Dire Straits – Alchemy - Dire Straits Live

Seriously, how can you give this less than 5 stars?! Nobody sounds like the Dire Straits, so fucking uncool and so cool at the same time XD

But seriously, such catchiness, many instrumentations, much dynamics, wow.

This album has one major strength and one major flaw: Sultans of Swing. Seriously.

It is a cracking concert album, packed with classics, alongside lesser-known songs and filled with (sometimes a little dodgy) extra effects, notes and words to give it a proper live feel, not to mention the enthusiastic crowd. However, ask anyone who has heard it and their answer will invariably mention "that guitar solo," often accompanied by sparkling eyes.

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.
My mother came out of the car a changed woman. She would keep bringing up that solo whenever talking about DS.

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.
Once I did, though, there was no way back. Yes, it is a fine concert album and yes, everything on this album is in the shadow of what possibly remains the most impressive version of Sultans Of Swing the band ever played. Veteran John Ilsley's bassline, Hal Lindes's backing guitar, the soothing keyboards of Alan Clarke and the incomprehensibly energetic drumming of Terry Williams (who basically shows all other drummers of all time how hard they suck), all fuse into something that is more than the sum of its parts. The long come-down, then the patient build-up to that solo, that ridiculous solo that rips your guts out with its purity, that climaxes with an avalanche of high-pitched notes, reminding of a butterfly's flight, magical and stupid at the same time, the solo that will convince you that, if God played the guitar, he would take lessons with Mark Knopfler.
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.

There is no doubt nostalgia now plays a big role in my experience, but it is impossible to hear this one without goosebumps, without tears flowing to my eyes... and without catching myself in the midst of a fucking air-guitar solo. Impossible.
And that is what it is all about, really. Sheer excitement, cascades of emotions provided by the band at the very top of their game, obviously having the best of times and happily sharing the moment.