Brothers in Arms starts off so promisingly, leading you to exclaim "these guys are so underrated!" again and again. So Far Away simmers with post-punk frustration and endless repetition, and Money for Nothing is even better than you realized, perfectly mixed, with synths and buzzy guitars perfectly paired, running for a hypnotically perfect 8 minutes plus.
Walk of Life is honest to god pop, joyous and effective, and you assume its just a detour to bristly, if straightforward, art rock. What will you be stewing about next, you unholy lovechildren of Graham Parker and Donald Fagan?
But the train never gets back on the tracks: the repetition that built tension before now just runs in place, sluffing off calories, accomplishing little, everything sounding watery, the 80's flourishes that tarted up the previous songs coming on like an addiction, dragging the sound into muddy mediocrity. You can just watch the album melt, each track watered down by a sax solo or mopey sentiment, like the band just got tired, like it got a glimpse of the good life somewhere around Walk of Life and went straight* 3/5
*no pun intended. I swear to god. It just came out that way.
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