Alchemy: Dire Straits Live
| Alchemy: Dire Straits Live | ||||
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| Live album by Dire Straits | ||||
| Released | 16 March 1984 | |||
| Recorded |
Hammersmith Odeon, London, 22–23 July 1983 |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 93:59 | |||
| Label |
Vertigo Warner Bros. (USA) |
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| Producer | Mark Knopfler | |||
| Dire Straits chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |
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| Alchemy: Dire Straits Live | |
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| Video by Dire Straits | |
| Released | 1984 (VHS), 1995 (VHS remastered), 2010 (DVD, Blu-ray) |
| Recorded |
Hammersmith Odeon, 22–23 July 1983 |
| Genre |
Roots rock, blues rock, progressive rock |
| Length | 90:00 |
| Label | PolyGram Video |
| Producer | Mark Knopfler |
Alchemy: Dire Straits Live is a double album and the first live album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released on 16 March 1984 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 22–23 July 1983, the album features the band's best-known and fan-favourite songs from their first four albums, the ExtendedancEPlay EP, and the Local Hero soundtrack (composed by Mark Knopfler); many of the songs have reworked arrangements and/or extended improvisational segments. The album cover is taken from a painting by Brett Whiteley. Alchemy: Dire Straits Live was remastered and re-released on 8 May 2001.
Alchemy: Dire Straits Live was recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 22–23 July 1983, the final two concerts of Dire Straits' eight-month Love Over Gold Tour promoting their album Love Over Gold. The concerts were recorded by Mike McKenna using the Rolling Stones Mobile unit. Nigel Walker was the recording engineer. The recording was mixed at AIR Studios in London in November 1983.
"Tunnel of Love" is preceded by a roughly four-minute jam sequence that incorporates elements of the song, followed by the brief "Carousel Waltz" intro and standard version of the song (with improvisation sections).
The album cover artwork was adapted from a section of a painting by Brett Whiteley titled Alchemy 1974. Alchemy is a hypothetical process once believed to turn ordinary elements into gold. The image of a guitar with lips held by a hand was added for the album design. The original painting, done between 1972 and 1973, was composed of many different elements and on 18 wood panels 203 cm x 1615 cm x 9 cm. In terms of media it used everything from feathers and part of a bird's nest to a glass eye, shell, plugs and brain in a work that becomes a transmutation of sexual organic landscapes and mindscapes. It has been regarded as a self-portrait, a giant outpouring of energy and ideas brought forth over a long period of time.
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