world, Why
Worry is the first track on
side B, instead of the last track on side A. Unlike any other
standard release I know, this album carries full versions of all
the songs, instead of all edited versions on side A of the normal
format, (So Far Away,
Money For Nothing, Walk Of Life, Your Latest Trick and Why Worry), and full length versions of the four tracks on
side B, (Ride Across
The River, The Man's Too Strong and Brothers In Arms). The
layout of all these full length versions on this Polish White
label Album creates a better balance between the two sides,
making them more evenly spread, side B being longer in total
playing time by about six and a half minutes. If Why Worry had been on side A, then the total playing time
would have been 32:32 minutes, while side B would have been 22:12
minutes long, a discrepancy of almost ten and a half minutes.
Albums show their limitations when the playing time of one side
exceeds 30 minutes, the grooves are not so deep, so the music has
to be compressed and filtered, giving a very shallow sound, and
this truly compromises quality of the musical content.
The sleeve is a very poor quality scan of the original, and the back of the sleeve only lists the tracks. No other information is given, no mention of Sting, or any song or production credits. I have not got a copy of the official release of the album Brothers In Arms from Poland, assuming one exists, so I cannot make any comparison with this album white label pressing.
The label of the
album from Colombia. The spiral
or swirl was typical of the Record company Vertigo during the
seventies and early eighties. The rest of the album is pretty
much identical to any other release from around the world, with
one tiny exception, this label carries the playing times of each
track. Although almost all Cd's carry this information, only four
albums in my collection do, this album, the album issued in
Argentina, the album from Korea and the USA Quiex II limited
edition pressing. Albums from Japan,Yugoslavia, Australia, UK and
Germany do not show playing times, nor do any of the cassettes of
the album.
The labels from the Album issued in Korea. Manufactured by Sung Eum Ltd, Korea. The first glimpse of the sleeve, this album looks very similar to other releases from around the world, there's no tour dates on the back of the sleeve, but it does have the credits, mentioning all those involved with the making of the album. It's not until you study the tracks on this album, that you realise that there is one track missing. Why Worry, is now the lead track on side 2, (normally the last track on side 1), and Ride Across The River is missing altogether. I can only guess that there was perhaps a political reason for not including Ride Across The River on this album, unless the reason was less sinister, maybe the pressing plant was not capable of getting all the tracks on the album. If you know the real reason, or think there may be a different reason for the missing track, please email me.
The Album comes complete with lyrics printed in English on an insert, together with a short biography in Korean of the band. A nice and rare addition to my collection and the sound quality is slightly superior. I value this at £30 (about USA$ 50).
The album on
cassette from Korea. Like
it's Vinyl counterpart, the cassette contains only 8 tracks, Ride Across The River, is missing. The Playing times of each
side are more evenly balanced, side A checking in at 19:56
minutes, and side B at 20:30. Information on the inlay is
limited, the tracks are listed in both English & Korean, the
only other information given is writing and production credits,
with no lyrics, band or tour details.
"Mark Knopfler
of Dire Straits, The interview album" 12 inch promo from
Canada. Before the tour
of 1985, Mark spoke to Paul Gambaccini, about the album Brothers In Arms, the forthcoming world tour, the new
compact disc technology and his recent solo projects. This 12
inch promo, issued in Canada contains most of this interview. A
rare limited edition, comes complete with a transcript of the
interview, issued by Vertigo, the catalogue number is INT 2. I
value this at £50, (about US$ 90). I am not aware of this
interview disc being available in any other country, so this
makes it a very sought after item and a great insight into the
Album, and Mark's views of the World tour.
Mimmo Carrata, a collector from Italy, tells me he has acquired a South African Acetate of the album. From his description, it sounds unique. It's a single sided Acetate, with 8 songs listed on the one side and the tracks are in a completely different order to the standard album format. The disc actually plays at 28/29 rpm. He thinks that this was done to accomodate all 8 tracks on the same side. The missing track, believe it or not, is Brothers In Arms.
The UK CD Video disc issued
in the late Eighties. About 1989
CD Video was taking off as an extension to CD Audio and although
the format did not really take off, CD Video players were
available. The disc itself was gold in colour and about 8 inches
(20 Cm) in diameter. The Quality was comparable to DVD of today,
but the size of the disc was not practical. Some CD video discs
were 12 inches in diameter making it an expensive product to
produce. It contained the four videos as featured on the standard
video release.
A video was available in most countries, containing the 4 major videos released to promote the singles. They included Money For Nothing, So Far Away, Walk Of Life and Brothers in Arms.
Promotional Artwork was made available, probably for advertising purposes. It was this I used for the background for the main page of this site.
Prior to the release of the album in Canada, a promo Cassette was issue by Vertigo to promote the album. It was called "Dire Straits - A Choice Selection", the front cover has a full picture of the band from 1985 and includes songs from all the previous 5 Dire Straits albums. Songs from Brothers In Arms are: Money For Nothing (full-length version), Brothers in Arms, Walk Of Life, So Far Away and Money For Nothing (single version). Cat.NO.: VERTIGO SELECT 2.
Another form of advertising was used in the UK. Carrier bags. When you walked into your local record store and purchased an album (any album) , you were probably given a carrier bag that had the same design as the Brothers In Arms Album. You would then walk around completing the rest of your shopping giving the Album an extra plug.
Jigsaw freaks were not ignored either. A 250 piece jigsaw of the album was sold in the UK for a limited time, complete with box to put the pieces in when you were done.
July 2000, the album is released by Simply Vinyl, on heavy duty vinyl, it is an excellent reproduction of the original, with sticker of authenticity, truly a limited edition, currently still available, and well worth the purchase.
Several Press kits were available to tie in with the tour, with a variety of contents and information from the different countries. The UK press kit was issued by Phonogram UK in a A4 folder with the Brothers In Arms LP cover containing 8 big promo b/w pictures taken in Montserrat. There are 2 pictures of the band plus 1 photo of Mark, John, Alan, Guy, Terry and Jack. Each photo has a sticker on the back stating "DIRE STRAITS MARCH 1985". Inside the folder there is also a "With Compliments" card of the Phonogram Promotions department in London signed by someone.
The Press kit from Greece, has the same folder as the UK Press Kit but it contains a lot of additional mega-rare things. They are:
1) UNUSED TICKED OF THE CONCERT IN ATHENS 1985;
2) FLYER WRITTEN IN GREEK ABOUT THE ATHENS CONCERT;
3) 8 b&w BIG PICTURES taken in Montserrat;
4) PROMOTIONAL PHILIPS POSTER WITH A PICTURE OF THE BAND written in greek;
5) A4 TOUR ITINERARY FROM 3rd to 9th MAY 1985 containing a lot of informations about the venue, promoters, hotels, agency etc. in Athens. The Itinerary has a big triangular "Philips CD presents DS" sticker on the cover;
6) 4 A4 pages info-sheets about the band written in Greek by Phonogram.