Mark Knopfler: The Essential Album-by-Album Guide

COMMUNIQUÉ (1979)
Key Tracks: "Lady Writer," "Follow Me Home"
Quick Take: Communiqué continues in the same fashion as Dire Straits for the most part, but expands the scope of Knopfler's storytelling through the moody, elegiac "Once Upon a Time in the West." As the rhythmic textures of this album proove, Dire Straits was nothing if not a groove band. That's not the same thing as calling it a soul or funk band, of course; the group's sense of rhythm on "Where Do You Think You're Going?" has more in common with the swampy, low-key blues of J.J. Cale and later Eric Clapton.