My personal ranking of Dire Straits albums:
- Love Over Gold
- Dire Straits
- On Every Street
- Making Movies
- Brothers In Arms
- Communique
I only own the first two, but they all have quality stuff, and my ranking of the other for is not set in stone.
Making Movies suffers from the fact that the second half does not come anywhere near living up to the excellent first half, and it finishes with the awful "Les Boys". "Expresso Love" rocks well enough, but sounds a bit like Dires Straits by numbers in its similarity to some of their other songs.
"Brothers In Arms" was so ridiculously overplayed here that I find it hard to judge it fairly. "So Far Away" is a rahter dull-sounding song that was improved tremendously by the treatment they gave it live when I saw them on the tour. I never need to hear "Money For Nothing" again.
"Communique" is not as bad as my ranking might suggest, but sounds a bit like a poor cousion of the debut album. It is redeemed by the two closing tracks, which seem a bit like a two-part song.
"Love Over Gold" is one of the few albums that I give a perfect score. Only five songs, but every one a winner.