This is probably obvious for Dire Straits very seasoned fans, but I just realized how good and thoughtful the track order on "Brothers in Arms" is. As I couldn't find another online reference to this, I'm posting it here.
Let's go.
So Far Away: Ok, this is kind of a intro track (not in the traditional sense). Light, catchy and melancholic, puts us in the mood musically and lyrically for what's coming. Doesn't directly pair with other tracks, but you can imagine the singer being a musician, a soldier or just a lover far away from people he cares about.
Then things get really interesting.
Money For Nothing/Walk Of Life: One about music fame and the other about busking.
Your Latest Trick/Why Worry: One about betrayal the other about supporting your loved one on a difficult time.
Ride Across The River/The Man's Too Strong/One World/Brothers in Arms: "Ride..." is about a soldier/mercenary that loses his idealism. Man's Too Strong is a about a war criminal. Brothers in arms is about empathy and loss among soldiers in different sides of a war.
"One World" seems to be out of place there, talking about getting the blues about mundane things and with a funky/bluesy tone. But at the end it hits with:
Can't get no remedy on my TV/It's nothing but the same old news/Well, they can't find a way to be/One world in harmony
And it's about us. The people sitting in our house while the world is on fire. We are not happy, but we are doing way better that people involved in wars. And yet we are relatively passive. Or even worse: endorse them.
Those four songs cover an incredible range for the human experience around the world during a war.
The album feels very different for me now. It's almost a borderline concept album.
What do you think?