Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits

ALL THE SONGS GO PART WAY INTO THE SONG WITH CONCERT FOOTAGE AND THEN FADE OUT. WTF? AND SOME SONGS ARE MTV TYPE VIDEOS WITH NO CONCERT FOOTAGE AT ALL AND THEN FADE OUT ALSO. I'VE SEEN DIRE STRAITS AND MARK SOLO AND AM A LIFELONG FAN . THIS IS A JOKE AND DOESN'T SHOW DIRE STRAITS OR MARK ACCURATE AT ALL. I ONLY GAVE IT ONE STAR BECAUSE IT WON'T LET ME GIVE IT ZERO STARS. THIS REALLY WAS MONEY FOR NOTHING !

This is a great collection of Dire Straits' videos from the beginning ("Sultans of Swing"), to the end ("Heavy Fuel"). There are 13 videos presented here with three live "videos" taken from the "On Every Street" tour. The total running time is right at 90 minutes, and much of the material is rare, so it is wonderful to see all these on one DVD.The videos are as follows:"Sultans of Swing" - This is from the very early days of music video, and it shows. This is basically a staged version of the song. Mark looks so young in this video that it is almost startling."Lady Writer" - I found the "Puffy Shirt" from Seinfeld! Well, maybe not exactly, but you have got to see the shirt that poor Pick Withers has to endure back at the drum kit (it really does look like its "Puffy Shirt" namesake). Very lame production values from the late 1970s, once again."Romeo and Juliet" - This is the first Dire Strait's video that tells the story largely through actors performing the song as a narrative. Some interesting hairstyles are featured."Tunnel of Love" - This is a great early video, albeit featuring some very bad early 1980s clothes and hair."Private Investigations" - This is the only video that reveals that Mark is actually left handed if you watch for it. This one is well done, and is genuinely creepy, as per the song's subject matter: highly recommended."Twisting by the Pool" - From the EP of the same name, it is a comparatively rare track, and is up-tempo fun. It features film shot from the time of "Alchemy.""Love Over Gold" - This one is a bit boring, but honestly it may be my bias: this is not one of my favorite Dire Straits' songs."So Far Away" - This is a very conventional and captivating video featuring a lot of studio footage from the band."Money For Nothing" - This is, of course, one of the most influential videos in history, introducing computer generated characters to videos. It didn't hurt that the song is the biggest hit ever by Dire Straits."Brothers in Arms" - This is an impeccably crafted and suitably somber video. It is incredibly well conceptualized and executed, particularly the "machine gun to guitar" edit introducing Mark's solo. It is the best Dire Straits video, hands down."Walk of Life" - Another great concept, this time illustrating the lighthearted side of the band with sports bloopers."Calling Elvis" - This is an interesting video of a relatively weak single from the early 1990s. It was very creative to use "Thunderbirds" marionettes that looked like the band in this one, a very cool concept."Heavy Fuel" - A video shot through the eyes of a roadie. It is very amusing and well done, and shows some interesting behind the scenes footage that fans will love.The last three "videos" are from early 1990s concert footage, and consist of "On Every Street," "Your Latest Trick," and "Local Hero-Wild Theme," which is always a favorite of mine.This is a great package and as a bonus features an audio interview with Mark Knopfler that is very interesting. I highly recommend this DVD to Dire Straits fans, just expect to laugh at the production values of the earliest videos: the band sure came a long way in fifteen years.

First off, I never had MTV back in the 1980s, so I never saw most of these dated videos. I was a big Dire Straits fan as soon as the first album hit, and continue to purchase every Mark Knopfler CD to this day, so I was interested in seeing this DVD, if only for a historical perspective. To be honest, this is the last DVD that I purchased from this group / artist from Amazon. I bought the Mark Knopfler DVD "Night in London" and the Dire Straits DVD "On the Night", as soon as they became available back in mid-November and as of yet have not seen them due to those DVD not being in stock. I bought this DVD as a fill-in until I get (what I hope is) the superior Mark Knopfler DVD.Just to get the negative things out of the way, first this is a two-channel stereo DVD. I wouldn't care, except the cover has a sticker that says 5.1. It is not 5.1, but only your basic left and right front speaker stereo. Next is the cover's track listing with numbers that do not match the actual track numbering. This makes direct access a bit confusing, since everything is one-off for some reason. Last is the interview with Knopfler, which I was looking forward to after reading about it here. It is only audio, not video, so you don't get to see him or have any way of knowing how old it is (which hair line he is sporting in it).Overall the music is pleasing. In two-channel stereo, the sound quality is equal to the CDs from these songs. The video transfer is average quality, about what you'd see with a VHS tape.I won't go over every track, but I was a bit frustrated by a couple of short songs. They left the whole terminal solo out of "Sultans of Swing", which I was looking forward to watching as a guitar player myself. "Love over Gold" also ends abruptly compared to the actual track on the CD. There were a couple of songs that were clearly cut and pasted from stock footage to make a video for songs that never had a video.All of that said, there were some nice videos that really worked well with the songs. "Brothers in Arms" is a nice looking video that replicates pencil sketching, but in motion. The mood really compliments the song. There were some humorous tracks also, such as "Heavy Fuel" which has actor Randy Quaid (the Vacation series' Cousin Eddy) as a roady that keeps getting in the way during a sound check.This DVD is fine for true fans of the group that might wish to simply have everything from them, but it is not first class in terms of the things that make DVDs great. If you want to see how good a video can be of Mark Knopfler, in terms of both the sound and video transfer, then check out the rendition of "Brothers in Arms" on the DVD, "Music for Montserrat". Run this through a good sound system with all 6 speakers to support the 5.1 sound and it is stunning. Maybe this DVD has caused me to be hypercritical for the reduce quality of the Dire Straights DVD that I am reviewing.

This is a region 0 disc. Will not play in US DVD players. Might work in a computer, at least I got the menu to show up on mine, still wouldn't play though. If you have a multi region Blu-Ray or DVD player you should have no problem. The Seller needs to state this issue, or sell a region 1 disc. I'm returning mine so I wont have an expensive coaster.

It does not play on my blue ray

I love Dire Straits, and I love this compilation of some of their best-known songs. It's a good mix. The individual albums are better in a way, but this one has all the popular songs, with their very excellent videos.The one quarrel I have is that it has the stupid sports bloopers video for "Walk of Life", rather than the completely wonderful one that was filmed in the the Underground and which was really pertinent to the song.

There are a few unfavourable reviews about this disc. Personally, I think it's very good. True, the video quality could have been cleaned up a bit and few of the tracks are faded prematurely. However, it really is a good collection of tracks and the sound, although only stereo is very very good. Played through my home cinema set up, there is plenty of depth and base to it, with plenty coming through the rear speakers too. Turn it up a bit and it sounds little different to 5.1. A DTS mix, like the Queen discs, would have been awesome, but this isn't bad at all, with Money For Nothing in particular sounding fantastic.To sum up, this is well worth adding to your collection if you like DS to any degree.

From other reviews it seems that people are discussing different DVDs. I am referring to the one that is in agreement with the title and cover as shown in Amazon.And it is clearly a great DVD. You get 16 videos plus an interview with Mark Knopfler.The picture quality is great; several videos (all in full color) have certainly been remastered. Sound is also very good.In the DVD, most of the great Dire Straits hits are included, like “Sultans of swing”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Tunnel of love”, “Money for nothing”, “Brothers in arms” or “Private investigations”.Pity that “Portobello belle”, “Where do you think you're going”, “Down to the Waterline” and “Telegraph Road”, are not included. If no video for these songs was available, a video from a live show would make this DVD perfect. This is the sole reason I do rate this as a 4 (instead of 5) stars DVD.If you like Dire Straits this is one DVD you won’t regret to buy.

All the best songs are there, and the sound quality is fine.

Lots of video productions as well as live show shots which are amazing. Music is awesome and timeless. Close ups of Knopflers guitar work.....legendary!!

Great Album with all the hits I like in one place I play it often.