"Once Upon a Time in the West" Released: October 1979 (US)[2]
Communiqué is the second studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 5 June 1979[3] by Vertigo Records internationally, Warner Bros. Records in the United States and Mercury Records in Canada. The album featured the single "Lady Writer," which reached number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 51 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached number one on album charts in Germany, Spain, New Zealand, and Sweden, number 11 in the United States and number 5 in the United Kingdom. Communiqué was later certified gold in the United States, platinum in the United Kingdom and double-platinum in France.
It is the last album to feature David Knopfler, who departed from the band during the making of their following album, and the last with the original lineup.
Recording
After the Dire Straits Tour finished in Hitchin on 18 November 1978, Dire Straits set to work on recording their second album. The recording sessions for Communiqué took place from 28 November to 12 December 1978 at Compass Point Studios in Nassau. The album was mixed in January 1979 at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama. The album was produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett, veteran producers from Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Beckett (credited as B. Bear) also contributed keyboards to some of the album's nine tracks.
Release
Communiqué was released on vinyl LP and cassette on 5 June 1979, eight months after the release of the band's self-titled debut. It entered the German charts at number one, while its predecessor was still at number three.
"Lady Writer" was the first single released from Communiqué. Communiqué was remastered and reissued with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world outside the United States and on 19 September 2000 in the United States.
Dire Straits toured throughout 1979 after the recording sessions were completed. The Communiqué Tour started in February 1979 in Rotterdam, four months before the album's release in June. Dire Straits would play a total of 116 concerts in Europe and North America, the final concert taking place on 21 December 1979 in London.
In a 1979 review for the Birmingham Daily Post, Jonathan Daümler-Ford called it a "competent record", but wrote that "the songs sound like pale imitations, or the cuts which were not good enough for Dire Straits".[10]Record World said of "Once Upon a Time in the West" that Knopfler's "unique and super-sensitive vocals evoke vivid imagery that's totally enhanced by the Wexler-Beckett production team."[11] The Tucson Citizen called the album "an appealing production," writing that "a combination of country and reggae can be substantial."[12]
In his retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann wrote that the second album "seemed little more than a carbon copy of its predecessor with less compelling material."[5]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Single Picks"(PDF). Record World. 29 September 1979. p. 130. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
^Graham, Chuck (4 August 1979). "Album Reviews". Tucson Citizen. p. 11.
^Communiqué (booklet). Dire Straits. Burbank, California: Warner Bros. Records. 1979. p. 11. 947770-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Tarik de Souza (12 September 1991). "Volta os campeões de audiência". Jornal do Brasil (in Portuguese). p. 38. Retrieved 23 October 2023 – via National Library of Brazil. Alam da platina tripla pelos 750 mil copias de Brothers in Arms, a banda de Mark Knopfler garimpou entre nos duas platina dimples de 250 mil cada (Alchemy, o primeiro que estourou, em 84, e coletânea Money for Nothing, de 8) e um disco de ouro (no LP de estreia Dire Straits, de 79)
