This was only made because Dire Straits needed an album to fulfill their music contract. Since they had only three good albums they filled their playlist with live songs and previously unreleased edits. Its horrible that they edited "Money for Nothing" from seven minutes to just under five! Unfortuneately, ALL greatest hits compilations have this edited version so that it is not possible to have "Sultans of Swing" and the full "Money for Nothing" on the same disc (without illegally burning a disc). It was very disappointing and I am still waiting for a compilation that includes all of their good songs with no live or edited versions of songs.

If you are looking to buy a Dire Straits album, no better place than to start here. This contains all the best songs from their debut up to 'Brothers In Arms'. The songs are predominantly in original studio form and not edited in the case of 'Sultans of Swing', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Tunnel of Love'. And the one superb cut from the otherwise overrated live album ALCHEMY is included here in the form of 'Telegraph Road'.

Its a shame that the last two songs, 'Money for Nothing' and 'Brothers In Arms' have been edited though. For that reason you'll want to buy the 'Brothers In Arms' LP as well. Otherwise a perfect intro to the group.

Second verse of MFN is edited out - pretty irritating, especially since the purpose of the verse is to make the speaker sound ignorant. Kind of ironic. I'd wait for the unedited version if I had it to do over again. I think the rest of the songs are unscathed.

I liked this compilation good, but Sultans of Swing - The Very
Best of Dire Straits has more choices like "Love over gold",
"Lady writer", "So Far away", "Calling elvis", "Heavy Fuel", &
"On every street". This compilation is good for most of their
big hits like "Sultans", "Romeo", "Telegraph", & "Money for Nothing". Anyway, here's how the songs were on this CD.

Sultans of Swing 10/10 Great song, great riffs. Everyone's favorite and one of mine too.

Down to the Waterline 10/10 My favorite song from their debut
album.

Portobello Belle 7/10 I think the other version was better.

Twisting by the Pool 9/10 Great

Tunnel of Love 11/10 My favorite song!!! I love this song.

Romeo and Juliet 8/10 Everyone likes this song, it's good and
fun but not so great!! The live version is way better.

Where Do You Think You're Going 6/10 Different

Walk of Life 9/10 Check out the On the night version.

Private Investigations 9/10 A little too slow.

Telegraph Road 9/10 The other version is slightly better on the
Love over gold cd.

Money for Nothing 9/10 Bad!!! Editing this song is terrible.
Listen to the brothers in arms version. I'll give this song an
11 if it was 8 mintues.

Brothers in Arms 8/10 Too boring, great song for guitar riffs.

This cd is always scratched when you buy it,
thank you very much

This is really a good, low priced, starting point for anyone interested in Dire Straits' classic rock. Mark Knopfler and brother David Knopfler created a band that still is worth a listen. This album has a good compilation of their songs but not all. Anyone that watched MTV will instantly remember 'Money for Nothing' including its' animated rock video. TV's Miami Vice even had an episode using the ballad 'Brothers in Arms'. There are alot of their greats here including one of their best 'Tunnel of Love'.

I gave this only 4 stars instead of 5 because of the missing lyrics on 'Money for Nothing'. There really is no good reason for this. Mark and his bother David went on to solo careers but left a great legacy of classic rock. Well worth adding to the music collection.