Dire Straits – Communiqué (VG+/VG+) – LP, NZ 1979

Communiqué is an LP by Dire Straits from 1979 released on the Vertigo label.

About this album

Communiqué is the cool, understated follow-up that confirmed Dire Straits as masters of economy and restraint. Released in 1979, the album refines the band’s blues-rock sound rather than reinventing it, with Mark Knopfler’s precise guitar lines and relaxed vocal delivery shaping songs that unfold with quiet confidence. Recorded with producer Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett in the Bahamas, it leans into clean, uncluttered arrangements that gave the group a distinctive identity after their breakthrough debut. Lady Writer became the best-known single, while the album’s subtle craftsmanship helped extend the band’s commercial momentum into the late 1970s.