Payne's Pretzels

Rating:

Dire Straits are a band who were at their best when they focused on elegance, atmosphere and imagery. London music pubs, sweeping northern moors, youth-filled dance halls, rum soaked detectives and forlorn lovers are frequented in some of their most loved songs. All these characters are are present on this excellent reissue of their definitive live record, which maintains the charm of the original, while adding additional clarity and depth. The same unfortunately, can not be said of the accompanying DVD, which displays an energetic band at their peak with an enthusiastic audience, still shows trails of the grain that discloses the age more so than any of the clothing on stage.

Prior to their later super-stardom, Alchemy finds Mark Knopfler and company extending and improving the recorded versions of their early material. Four of the songs exceed ten minutes, thanks to extended introductions and improvised solos. These grand ideals are not always a universal success – signature song Sultans of Swing looses its raw rock and roll appeal thanks to overzealous organ work and arena sized drums. The occasional throw away tracks – such as Expresso Love – still maintain a certain quality but do not bring anything additional to the record. Throughout listening to the album, it becomes apparent which way the band were progressing as, Brothers In Arms is clearly sign posted all over the songs.

Besides the predictable guitar genius of Knopfler, the outstanding musical work on this record can be found within the piano-organ-synthesiser work of Alan Clarke. His contributions are superb – the tasteful additions help to fill out the space left by the minimal guitar as well as transporting the listener to the remote haven of musical nirvana – the introductions to Tunnel of Love and Going Home (Theme from Local Hero) take you places you never thought Dire Straits could.

For those who dismiss Dire Straits as bourgeois father rock, Alchemy is the definitive response that shows they can be as hard rocking, experimental, free flowing, jazz influenced and as rock and roll as you could get.