Dire Straits’ self-titled debut arrived in the midst of punk’s reign but couldn’t have been further removed from the era’s slash-and-burn style. Here is tasteful, jazz-inflected rock, all smoothly skating on virtuoso guitarist Mark Knopfler’s winding guitar lines and the band’s laidback rhythms. Equally drawing from country, roots, and folk influences, the British quartet’s stripped-down music knew no peers in the 70s, and has never been matched to this day.

1. Down to the Waterline
2. Water of Love
3. Setting Me Up
4. Six Blade Knife
5. Southbound Again
6. Sultans of Swing
7. In the Gallery
8. Wild West End
9. Lions