''On Every Street'' is the sixth and final studio album by British rock band

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...

, released on 9 September 1991 by

Vertigo Records Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Uni ...

internationally, and by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in the United States. The follow-up to the band's massively successful album '' Brothers in Arms'', ''On Every Street'' reached the top of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

and was also certified platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

History

''On Every Street'' was released more than six years after the band's previous album, '' Brothers in Arms'', and was Dire Straits' final studio album. It reached number 12 in the United States and number one in the United Kingdom and numerous European countries. The album was produced by

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

and Dire Straits. By this time, the band comprised Knopfler,

John Illsley John Edward Illsley (born 24 June 1949) is an English musician, best known as bass guitarist of the rock band Dire Straits. With it, he has received multiple BRIT and Grammy Awards, and a Heritage Award. As one of the founding band members, ...

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tra ...

and

Guy Fletcher Guy Edward Fletcher (born 24 May 1960) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as one of the two Keyboard instrument, keyboard players in the rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his subs ...

, and the album features session musicians including Paul Franklin,

Phil Palmer Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits. Biography Palmer grew up in nort ...

, Danny Cummings and American drummer

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...

from Toto, who was asked to play the band's subsequent world tour, although he declined because of other commitments, both with Toto and as a studio musician. Dire Straits promoted the album with a world

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

which lasted until the end of 1992. The group disbanded in 1995, after which Mark Knopfler pursued a solo career. The album was remastered and reissued with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world, except for the United States, where it was reissued on 19 September 2000.

Track listing

The album was released on LP,

compact cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

Digital Compact Cassette The Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) is a magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita Electric in late and marketed as the successor to the standard analog Compact Cassette. It was also a direct competitor to Sony ...

and CD. The track list below corresponds to the original LP and cassette variants. The LP version has the same duration as the CD and cassette versions, being more than one hour long. This was achieved by narrowing the grooves on vinyl, which reduced the sound level. The 2014 pressing of the album spans two LPs with three songs per side. All songs written by Mark Knopfler. ^Certain versions of the album feature a slightly longer version of "Heavy Fuel" (length of 5:10), which includes approximately four measures of additional instrumental music both between the first chorus and second verse, and between the bridge and the third verse. It is unclear if the 5:10 version is the original "uncut" version or if these instrumental passages were simply added afterward to extend the song.

Personnel

Dire Straits *

– vocals, guitars *

– keyboards, string conductor (9) *

– keyboards, backing vocals *

– bass, backing vocals Additional musicians *

– guitars *

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

– guitar and backing vocals (5) * Paul Franklin –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

, acoustic

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

(6) *

– drums, percussion *

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion ...

– drums and percussion (7, 11) * Danny Cummings – percussion * Chris White –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, saxophones *

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

– string arranger and conductor (9)

Production

* Mark Knopfler – producer * Dire Straits – producers *

Chuck Ainlay Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations. Along with Knopfler and Bob ...

– engineer *

Bill Schnee William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

– engineer * Steve Orchard – assistant engineer *

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, A&R executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxo ...

– assistant engineer * Andy Strange – assistant engineer *

Neil Dorfsman Neil Dorfsman (born May 31, 1952) is an American sound engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Dire Straits, Bruce Hornsby, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney and Sting. He won Grammy Awards for Best Producer for Bruce Hornsby's ''S ...

– mixing (1-6, 8-11) *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very ...

– mixing (7) * Avril Mackintosh – mix assistant *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

– mastering at

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

(New York City, New York) * Jo Motta – project coordinator * Sutton Cooper – design * Paul Cummins – design * Paul Williams – sleeve photography * Ron Eve - Guitar technician to Mark Knopfler

Singles

''On Every Street'' produced six singles: # "

Calling Elvis "Calling Elvis" is a song written by Mark Knopfler and performed by Dire Straits. It first appeared on the final studio album by the band, ''On Every Street'' (1991). It was released as the first single from that album, peaking at number 21 in ...

" # "

Heavy Fuel "Heavy Fuel" is a song by British rock band Dire Straits from its 1991 album ''On Every Street''. The song was also released as a single and reached 1 on the US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Mainstream Rock (chart), Album Rock Tracks char ...

" # "

On Every Street ''On Every Street'' is the sixth and final studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 9 September 1991 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The follow-up to the band's massively ...

" # "

The Bug "The Bug" is a song written by Mark Knopfler and originally performed by Dire Straits on the final studio album by the band, '' On Every Street'' (1991). It was covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1992, and also recorded on the albums ''Blues B ...

" # " You and Your Friend" (released in France and Germany) # "Ticket to Heaven" (released in The Netherlands)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

''On Every Street''
at Mark Knopfler's website {{Authority control Dire Straits albums 1991 albums Albums produced by Mark Knopfler Vertigo Records albums Warner Records albums Roots rock albums Albums produced by Alan Clark (keyboardist)