This review covers the rock track Dire Straits – Heavy Fuel.
This track was released in 1991 on the album On Every Street.
The track starts with some guitars. A more full drum kit comes in shortly after. The vocals then come in shortly after. It doesn’t take long before the main chorus comes in. This is capped off with an instrumental section.
Following this up, the vocals come back in for a verse. This is quickly followed up by the main chorus. The next verse quickly comes in. Interestingly enough, an instrumental section comes in after before another verse. This is followed up by the next round in the main chorus. A section of the main chorus also repeats.
In the next section, there is an instrumental section before parts of the main chorus repeats again. After this, the track fades out.
I want to start this part of the review by saying that, yes, I’m not a huge fan of the messaging in this track. What I will also say is that it plays a minor part in rating this track as well. The messaging rubs me the wrong way, but there are plenty of other aspects about this track that are of bigger concern to me.
One thing I do notice is the lack of any real guitar solo. The instrumental sections do add some variety to the track, but they don’t quite add a nice punch like an all out guitar solo. AS it is now, there is nothing really distinct about this track and adding something like a guitar solo would have done the trick. Does it absolutely have to be a guitar solo? Not necessarily. It could have been an addition of some brass instruments towards the end or maybe some other stringed instruments. Just something to say, “hey, this track is going to be memorable.” Unfortunately, I just never heard that here.
What I did find interesting, however, is the back to back verses. I thought that was an interesting way to modify the structure of a standard track like this. It was successful in my view.
Still, I did find the track to be low energy. With a lack of anything distinct contributing to it, there is also the slow tempo and mundane guitars. I ended up being somewhat bored by the end of the track.
Overall, while I did disagree with the messaging somewhat, other concerns of this track overshadowed them. The lack of anything really distinct hurt this tracks ability to stand out from the crowd. With a slower tempo and lack of energy, this track does wind up getting pretty boring after a listen or two. So, generally speaking, a pretty flat track if you ask me.
Score
5.5/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
