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July 1983: the Dire Straits are no longer a curiosity-rousing phenomenon but have already comfortably settled in the seats reserved for those who have something to teach; they are a certainty, a constantly growing band that has just released the finest product of what will be their collection and is yet to place, within two years, one of the greatest best-sellers in history. And to confirm that at the time they were hitting every mark, here is a testimony, published in the early months of 1984, of what is their ultimate expression: the concert, the live performance where the tracks previously heard on record seem to break free from their chains and undergo evolutions that take them to double their original length, enriched in arrangements, weighed down by the addition of new lines on the staff, expanded in instrumental passages to showcase all the virtuosity of a band that has always, always played in an excellent manner. And it's not just about technical virtuosity, but also about heart.
A double album with just 11 tracks is quite rare, yet the total length is a good hour and a half; all the albums released up until that point are called into play, even though "Making Movies" (4) and "Love Over Gold" (3) take the lion's share. From "Communiqué," comes the track that opens the dance, the slow "Once Upon a Time in the West" during which Mark Knopfler's Fender begins to sting, while from the eponymous debut album comes "Sultans Of Swing," grown, pumped up, doped, dressed to seduce: the original nearly 6-minute version on record is just the raw embryo of this new evolution over 11 minutes long, with Terry Williams on drums pounding away and Mark Knopfler indulging in dizzying solos until his fingers turn red-hot on the final sixteenths. The confirmation that Dire Straits find their ideal dimension in live performances is also given by the fact that the album was packaged and released without modifications or tweaks to the sound recorded during the performances at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, and nothing seems out of place; on the contrary, everything sounds much more real and tangible. "Love Over Gold," present only on the double CD release and performed in a reduced version compared to the one recorded in the studio, was chosen as a single for the market, while there's also room for the instrumental "Going Home" drawn from Mark Knopfler's fresh solo repertoire. Finding a track that plays the leading role is challenging, given the choice among at least three or four, but listening to "Tunnel Of Love" cannot leave anyone with a shred of emotion indifferent: from the intro where guitar and sax converse, through the much more sustained body of the song than the original, to the laugh that escaped Knopfler on "like the Spanish City to me..", to the ecstatic screams heard in the distance among the audience when the music slows down (and who can blame them?) up to the last long minutes of the solo, long but never long enough: Knopfler makes love with the music, the guitar starts timid and silent only to gradually increase in intensity, passage after passage, caress after caress, followed in succession by the other instruments that can't stand by and remain indifferent; they all let themselves be carried away, bass, drums, piano, keyboards, becoming a river that grows and grows further until it reaches the climax of the senses, collective, for everyone. Pleasure.
It's an album that sounds playful and serious at the same time, the pastel colors of the 80s are worn by high-class musicians, the optimism of a plastic decade when everyone pretended to be alright echoes in this work that exudes a festive air, not a party of kids with teased hair or cocaine addicts in a nightclub, but the party of professional musicians having a blast making those who listen happy, and Mark Knopfler, under that red jacket, has a heart as big as this.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Once Upon a Time in the West (13:01)
Some people get a cheap laugh breaking up the speed limit
Scaring the pedestrians for a minute
Crossing up progress driving on the grass
Leaving just enough room to pass
Sunday driver never took a test
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west
Yes it's no use saying that you don't know nothing
It's still gonna get you if you don't do something
Sitting on a fence that's a dangerous course
Oh, you could even catch a bullet from the peace-keeping force
Even the hero gets a bullet in the chest
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west
Mother Mary your children are slaughtered
Some of you mothers ought to lock up your daughters
Who's protecting the innocenti
Heap big trouble in the land of plenty
Tell me how we're gonna do what's best
You guess once upon a time in the west
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west
Once upon a time in the west
03 Romeo and Juliet (08:17)
A love struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a street light, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"
Juliet says, "Hey it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey la, my boyfriend's back
You shouldn't come around here, singing up at people like that"
Anyway, what you gonna do about it?
Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start,
And I bet, then you exploded in my heart,
And I forget, I forget, the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame,
Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same,
And I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?
Well, you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah
Now you just say, "Oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him"
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die"
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song, like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything 'cept be in love with you
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat and the band company
And all I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you, anytime
Ah Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
And a love struck Romeo, sings the streets a serenade,
Laying everybody low, with a love song that he made
Finds a convenient street light, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"
"You and me babe, how about it?"
05 Private Investigations (07:34)
It's a mystery to me ... the game commences
for the usual fee ... plus expenses
confidential information ... it's in a diary
This is my investigation ... it's not a public inquiry
I go checking out the reports ... digging up the dirt
you get to meet all sorts in this line of work
treachery and treason ... there's always an excuse for it
and when I find the reason I still can't get used to it
And what have you got at the end of the day?
what have you got to take away?
a bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
blinds on the windows and a pain behind the eyes
Scarred for life ... no compensation
private investigations
06 Sultans of Swing (10:54)
You get a shiver in the dark
It's raining in the park, but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing dixie double four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring
Well now you step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Competition in other places
Ah but the horns, they blowin' that sound
Way on down south
Way on down south, London town
Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords
Mind he's strictly rhythm, he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
Yes and an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a daytime job, he's doing alright
He can play the honky tonk like anything
Saving it up for Friday night
With the Sultans
We're the Sultans of Swing
Then a crowd of young boys, they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
Then the Sultans
Yeah, the Sultans they played creole
Creole
And then the man, he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
Goodnight, now it's time to go home
Then he makes it fast with one more thing
We are the Sultans
We are the Sultans of Swing
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Other reviews
By NoName
"The highlight of the CD is undoubtedly the track that made them famous, 'Sultans Of Swing': 11 minutes of music and a final instrumental part where Knopfler gives his best in a breathtaking solo."
"A must-listen for those who appreciate the powerful sound of guitar and drums."
By claudio carpentieri
An extended version of the most beautiful love story ever set to music by a rock band titled 'Romeo And Juliet.'
Another enchanting band had already risen on the wings of glory and would soon confirm its immortality.
By Knopfler76
Ok. The most thrilling live performance I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.
The perfect live performance. Always. Forever.
By Knopfler76
The most exciting live concert I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.
The perfect live concert. Of all time. Forever.
