Dire Straits: where it all started (Honky Tonk Demos)

HONKY TONK DEMOS: Many of you will be aware that back in 1977 DJ Charlie Gillett played the original Dire Straits demo of Sultans of Swing on his Radio London show. Later, Charlie issued two compilations under the generic title Honky Tonk Demos. One of the tracks he featured was the '77 demo of Sultans.
Now four tracks from the original '77 Pathway studios demo tape are being released on two 12" vinyl singles, three of which are previously unissued:-



Disc : 1
1. Sultans of Swing
2. Water of Love

Disc : 2
1. Down to the Waterline
2. Wild West End

These releases will be available in record shops from the 18th April. which is Record Store Day in various countries.

http://www.mark-knopfler-news.co.uk/news.html

 

Wish this and other Dire Straits vault items would be released via CD.

 

Charlie Gillet about his first meeting with Dire Straits

 

This is pretty cool. Haven't heard about this one yet.

 

I need more Dire Straits.

 

Actually they are 2 x 7"

 

Great to hear about the release.

 

release Twisting by the Pool on CD

 

"Twisting" has been on CD on a couple of their best of comps or did you mean the entire ExtendedancEPlay EP?

 

the whole 4 song EP

 

This is one of the record store day releases i was most excited about and managed to get today

 

"Twisting By The Pool", "Two Young Lovers", and "If I Had You" were released on a video CD by Warner Brothers (catalog # 9 25810-2) called "Twisting By The Pool". Sound quality is great.

 

I'm in the USA, so couldn't get this one. Ordered off Ebay though

 

The Twisting By The Pool video was in steady rotation on EmptyVee, back when Dire Straits was riding high on the success of Brothers in Arms. Always thought it was cool of DS to release a simple rockabilly-influenced tune, as you couldn't turn on EmptyVee or FM radio at that time without hearing one of their very-polished singles off BIA.

 

Just picked up the RSD vinyl. My local store had 2 left....Brought back some good memories. Used to see them live in the London pubs around the time (77), where they honed the sound that makes their albums such good quality. Folks used to listen to Charlie Gillett's local radio show just to hear him play Sultans of Swing (and to check that he did...). Unusual today, but that really did give them a serious career boost.

 

I had to obtain my copy via eBay.

 

My copy obtained via Ebay(for a staggering €20.-)arrived today,bus has still to be opened and played:

I actually saw and heard Dire Straits Live at the Marquee in March 1978 in front of about 50(!)people.

 

Still missing 'Badges Posters, Stickers and T-shirts' -a fun song too that I don't believe has had a digital release.

 

Wow….buried the song on a single release. Thanks for proving me wrong.

 

amazon claims this one has a CD release coming:

http://www.amazon.com/Honky-Tonk-De...55169&sr=8-1&keywords=dire+straits+honky+tonk

 

That is almost certainly a listing error. It does say "Format: Audio CD", but the pictures are of an LP. Furthermore, the Amazon UK listing (which also states "Format: Audio CD") describes this as "Honky Tonk Demos [VINYL]".

 

You're probably right. However, I'm glad to have access to the release even if only on vinyl. It appears that initially it was only released on Record Store Day in the UK and not here in the US.

 

Are these 33 or 45 RPM? Are the track times listed? The packaging looks nice, but recently I usually shy away from 7" releases. It would be great if they would release these four tracks on a single 12" 45 RPM disc.

 

Will any digital version be released? Me no have record player...