Dire Straits' 1979 second album Communiqué demonstrates hard-won maturity, swapping debut nervousness for groove-oriented patience recorded at Muscle Shoals with producer Jerry Wexler. Mark Knopfler's economical guitar playing and the studio's legendary looseness created eight unhurried tracks that reward close listening. Essential for understanding how restlessness becomes wisdom in rock.
⚡ Quick Answer: Dire Straits' second album Communiqué showcases mature restraint and Muscle Shoals' legendary looseness, proving the band could evolve beyond their debut's nervous energy. Mark Knopfler's economical guitar work paired with producer Jerry Wexler's vision created a record that prioritizes groove and breathing space over flash, with performances that reward close listening across its unhurried eight tracks.
There is a particular kind of patience on Communiqué that most bands never learn, and Dire Straits had already figured it out on their second record.
Mark Knopfler plays guitar the way a good carpenter uses a plane — each stroke considered, no motion wasted. Where the debut had the nervous energy of a band that couldn’t believe its luck, this follow-up arrived slower, more certain of itself, content to let a groove breathe until the room fills with it. It came out in June 1979, barely eight months after the first album. The world expected them to repeat themselves. They didn’t, quite.
The Sessions
Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett produced it at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, and that decision alone tells you everything about Knopfler’s instincts at twenty-nine years old. Muscle Shoals was where Aretha Franklin cut “Respect,” where the Rolling Stones went for Sticky Fingers sessions, where the walls had absorbed a particular looseness that you cannot manufacture. Wexler was a legend who had helped define Atlantic Records’ sound across two decades. Bringing him in wasn’t a commercial calculation — it was a statement about what kind of music this was supposed to be.
The rhythm section locked in around Pick Withers on drums, whose restraint here is quietly extraordinary. Withers never showed off. He found the pocket and stayed there, which on a record this unhurried is exactly the discipline required. John Illsley held the low end with the same economical philosophy. The band was a unit in the old-fashioned sense — four people making room for each other.
What the Record Actually Does
“Once Upon a Time in the West” opens things at a lope, guitar figure hovering over the groove like heat off a road. It is not in a hurry to go anywhere and does not need to be.
“Where Do You Think You’re Going” is the obvious single, and it earned its place — one of those melodies that feels like it existed before Knopfler wrote it down. But the deeper pleasures on this record are the ones that don’t announce themselves. “Angel of Mercy” takes seven minutes to unspool, and every one of them is justified. “Follow Me Home” closes the record with a slow swagger that gets inside your chest somewhere around the third minute.
The guitar tone throughout is the thing I keep returning to. Knopfler was playing a National Style O resonator on certain tracks and his beloved Schecter Strat-style guitar on others, with Wexler’s engineers at Muscle Shoals — Jimmy Johnson among them, a session man of immense local experience — capturing it with a directness that a lot of late-seventies productions buried under compression and sheen. This record breathes. You can hear the room.
Opinion, plainly stated: Communiqué is better than people remember. It got overshadowed by what came before and what came after — the debut’s scrappy arrival, Making Movies two years later with its full ambitions on display. The middle child gets overlooked. This one deserves a full evening.
Put it on after ten o’clock. Keep the volume at a level where you can still hear the refrigerator if you try. Let “Angel of Mercy” do what it does.
Further Reading
More from Dire Straits
🎵 Key Takeaways
- 🎸 Dire Straits recorded Communiqué at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with producer Jerry Wexler just eight months after their debut, deliberately choosing restraint and groove over the nervous energy that defined their first album.
- ⏱️ Mark Knopfler's guitar work prioritizes economy and space—using a National Style O resonator and Schecter Strat with minimal motion—while Pick Withers and John Illsley's rhythm section demonstrates the discipline required to make an unhurried record work.
- 📻 The album's deeper pleasures live in tracks like 'Angel of Mercy' (7 minutes) and 'Follow Me Home' rather than the obvious single 'Where Do You Think You're Going,' rewarding close listening without announcement.
- 📊 Communiqué gets historically overshadowed by the scrappy debut and the more ambitious Making Movies (1980), but it deserves reconsideration as a masterclass in production clarity—you can hear the room on these recordings where most late-seventies productions buried detail under compression.
Why did Dire Straits choose Muscle Shoals and Jerry Wexler for the second album?
It wasn't a commercial calculation but a statement about artistic direction. Muscle Shoals had absorbed decades of looseness from sessions by Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones, and Wexler was an Atlantic Records legend who shaped the label's sound. Knopfler's choice at twenty-nine signaled the band wanted groove and breathing space over flash.
What guitars did Mark Knopfler use on Communiqué?
He played a National Style O resonator on certain tracks and his beloved Schecter Strat-style guitar on others. The variety contributed to the album's tonal range while maintaining his economical, considered playing style throughout.
How does Communiqué compare to Dire Straits' first album?
Where the debut had nervous energy and scrappy urgency, Communiqué arrived slower and more certain of itself, content to let grooves breathe. The follow-up proved the band could evolve beyond repeating their initial success, showing mature restraint instead of nervous excitement.
Which tracks should I prioritize if I'm new to this album?
'Once Upon a Time in the West' sets the unhurried tone, 'Where Do You Think You're Going' is the obvious entry point with its memorable melody, but 'Angel of Mercy' (7 minutes) and 'Follow Me Home' reveal the album's deeper pleasures and reward patient listening.
Further Reading
More from Dire Straits
Further Reading
More from Dire Straits
Further Reading
More from Dire Straits