Alchemy (live) [VINYL]

Product Information

When Dire Straits gathered at Hammersmith Odeon, they were at the end of an extensive European tour that had included another London date at the Dominion Theater two nights earlier. After two epic performances, the recordings of both were delivered to Knopfler at his home, but he was too exhausted from touring to listen to them. Saturday night’s alright There are great versions of Sultans around, Mark still gives a nice performance nowadays, but, to my knowledge, it has never again reached the intensity of this recording.

Saturday, he remembered, had been a good night – so that’s what was used for the Alchemy release. Listening again now, the momentum of a band firing on all cylinders is unbroken, from the opening moments of “Once Upon A Time In The West” to the valedictory “Going Home.” New vinyl and CD boxset, focusing on the live recordings of Dire Straits, to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of their show at Hammersmith in 1983, immortalised in the live album Alchemy.It took a while to get the record, then to finally get round to listening to it, not to mention get it -- I had swiflty moved to electronic music, taking Dire Straits and tons of others for granted and not paying them the attention they deserved. On "I Shot The Sheriff", it's just a simple 4-note or so riff. Up and down. It's not as varied as the one on Alchemy. It doesn't really relate to the main song. It's just a short riff which gets passed around a bit. But the overall rhythmic feel is similar, and that they're both in the same minor key is good on your part to notice.

In the mid-eighties, I was at a girl's place for a rather formal reception. It was full of people I did not know, including her family from Germany. At some point, one of her Teutonic cousin's boyfriend, who was at the same table, started talking about his new car (a red Volkswagen Golf 2 GTI) and the sound system in it. He convinced my mother to go have a listen to the live Dire Straits album in his cassette player -- this one. That's an interesting question. I don't have Crossroads 2, but if it's available on YouTube, I'll give it a listen.

Companies, etc.

In 2010, the album made its upgrade from the original vinyl and VHS video release to CD, DVD and Blu-ray, and stands as a reminder of a historic chapter in the Dire Straits story. Newly remastered versions of Alchemy and On The Night, both of which are currently unavailable on vinyl (Alchemy was last pressed in the mid-eighties, On The Night was last pressed for the original release in 1993). Well, that's pretty astute of you. They're both in the same key and they both have a similar, ska-like rhythm. Ska was and is very popular in Great Britain. Think of how Police and Sting have often used it. My mother came out of the car a changed woman. She would keep bringing up that solo whenever talking about DS. Newly remastered versions of Alchemy and On The Night, both of which are currently unavailable on vinyl ( Alchemy was last pressed in the mid-eighties, On The Night was last pressed for the original release in 1993).