Dire Straits: Alchemy

Dire Straits: Alchemy

1984

Warner Bros.

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Once Upon a Time in the West  2. Romeo and Juliet  3. Expresso Love  4. Private Investigations  5. Sultans of Swing  6. Two Young Lovers  7. Tunnel of Love  8. Telegraph Road  9. Solid Rock  10. Going Home


I think I've talked about this in the past, but I love double-live records...Love everything about them...The sprawling gatefolds, the live energy, the extended guitar/drum solos...Listening to a live album should be an event, where by the time you reach the run-out groove on side four you're both satisfied and slightly exhausted...A marathon listen...And no double-live record makes you feel every one of those 80-plus minutes than "Alchemy"...

It's almost as if time itself stops while you're bumping this thing....Slow, ponderous songs routinely stretch past the 13-minute mark, moodily noodling away into infinity as Mark Knopfler fingers new-agey, Spanish-tinged guitar solos and  mumbles in the distance...The Rock and Roll equivalent of one of those CD's of nothing but recordings of rainfalls...It's all beautifully performed, though. They have a highly-developed knack for dynamics. Just when you're about to nod off during "Private Investigations," suddenly they toss in a thunderous DAH-NAH that brings you back in...This sense of dramatic timing is ultimately responsible for this album falling under the "relaxing and immersive" category and narrowly avoiding the "boring" tag...

They toss in a few rockers though...Of course, "Sultans of Swing" is on here, in a sprawling 10-minute arrangement (although Mark sounds like he's about to fall asleep on the mic (which is somehow compelling))...The "rock" is somewhat muted by the interesting choice of mixing Mark's guitar 10 times louder than everything else...

Disc two is definitely the superior experience...It doesn't seem quite so bogged down...Tracks like "Solid Rock" and "Two Young Lovers" (swingin' 50's rock in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis) get the adrenalin up enough that when you get to the finely detailed epic "Telegraph Road," you can fully enjoy the view, as opposed to Disc One's approach of lulling you into a stupor with all the languid atmosphere...Or maybe my ears finally adjusted by that point (Remind me to listen to the second disc first next time...Maybe that will change my view)...Anyway, after a few listens I realized "Telegraph Road" is some ruling shit...I'd always heard the title and immediatley thought of the road in Detroit (in my beautiful original home state of Michigan)...

But nahhh, he couldn't have been talking about Detroit...There was probably a Telegraph Road in England or something...It was hard to make out the quietly rasped lyrics...But on closer listen it's got to be about D-Town...A cold, hard portrait of closed factories, rivers of headlights and terminal unemployment...Yup, that's Detroit all right...They could have worked in a verse about random gunshots and pantsless bums for added authenticity, but it's evocative as is...Still, I wonder what would happen if someone wrote a song about Detroit that wasn't all doom and gloom...Would the world explode? Who knows...

I think they put out a video of this full "Alchemy" performance...I haven't seen it, but I'd absolutely be interested...These old Dire Straits guys weren't so bad...Still this is one of those albums I have to  reeeeeaaaaaaalllllllly be in the mood to listen to, since it doesn't exactly deliver the live jolt that a "Live & Dangerous" or "Kiss Alive!" do...This is some serious end-of-the day music...When you're at home, in your casual-wear khaki's, kicking back with a wine cooler...Real Grown-up music...Although, I do have to say it went down a lot easier when I broke it up over two successive nights...

Hey, waitaminute! It's Friday Night! We made it through another week! Let's bust out the wine coolers and listen to all 13 minutes of "Telegraph Road"!