Welcome to My Musical Express DI003 – the first step along the path to follow Mark Knopfler starting with his band from the 1970s, Dire Straits.

These editions are about the music with incidental information about the band, its activities and its members.

There are many excellent books and publications recounting the entire story of Dire Straits and its members and we will reference them and occasionally link to them for your enjoyment.

The musical journey starts in 1978 when Mark and his brother, David along with John Illsley on bass and backing vocals and Pick Withers on drums recorded the 9 tracks at Basing Street Studios in London between 13 February and 5 March 1978 to be released on 9 June 1978.

Mark used several guitars for the recording, including a pair of red Fender Stratocasters from the early 1960s and his 1938 National Style O 14 fret guitar.  He also used a black Telecaster Thinline.

David played a black Fender Stratocaster and a Harmony Sovereign acoustic guitar.

The album was produced by Muff Winwood, and engineered by Rhett Davies, assisted by Greg Cobb.

It spent 132 weeks on the UK Albums Chart peaking at number 5 and 2 in the US Billboard 200.