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.

If I could only keep one of my Dire Straits CDs, the choice would be a "no brainer." Not only is the playlist a collection of their finest, but each selection is invariably better than the studio version from other CDs -- far more powerful and polished. Private Investigations, You And Your Friend, and On Every Street each have a dark, full, complex sound that far outclass the studio versions. This is technically the best live recording I've ever heard.

This is absolutely a lot better than Alchemy or BBC. This stuff rocks! I think they do Heavy Fuel great on this record, one I can play over and over and over again. The other songs rock, Calling Elvis, Walk Of Life, Romeo And Juliet, & Money For Nothing. The way they do You And Your Friend on this record is really better than studio. Both great versions. One of the greatest shows on EARTH! Buy it now.

This is just a great live recording. Especially love "Romeo and Juliet" - much more sensual and evocative than the studio recording, especially with the piano riffs throughout. Live recording of "Brothers in Arms" is classic DS - a must hear. So worth the money that you invest in this CD.