Dire Straits
"On The Night"

THE REVIEW

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.