Alchemy: Dire Straits Live [Bonus DVD]

Dire Straits

Overview

Dire Straits perform their brand of British pub rock from the double-album Alchemy: Dire Straits Live. The live show features 11 songs from the group's four previous albums, Dire Straits, Communique, Making Movies, and Love Over Gold. The band that would eventually go on to become MTV darlings with their smash hit "Money for Nothing" showcase all of their early favorites, including "Sultans of Swing," "Tunnel of Love," "Once Upon a Time in the West," and many more. Mark Knopfler leads the band on the 11 songs featured in this concert performance, all of which are also included on the live album by the same name.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/18/2010
UPC:	0602527336312
Original Release:	1984
Source:	Universal Import
Language:	English
Sales rank:	362

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Dire Straits	Performer,Primary Artist
Hal Lindes	Guitar
Tom Mandel	Keyboards
Alan Clark	Keyboards
Mark Knopfler	Guitar,Vocals
Joop de Korte	Percussion
Terry Williams	Drums
John Illsley	Bass
Mel Collins	Saxophone

Technical Credits

Jeremy Allom	Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Mick McKenna	Engineer
Oscar Hammerstein II	Composer
Richard Rodgers	Composer
Mark Knopfler	Composer,Producer
Mike McKenna	Engineer
Brett Whiteley	Artwork
Nigel Walker	Mixing,Engineer
Djam Karet	Composer

Editorial Reviews

There is an interesting contrast on this 94-minute double-disc live album (recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon in July 1983) between the music, much of which is slow and moody, with Mark Knopfler's muttered vocals and large helpings of his fingerpicking on what sounds like an amplified Spanish guitar, and the audience response. The arena-size crowd cheers wildly, and claps and sings along when given half a chance, as though each song were an up-tempo rocker. When they do have a song of even medium speed, such as "Sultans of Swing" or "Solid Rock," they are in ecstasy. That Dire Straits' introspective music loses much of its detail in a live setting matters less than that it gains presence and a sense of anticipation. Alan Clark's keyboards help to fill out the sound and give Knopfler's spare melodies a certain majesty, but Dire Straits remains an overgrown bar band with a Bob Dylan fixation, and that's exactly how the crowd likes it. [The CD version of the album contains one extra track, "Love Over Gold," which adds a needed change of pace to the otherwise slow-moving first disc.] ~ William Ruhlmann