Dire Straits Album: “On the Night (Warners)”

If you find a better live CD than this, please let me know! The live recording brings Dire Straits' music to life. Calling Elvis and Heavy Fuel are OK on the On Every Street CD, but they are pure hard rockers here. Paul Franklin's pedal steel adds a lot to the album, particularly on Walk Of Life. Romeo And Juliet is back, a much better version than their first Live CD set. Even the songs that are played much like the originals have more immediacy. Oddly enough, the least satisfying cut is Money For Nothing, the "anthem". Perhaps they've simply played it too much. (I've certainly heard it too much!) When the album ends with Brothers In Arms, you'll simply let it start playing all over again. This is one of the very few CDs that I never get tired of. This is a masterful, powerful album, great musicianship, music that makes you listen. You may find the vocals muddy on occasion, and the crowd noise is prominent (which I happen to like), but the crowd noise is used to blend the entire CD into one seamless performance, with no fades. All live albums should do this. Enjoy!

First off, in my humble opinion this is a recording of the tour in which Dire Straits really started to get tired. The band is well-known for reinventing ways to play songs on different tours, but in this case, they left behind the spark that made new versions shine (see "Once Upon A Time In The West" off of their other live album "Alchemy"), and opted for operatic bombast instead.

The music is so choreographed and inflated on this show that it feels like the band is actually getting bored. "Romeo and Juliet", initially a dry and sweet ballad, has turned into a slow and greasy orchestral mushy mass. Same with "Private Investigations", where it's just a zillion keyboards - even the sparse bass line towards the end of the song is drowned out in long sustained synthesizer chords and saxophone riffs. "Calling Elvis", initially lunar, sparse and odd, becomes a Vegas-style all-singin', all-dancin', "let's swap solos" deal, and is interminable. Worst of all, Mark Knopfler's solos, which used to stir the soul, now seem mechanical. On "Brothers in Arms", you hear the same riff is used about 10 times in a row - there isn't much creative spark there, unfortunately. The same can be said of "You and Your Friend" - although Paul Franklin's slide guitar/dobro solo on that one is still very good.

I saw this tour back in '91, and again in '92. It was good fun, but with nine musicians on stage trying to rock, there was little room for improvisation. This definitely comes through in "On the Night".

Perhaps also adding to the sense of fatigue are the track-listing and production. Where is "Sultans of Swing"? Where is "Telegraph Road"? Where is "Two Young Lovers"? All three songs were staples of the "On Every Street" tour, and they still rocked pretty soundly. A lot of thought has been given to the production of this record, but in all honesty I don't think Guy Fletcher (also keyboardist for DS) is the best person for the job. In all honesty, Guy's a great musician, but he's also a bit of a nerdy engineer (who loves his equipment, and extensively documents all the aspects of each tour in his on-line journals, including how good the food is, etc.). He's a perfectionist, and therefore tries to get the most "perfect" sound for each song. The result is that he tries to get the sound of things as close as possible to the studio recordings. "Walk of Life" is a clear example: live, it has more of a raw edge, because the guitars tend to be less echoey, and Knopfler's voice isn't as playful, but here it sounds exactly like the studio version, with a slide guitar thrown in. A "perfect" version is not what we want - we want the full live recording, warts and all. The "warts and all" approach is what DS had opted to do on their far superior live album "Alchemy".

The more creative moments of the show were also cut off - where is the drum solo at the end of "Money for Nothing" (also a staple of this tour)? Where is the playful interaction with the audience during "Walk of Life" (here reduced to nothing)?

So why still 3 stars? Well, simply, it's Dire Straits. Although pompous, inflated, and very mellow for a Dire Straits record, "On the Night" still translates the band's great musicianship, and does have very moving moments. You just need to force yourself to forget the production and convince yourself they're having fun on stage if you really want to enjoy it. You can get there, most of the time, but it hurts when the recording doesn't let you.

this is the second best cd i like communique better but any rock fa needs it. it is so awsome.money for nothin rocks the world. so awsome. heres how i like the cd;

caling elvis 10 stars the vocals are awsome and the guitars are the best.

walk of life 15 stars this version rocks way better than studio i love this is my second favavrot song on this cd

heavy fule 12 stars one of the most rocking songs by dire straits this version rocks more than studio a great sound to this versoin too

romeo and juliet 10 star this version of the song i just love it but not a big fan of the extra addings that start before the original song.

privet investigations 8 stars i like the studioes and the alchemy versoins slitly better.

your latest trick 12 stars ilove the bongose and the music and the vocals.

on evry street 1 star i havent heard enoghe of it to know how good it is but i bet it's great.

you and your freind 10 stars i think i this version alot mabey stuideo slightly better i don't know there both good.

money for nothin 125 stars i love love love this versoin it's the best on here .any rock fan definetly needs to listen to this versoin better than studio i don't know why they dident put this on the raideo.

brothers in arms 10 stars like the studio slitly bettr

Not much to say that hasn't been said by other reviewers. The sound is great, performances are great...I like that the songs weren't played *exactly*, note for note how they are on the original albums. "Calling Elvis" is an extended play version, and "Private Investigations" has some added parts as well. This is one of my favorite live albums of *any* band's to listen to. Good pictures of the band in the liner notes as well :o)

On The Night is a really great rock album! It is a must-have for

any rock fan in my opinion! It rocks so hard that I would like

to buy another additional copie to it! My favorites would be Calling Elvis (10 min track), Walk of Life, Heavy Fuel, Money

for Nothing, & Brothers in Arms. I love this version of Brothers in Arms, and I think it is even better than the studio but they're both great. I'll review all these songs in an order.

Calling Elvis 10/10, Great concert album opener! This version's

just as good as the other but maybe harder rockin' than the other. It is over 10 minutes.

Walk of Life 11/10, Way better than the studio! This version has

a harder rockin' sound to it! And it is a really good tune. One

of my favorites on this live album.

Heavy Fuel 11/10, All I can say is great! This version is just as

great as the studio version of the song! Maybe better! Listen to

it. It will rock you because it is so hard rockin' that you will

want to play it over N' over again.

Romeo and Juliet 8/10, I hate all those crowds cheering for the

song, it really is noisy! But the piano is even better than the

studio. It'll make you bang.

Private Investigations 2/10 I've never liked this song and I dont

care about it at all.

Your Last Trick 7/10 It is okay! I hate the trumpets. But I do

like the rock ending!

On Every Street 5/10 The other version is slightly better.

You and Your Friend 5/10 The other version is slightly better.

Money for Nothing 9/10 Listen to it, it is just as good as the

other version! Sting dosent sing "I want my MTV" very well in this version as the other version. But it is a heck of a great

version.

Brothers in Arms 10/10 Way better than the studio version! But

they're both good! I love the riff and it is even better though

the storm is not as good as the studio. Great album closer.

gO out and buy it today