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| Dire Straits - Live At The Bbc; The way they were | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Wednesday, 3. October 2012, 16:08 (214 Views) | |
| 3Pints | Wednesday, 3. October 2012, 16:08 Post #1 |
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Old Pigweed
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Dire Straits - Live at the BBC The way they were....... In 1995, after all was said and done and Mark sang his final, "Goodnight, now it's time to go home", this early concert was released - maybe as a sort of farewell. It was recorded live at BBC London studios in front of a small studio audience. The first 7 songs here represent a live version of most of their self-titled début album, with the addition of the previously unreleased, "What's the Matter, Baby?" (Mark and David Knopfler's only song-writing collaboration to date). That part of the performance was recorded on July 22nd, 1978, prior to the first album's release. So the group obviously hadn't made much of an impact yet, and that might help explain the audience's subdued response. This - along with the now-famous gig at Rockpalast '79 - really shows what Dire Straits was like in the beginning though - edgy, and energetic. I first saw Dire Straits live just 2 weeks after Rockpalast, so for me personally, that filmed performance and "Live at the BBC" are two of the best possible souvenirs of those exciting early days! In order to flesh out the CD, a nearly 12-minute version of "Tunnel of Love" was added to the set, but this was taken from a much later performance on the BBC programme, The Old Grey Whistle Test on January 31st, 1981. And Dire Straits was already a much different band by then. David Knopfler was gone; temporarily replaced by Hal Lindes, and Alan Clark had been added on keyboards. This track shows them transitioning from energetic bar band to the arena-rock superstars they were quickly becoming. I think it's kind of a bitter-sweet addendum to the album in that respect, but nonetheless, it's nice to have. |
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Cheers, 3Pints "It’s a quiet life from here on in, You’ve dropped your poisoned cup The telephone is ringing, but you’re not picking up" | |
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| KitKat | Wednesday, 3. October 2012, 17:00 Post #2 |
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Dire Straits
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I adore this album, but then again, their first album is my favorite DS album. I've said before (on the red site) but I'll say it again here, it's the gritty-ness and hint of desperation (my interpretation) that just makes it for me for this album and their first album. In hindsight, we can also see that early on Mark was one to really be all about the sound, not just the beautiful guitar playing, but also enhancing the the story with effects- from the sound of the fog horn in Down to the Waterline or the big truck chugging from first to second to third gear in Border Reiver (especially pronounced in the Frankfurt GL tour recording that I also adore)... I can't wait to hear what Privateering has in store... |
| "...her lucky stars give her just enough..." | |
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| Hophead | Wednesday, 3. October 2012, 21:34 Post #3 |
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Communique
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Oddly enough..this cover has always been my least favorite of TOL..it seems chopped at the end..maybe because it was a TV production. It just didn't fit with the raw sound of the rest of the disc..I guess it was too obvious that it wasn't the same show. I've always loved the rest of the disc..."Lions" being a personal fav. ^_^ |
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| 3Pints | Thursday, 4. October 2012, 06:32 Post #4 |
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Old Pigweed
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Hi KitKat, "....a hint of desperation...." That's exactly it! It's raw, edgy, and gritty but there's also definitely a hint of desperation that comes though in their performance on that night in summer long ago. :winky: It's probably due in part to playing a live show for the BBC; knowing it was being recorded, and desperately wanting to make sure they did a good job. After all, they were advertising their upcoming début LP here and this would have been an amazing, and rare, promotional opportunity! |
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Cheers, 3Pints "It’s a quiet life from here on in, You’ve dropped your poisoned cup The telephone is ringing, but you’re not picking up" | |
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| 3Pints | Thursday, 4. October 2012, 06:50 Post #5 |
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Old Pigweed
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Hey Hops! I agree. It's not a great performance over all, and the sound mix was very poor indeed - probably, I'm guessing because it was done for television rather than for radio. In any case, I think it's noticeably inferior to the rest of the CD. :( I have long suspected they cut it short because Mark's guitar starts to go out of tune towards the end (starting around 10:00). At 10:35 it goes out completely, and there's a truly horrible note - :o - almost as if he's broken a string. And suddenly he's not playing any more. He must have been a bit distracted, and maybe after frantically trying to get back in tune, he just signalled the band to wrap it up. He does play a few more riffs, but it sounds to me as though something happened there. |
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Cheers, 3Pints "It’s a quiet life from here on in, You’ve dropped your poisoned cup The telephone is ringing, but you’re not picking up" | |
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| Hophead | Saturday, 6. October 2012, 19:21 Post #6 |
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Communique
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I think you are right 3Pints..the guitar does cut in and out toward the end..if he did lose a string..it was probably too late..too close to the end to bother changing guitars. That ending just sounds rather hacked. Saw your post over on AMIT about Glenn's bass work on Privateering..there is a bit of a clunk at the end of "Used to could"..other than that..it's typical AMIT..random complaints. B) |
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| 3Pints | Sunday, 7. October 2012, 23:09 Post #7 |
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Old Pigweed
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Yeah, and that's one of the main reasons I hardly spend any time on AMIT. There's a lot of whiners and too many pointless one-liners posted in that forum. I don't feel inspired to post there because it seems that very few people care to engage in an actual discussion. :( Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, clunkers. I'm a bit surprised they used that version of "Tunnel of Love" from Whistle Test for that reason. But then who knows what else was in the BBC archives and whether it would have been any more usable for the CD? They may not have had too many options and figured most people wouldn't really notice. Heck, maybe the engineers didn't even notice! :blink: Hah! Just like I haven't noticed a clunker in "I Used To Could". I'll have to go back and listen for that. You know what though? Mark likes to go for fairly spontaneous performances and I wonder if it's one of those things where they thought everything else was good and just decided not to mess with it? |
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Cheers, 3Pints "It’s a quiet life from here on in, You’ve dropped your poisoned cup The telephone is ringing, but you’re not picking up" | |
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| qjamesfloyd | Tuesday, 9. October 2012, 08:46 Post #8 |
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Administrator
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I love this album, although like has been said Tunnel Of Love does not sound so good, but there you go. I live the stripped down raw live sound, play it loud, and it really sounds like the band are in the room with you :) I also like at the start of Water of Love, Mark says "It's a strange idea, but maybe one you want to think about"lol. He seems to talk a bit more live back in those days, But his talking voice doesn't seem to have changed much, I also like the way he introduces Wild West End, which I think sounds amazing on this album. I really like the cover of this album too, It shows how skinny Mark used to be, and how much the live shows back then used to take out of him. He was such a dynamic guitar player back then. |
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"Yeah, me and my mate like ac-dc Hot & sweaty, loud & greasy" Mark Knopfler. | |
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7:26 PM Jul 11