Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Undoubtedly Dire Straits should be thought of one of the most dynamic and talented groups to have graced the studio and the arenas of the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, a sound caught in the whirlwind of zeitgeist, an image that had listeners obsessed with the way the guitar evoked such a feeling of drama and fierce complex emotions, how it tied with the lyrical poetic form of anguish, of nostalgia, and the combination of what was bordering on Progressive with the length of songs that were unveiled in each studio album, or the form they took in expanding a narrative.
This was group to whom the music was almost an enchantment, singles such as Romeo and Juliet, Telegraph Road, the sublime Private Investigations, and then the muscle of what came out of the phenomenal recording that in many ways defined the mid-80s, Brothers In Arms, created a universe of tales and astonishing value, and if you were fortunate enough to catch them at this period of time, then you were left physically enamoured with a sound of creativity at its absolute best.
One of the biggest selling live albums of its time, the fabulous Alchemy: Dire Straits Live set the standard for framing the band, and yet in 1995 it just ended, the bubble burst silently almost without fanfare, and despite one last short hurrah at Beaulieu, the brilliance of the live performance by the band, as well as the prospect of any more studio albums, were gone; as the group folded and what remained was ghosts of enjoyment that has slowly evaporated over time since.
Ghosts though can be bought back to life, those ripples of apparitions that once thrilled us with their vision can be resurrected beyond memory and thrust into the present, and as the beautifully packaged Live 1978-1992 catches the ear of the attentive listener, as it brings together the three recognised live albums released during that period, a small E.P.’s worth of tracks, and the previously unreleased Live At The Rainbow in such a way that what enthuses the senses is not just music, but a procession, an artform that rivals the celluloid in terms of inflaming revival.
The much-admired Alchemy is joined by On The Night, Live At The B.B.C, a passage of Encores, and the stated Live At The Rainbow which was recorded in December 1979, and whilst the 1985 show at Wembley Arena might have added to the experience if had been framed as such, what is presented is a glorious addition to the studio boxset from a decade earlier.
For a day spent in the company of some of the most remarkable songs to have been recorded during a fifteen-year period, the listener is given an opportunity to relish them as they were meant to be heard, full of the grace of sound and wonder.
An exceptional release!
Ian D. Halll