I was very happy to find this one in a second hand store this week. I was on rhe lookout for it because of this thread. I think it is a beautiful album. And you have to love the Muscle Shoals sound.
Alchemy is one of my all time favourite live shows in Rock history. Some of the songs were so damn greatly performed that I usually listen to them instead of the studio versions. Much of what I have to say about Alchemy has already been said here. So, I tried but couldn't be more concise, due to my limitations with the English language, alas. Musically speaking, what I have to add about that memorable live album sure is going to digress from some people viewpoints around here. Alchemy is one of those rare examples where the 'pompous' and the 'bombast' elements added extra vivid colours to studio version tracks, musical elements that sometimes are implicit and other times explicitly present. By the way, I don't like how both elements are entitled, because of the wrongly negative connotation often given to them. The first example to illustrate what I'm saying is 'Private Investigations', this great studio track perfectly exemplifies how the master use of those musical elements on a live show can magnify its beauty. Heck, one have to just hear it's climax to realise what I'm talking about, this track is one that perhaps puts off some people from loving it just because of its contrasting change of mood from a meditative first section to a dramatic resolution with some implicit bombast element underlying its climax, so perfectly expored on Alchemy. In my viewpoint, there are plenty of passages on Alchemy that really take their music to another level. The outro segment for OUATITW is another example of their brilliance in exploring the pompous elements of its arrangement. As for 'Love Over Gold' I digress from what the reviewer pointed about the live version, for me it didn't at all featured a change of pace. While it was obviously a shortened version, to my ears it sounded clearly more vivid than the bland studio track. .
I'd like to share a live version of "Tunnel Of Love" performed in Knopfler's hometown Newcastle upon Tyne. I found their arrangement for the intro pretty much as beautifully brilliant as the Alchemy's: .
beautifully stated, and if English is your second language you're doing better than most of the folks I work with ... and it's their only language lol
I owned the VHS tape in the last century and sold it long ago. Still have the vinyl, US cd's, and DVD. I just acquired On The Night DVD, and spun it after Alchemy the same evening last weekend, and I don't want to pet anyone's fur backward, but most of the versions on Alchemy pale to their studio versions to my ears. I also much prefer On The Night as a concert video to Alchemy. The side theatrical snippets in Alchemy.... IMO. Pretty grainy video, also.... They are great live...But...they FLOURISHED in the studio.
it's always funny when you think something is awesome and someone else says they don't like it ... I guess i can understand the different perspectives, it's like two people looking at a painting in an art gallery and both seeing a different picture. oh well
I never did/do listen to AlCHEMY much tho it is derived from my fave period of Straitsmusic; listening to it carefully thanks to this thread for first time in awhile and I am pinpointing what I do not like, and I am not alas enough of a rhythm scientist to defend or explain this if you don't "hear" it as well, but I don't like Williams' drumming on the Withers material; he feels a bit too heavy handed, bashy, in some cases I literally feel like he's accenting and hitting in what feel like the "wrong" places to me;I dunno, I might be crazy, but sounds to me he's enough different in his approach to Pick it bugs me.
I'm with you - never understood the love for this live album. It' a snapshot in time - and not a great one, to my taste.
I am largely on the same page as Mark regarding the value of live music. Although I listen to a lot of studio albums, I love hearing the live versions because I think you are often getting subtleties and artistic bits that are missing from the studio tracks. In the case of Alchemy, it is probably the album that converted me to Dire Straits as a band. I came to them through Brothers In Arms and identified that Alchemy was, at that time, almost a Greatest Hits collection – so a great way within my budget to see if I liked the earlier albums (all of which were re-charting at the time). I recall lying in bed listening to Alchemy on my Sony Walkman every second night for virtually a whole year. It converted me to the band and I put them on a pedestal way above any other artist at that time (circa 1985-6). So I guess I love Alchemy. I just re-played it (the remastered CD) to refresh my memory. So, using the remastered CD track listing. 1. One Upon The Time In The West - 10 My 14 year old self did not rate this as highly as I now do. I wanted hooks but this track is all subtleties. Great song to open a show with and the extended version on Alchemy really shines in my view. 2. Espresso Love - 9 This is a track that really outdoes its studio version on this album. It comes alive in a live setting and this is the definitive version for my tastes. 3. Romeo And Juliet - 10 A perfect 3rd track – nice change of pace and again, this is a track that shines – like little drama piece – when performed live. A definite crowd favourite. 3A. Love Over Gold – 10 This track is not on some versions (including the Blu Ray) but it is on my CD. The transition from Romeo into this track is superb and sitting side by side with it, the live performance of Love Over Gold feels more muscular than the album version. It is passionate and moving. This is the best version of LOG in my opinion. 4. Private Investigations – 10 I loved the studio version but the live version (with crowd involvement) and some nice little variations in the delivery and the music from the studio version, just kicks ass. This is playing with the audience and I love it. 5. Sultans of Swing – 10 Much as I love the version that I hear on the radio all the time which is smooth as silk this is the definitive version of Sultans. The drums are awesome, the guitars are superb and there is even a little harmonising on the chorus (cue to the next album). Its like the Sultans are living up to their name. It's a real growth in the track. 6. Two Young Lovers – 8 The mood is lighter to kick off side 2 and this track really shines in the live environment in comparison to the EP version. Its very loose and we get some searing sax. Having said that, if I am watching my blu ray – this is the time I leave the room to find out why I have been hearing people yelling for me …. 7. Carousel Waltz/Tunnel of Love -10 I need to get back for the sublime intro to this track which (again) is the definitive version of this song. I must have played it 00s of times but every time I listen closely, I hear something new. 8. Telegraph Road – 11 The best version of what is probably my favourite Dires Straits track. Just WOW. 9. Solid Rock – 8 A short piece of powerful and punch rock to rev us up for the closing of the show. It’s a really good version although on this one, I almost prefer the studio version. 10. Going Home – 10. Great track to close a show and a live album. It has never failed to get me humming. Anyway, I endorse what others have said about one of the greatest live bands of all time. This is for me their best live outing and one of the best live albums of all time (certainly in my top 5). Not getting caught up in the maths this time 10.0. No complaints from me !
You're not crazy. Williams was a good drummer, I liked him with Rockpile. But with DS he became a basher. Very heavy handed. Pick played with a lot of economy and taste. Two completely different styles. To me, much of the classic Dire Straits sound left with Pick Withers.
I love pick's stuff, I love williams ... I guess me coming from a hard rock background, I enjoyed the punch he gave the band
Ready and waiting for the OP to prepare his stuff .... It's been a smooth ride, I don't think we're falling behind or anything
Alchemy was Friday. No need to rush IMO. But then again I am a follower of the great Miles Davis album thread that has kept a steady pace since 2013
I think if we move too fast we lose our audience. Having said that I am disappointed that there are not more contributors who want to engage with one of the very best catalogues in post 1960 music IMHO. Edit. Are we going to consider Live at the BBC at some stage?
I listened to Alchemy the last two days. I love it! Kind of agree with what has been said about the heavy-handed drumming but it belongs to the era. Everything was a bit louder and extended and that is ok for me. Is it the very end of Industrial Desease we hear at the beginning of Expresso Love?
Live At The BBC is listed as (11) in post one in this thread. I guess the OP will stick to that plan.
yes .... i am still waiting for a full extended release of this concert. We missed out on quite a few songs
Back in 1984, there was an evening of Music on BBC TV called Rock Around The Clock, in that they showed the Alchemy Concert, at the same time, if my memory serves, BBC Radio simulcasted the stereo soundtrack. I was hooked! I knew the first three albums but this really blew my mind, I just loved this album. I only ever had it on cassette and it is the only Dire Straits album that I don't currently own in any form, I just never see it second hand, will have to make this right soon. Easily one of my favourite live albums.
