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Rating: Anybody who finds nothing to love here, has either got problem with the essential fabric of rock and roll or cloth ears.
The year was 1993, and the colossal tour in support of "On Every Street" had already ended some time ago, when less than two years after the previous release, Dire Straits managed to give a sign of their existence with the release of the live album "On The Night." This work opens like the previous one, with "Calling Elvis" playing the role of master of ceremonies and also warming up the crowd, which it achieves superbly judging by the clapping and the voices of the audience present. "Walk Of Life" is fun transformed into music that draws in the listener just as the hilarious video (nicknamed "the sport bloopers") did, with its heavy rotation for several months. Pulling out ten tracks from Dire Straits' repertoire was not an easy task to generate an excellent CD, but perhaps it was a bit excessive to take five from "On Every Street"; therefore, we welcome with open arms a sequence of appropriate hits from the enchanting "Your Latest Trick," passing through the lush "On Every Street," the tender "You And Your Friend" and the thorny "Heavy Fuel," which I personally consider one of Mark Knopfler's most valuable compositions.
It is important to emphasize that the "direction" taken by the Straits in their last two studio works (that is, considering the group as also involving "expert" musicians and acquaintances), finds confirmation on this disc, presenting itself to the adoring crowd with nine elements that positively affect the product's result, giving the performed songs a more elegant and refined outfit, in some cases superior to the studio versions. The ten minutes of "Romeo And Juliet" don't sound like a story already heard (or worse still, recycled), but like a splendid composition revisited and up-to-date, capable of enchanting at first listen, as when it first saw the light on the album with the red cover. On "Money For Nothing" (unjustly mutilated of the intro!) I believe there is nothing more to say, except that it is recognized as the band's most popular track, representing the last burst of energy before the delicate farewell that happens through one of the jewels - "Brothers In Arms," indeed - which best condenses the fundamental characteristics of Dire Straits: almost nine minutes of delightful poetry, at the service of gentle solos capable of exploring the more intimate side of those who have decided to be tenderly lulled by this chimeric composition.
A work that I overall evaluate as excellently crafted and which I consider more complete - if seen as a whole with "Encores" (the mini CD released a few weeks earlier containing three live tracks not included on OTN, editors note) - than Alchemy and at the same time a very useful means to get to know the group's live act, even though the DVD remains the most complete format. For those who feel obliged to think differently, I suggest rereading the introduction and making it their own.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Calling Elvis (10:25)
Calling Elvis - is anybody home
Calling Elvis - I'm here all alone
Did he leave the building
Or can he come to the phone
Calling Elvis - I'm here all alone
Well tell him I was calling just to wish him well
Let me leave my number - heartbreak hotel
Oh love me tender - baby don't be cruel
Return to sender - treat me like a fool
Calling Elvis - is anybody home
Calling Elvis - I'm here all alone
Did he leave the building
Or can he come to the phone
Calling Elvis - I'm here all alone
Why don't you go get him - I'm his biggest fan
You gotta tell him - he's still the man
Long distance baby - so far from home
Don't you think maybe you could put him on
Well tell him I was calling just to wish him well
Let me leave my number - heartbreak hotel
Oh love me tender - baby don't be cruel
Return to sender - treat me like a fool
Calling Elvis - is anybody home
Calling Elvis - I'm here all alone
Did he leave the building
Or can he come to the phone
Calling Elvis - I'm here all alone
02 Walk of Life (05:06)
Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnel, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Oh yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
{Refrain}
He do the song about the sweet lovin' woman
He do the song about the night
And he do the walk, he do the walk of life
Yeah, he do the walk of life.
Here comes Johnny goin' tell you the story
Hand me down my walkin' shoes
Here come Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat, the talkin' blues
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
{Refrain}
{Repeat first verse}
And after all the violence and double talk
There's just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life
Hm, you do the walk of life
03 Heavy Fuel (05:23)
Last time I was sober, man I felt bad
Worst hangover that I ever had
It took six hamburgers and scotch all night
Nicotine for breakfast just to put me right
'cos if you wanna run cool
If you wanna run cool
If you wanna run cool, you got to run
On heavy, heavy fuel
My life makes perfect sense
Lust and food and violence
Sex and money are my major kicks
Get me in a fight I like dirty tricks
'cos if you wanna run cool
Yes if you wanna run cool, you got to run
On heavy, heavy fuel
My chick loves a man who's strong
The things she'll do to turn me on
I love the babes, don't get me wrong
Hey, that's why I wrote this song
I don't care if my liver is hanging by a thread
Don't care if my doctor says I ought to be dead
When my ugly big car won't climb this hill
I'll write a suicide note on a hundred dollar bill
'cos if you wanna run cool
If you wanna run cool
Yes if you wanna run cool, you got to run
On heavy, heavy fuel
04 Romeo and Juliet (10:05)
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 (09:43)
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 Your Latest Trick (05:35)
All the late night bargains have been struck
Between the satin beaus and their belles
And prehistoric garbage trucks
Have the city to themselves
Echoes and roars of dinosaurs
They're all doing the monster mash
And most of the taxis, most of the whores
Are only taking calls for cash
I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
My door was standing open
Security was laid back and lax
But it was only my heart got broken
You must have had a pass key made out of wax
You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues on twelve bars down on Lover's Lane
And you never did have the intellegence to use
The twelve keys hanging off my chain
I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Now it's past last call for alcohol
Last drinker has been here and gone
The landlord finally paid us off
The satin jazz men have put away their horns
And we're standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a Bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle's empty and there's nothing left
I don't know how it happened
It was faster than the eye could flick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
07 On Every Street (07:01)
There's gotta be a record of you someplace
You gotta be on somebody's books
The lowdown - a picture of your face
Your injured looks
The sacred and profane
The pleasure and the pain
Somewhere your fingerprints remain concrete
And it's your face I'm looking for on every street
A ladykiller - regulation tattoo
Silver spurs on his heels
Says - what can I tell you, as I'm standing next to you
She threw herself under my wheels
Oh it's a dangerous road
And a hazardous load
And the fireworks over liberty explode in the heat
And it's your face I'm looking for on every street
A three-chord symphony crashes into space
The moon is hanging upside down
I don't know why it is I'm still on the case
It's a ravenous town
And you still refuse to be traced
Seems to me such a waste
And every victory has a taste that's bittersweet
And it's your face I'm looking for on every street
08 You and Your Friend (06:48)
Will you and your friend come around
Are you and your friend gonna get on down
Will you and your friend come around
Or are you and your friend gonna let me down
If you talk to one another
I'm a hungry man
Let me know one way or the other
So I can make my plans
Will you and your friend come around
Or are you and your friend gonna get on down
Will you and your friend come around
Or are you and your friend gonna get on down
I relive the situation
Still see it in my mind
You got my imagination
Working overtime
09 Money for Nothing (06:28)
I want my
I want my MTV x4
Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money ain't for nothin' and your chicks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Let me tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Baby get a blister on your thumb
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these color TV's
See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these colour TV's
(We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries)
We got to move these refrigerators
(We got to move these colour TV's)
Look here, look here
I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera man,
We can have some fun
And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin' on the bongoes like a chimpanzee
Oh, that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these colour TV's
Listen Here
Now, that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and chicks for free
"Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and chicks for free"
(Repeat till Fade)
10 Brothers in Arms (08:55)
These mist-covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms!
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms!
There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms!
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Other reviews
By carloirons
The show presented in this live recording was recorded half in Paris and half in Rotterdam, but the effect is splendid.
"Brothers In Arms" rises to a series of literally breathtaking, poignant solos, that splendidly close this record.
By AJM
"Mark Knopfler towers over anything that stands in his way, devours it, the balding maestro... has now, like never before, become the creator of his world of notes."
"'Romeo And Juliet' sounds more majestic than ever, an eternal declaration of desperate love that will make people dream as long as there is good in this world."
