One of the most overlooked records in the Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler catalogue, Music From The Film Comfort and Joy was released to little promotion or fanfare in July 1984. It came after the double live album Alchemy and preceded Brothers In Arms. It was Knopfler's second film score, after his work on Bill Forsyth's Local Hero (1983).
The record was released as a 12" maxi single. It featured three instrumental tracks, composed and performed for the film Comfort and Joy (also directed by Bill Forsyth). The film tells the story of a local radio presenter caught up in a conflict between rival ice cream sellers. The director also included in the film music from the Dire Straits album Love Over Gold.
The soundtrack album features three tracks and plays for a little over eleven minutes. Neither the film or the soundtrack achieved commercial success, however the record remained in print for several years after release. The music contained on this record is nothing short of delightful; both musicianship and recording quality are superb.
Two of the tracks have appeared on compact disc, however briefly: -
- Joy & A Fistful of Ice Cream appeared on the CD single of Irish Boy (1995). This single was released to promote Knopfler's compilation album Screenplaying. Somewhat illogically, the Screenplaying album did not contain any music from Comfort and Joy
- Joy appeared on Filmtracks, a various artists compilation from 1985
- All three tracks have appeared on an unofficial CD single: -
We now present a lossless rip of the original 12" single, recorded from a Nottingham Audio Spacedeck turntable and Audio Technica AT-F2 MC cartridge. Please enjoy this somewhat exquisite and seldom-heard record. You'll find the download link in the comments.
Apologies/acknowledgements
At some stage, the sleeve to my copy of Comfort and Joy suffered extreme water damage (see below). Children, eh? The (undamaged) artwork shown above has thus been nicked/borrowed from elsewhere on the internet. My bad.
Download here
