The Best Live Album You May Have Never Heard
Being a Dire Straits fan in the U.S. in the early 80s made me feel … unique.
None of my friends were fans. They didn’t dislike them — they just didn’t really know much about them. They had maybe heard “Sultans of Swing,” but that was it.
I don’t have the data to back it up, but it’s always felt like Dire Straits were not as big in the U.S. as elsewhere, especially in Europe.
At least not until 1985’s Brothers in Arms was released.
And even since then, I think most Americans of my generation would still only remember the band for three songs: “Sultans of Swing,” “Money for Nothing,” and “Walk of Life.”
In the pre-Brothers in Arms days, I might not have even discovered them if my friend hadn’t loaned me a cassette tape (remember those?) of Alchemy: Dire Straits Live.
It was alchemy, indeed
It was like a greatest hits album — a way to listen to their best tracks all in one place. That’s important to a kid who didn’t often have the money to go to the record store (remember those?).
It had a clever title, too, I thought.
