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Product Description
Product Description
Alchemy was a double live album originally released in 1984 with an accompanying VHS, now released on Blu-ray for the first time and contains the following:
Main Content (90 minutes) Alchemy Live 23rd July 1983, Hammersmith Odeon, London ***Intro*** (Saturday Night At The Movies) 1. Once Upon a Time in the West 2. Expresso Love 3. Romeo & Juliet 4. Private Investigations 5. Sultans of Swing 6. Two Young Lovers 7. Tunnel of Love ***Encore*** 8. Telegraph Road 9. Solid Rock 10. Going Home - Theme from 'Local Hero' ***Credits***
Bonus Content (79 minutes) Live TV Performances * Tunnel Of Love (The Old Grey Whistle Test 29/11/1980) * Sultans of Swing (The Old Grey Whistle Test 16/05/1978)
Documentary BBC Arena: Dire Straits [58 mins] 22/12/1980
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Buy it if you love DIre Straits. I dont know if I was shipped the original product as I bought from an Amazon vendor and the recording of the video is not very clear. Guess it was taped on VHS.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I purchased this video for my husbands birthday.He has watched it several times.We both really enjoyed it and would consider buying more of their videos
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Burketop
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Blu-ray
Let's get the bad out of the way, Alchemy was filmed on video. What you see here on this Blu-ray is likely the best this will ever look, it's limited by the source material. No amount of baking, scanning and what-have-you is going to do this source material any favours.
This is also presented in the original aspect ratio of 4:3, meaning on a high definition TV you will have black bars on the sides. This is perfectly normal. If they were to re-scan the source material to present it in 16:9 you'd be now stuck with around 400 lines of source resolution and it would be ugly, so either zoom in on it or please hold your tongue...this is as good as it gets.
Now for the juice - Chuck Ainlay has gone back to the original master tapes and done an amazing re-mastering of Alchemy as well as an amazing multi-channel surround mix, mastering to 24-bit/96kHz and encoded using the dts Master Audio codec, which is of course lossless.
The surround mix is enveloping and accurately reflects the feel of a live concert. Every single nuance of the performance seems to come across with delightful clarity, from the subtleties of Private Investigations to the all out rock and roll of Sultans of Swing. Until now the best I've ever heard Alchemy sound is on the original German vinyl pressing, but I have a new favourite and it is this Blu-ray disc.
Whether you kick the lights and TV off and flick your receiver into a PURE DIRECT mode, shut your eyes and float away into this amazing concert or watch it at the same time, this one will be sure to be in constant rotation for a long time to come. Alas this isn't the pristine 1080p24 16:9 35mm transfer that I'm sure people would love to see, but with the elements available I think we're very lucky to finally have such an incredible audio presentation of this truly wonderful performance.
Thanks Universal Music and thanks Chuck Ainlay...and of course thanks to Dire Straits, you still rock as hard in 2010 as you did in 1983.
This is also presented in the original aspect ratio of 4:3, meaning on a high definition TV you will have black bars on the sides. This is perfectly normal. If they were to re-scan the source material to present it in 16:9 you'd be now stuck with around 400 lines of source resolution and it would be ugly, so either zoom in on it or please hold your tongue...this is as good as it gets.
Now for the juice - Chuck Ainlay has gone back to the original master tapes and done an amazing re-mastering of Alchemy as well as an amazing multi-channel surround mix, mastering to 24-bit/96kHz and encoded using the dts Master Audio codec, which is of course lossless.
The surround mix is enveloping and accurately reflects the feel of a live concert. Every single nuance of the performance seems to come across with delightful clarity, from the subtleties of Private Investigations to the all out rock and roll of Sultans of Swing. Until now the best I've ever heard Alchemy sound is on the original German vinyl pressing, but I have a new favourite and it is this Blu-ray disc.
Whether you kick the lights and TV off and flick your receiver into a PURE DIRECT mode, shut your eyes and float away into this amazing concert or watch it at the same time, this one will be sure to be in constant rotation for a long time to come. Alas this isn't the pristine 1080p24 16:9 35mm transfer that I'm sure people would love to see, but with the elements available I think we're very lucky to finally have such an incredible audio presentation of this truly wonderful performance.
Thanks Universal Music and thanks Chuck Ainlay...and of course thanks to Dire Straits, you still rock as hard in 2010 as you did in 1983.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the wait !
I have been waiting a long time for this..thank goodness they decided to produce a high quality DVD copy of this concert. Read more
Published on Jan 28 2011 by Grant M McCaughey
3.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading on the packaging
While I agree with the only other current review that this is a great album and the sound quality is fantastic, I was nevertheless disappointed when I first watched it. Read more
Published on Aug 2 2010 by B. Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
AMONG THE BEST CONCERTS EVER RELEASED - WHERE'S THE DVD?
This film catches Dire Straits at their best...a concert for the ages.
State of the art audio quality when first released on LP, the video and soundtrack for the video release... Read more
Published on July 8 2004 by traveling wilbury
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dire Straits in their prime
One of the best live performances ever recorded. All of their material up to 1983
is on this video. Pop it in, sit back and crank it up, you won't be disappointed. Read more
is on this video. Pop it in, sit back and crank it up, you won't be disappointed. Read more
Published on May 24 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars
An overrated concert
This 1983 concert was not the band at their best. The instrumentals ramble at times in the first half. Read more
Published on April 6 2004
1.0 out of 5 stars
Are you sure this was really Dire Straits?
I was abhorred by this concert. It didn't sound like the Dire Straits songs on their record at all. None of the leads were anywhere close to the originals, and the vocals were not... Read more
Published on Nov 8 2003 by W. Woodall
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alchemy Live is one of the best live recordings ever
What can I say except Mark Knopfler is at his best on this video. I don't think you will see a range in guitar styles and techniques on any other recording that could match... Read more
Published on Feb 17 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazon Purchase - Worth Every Penny.
This video is during the height of their youth and enthusiasm. Some of Mark Knopfler's vocals are uneven but his guitar work is magnificant as is the work of the other musicians. Read more
Published on Sep 6 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly mindblowing!
Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits at their earliest best!All the songs were excellent though I think Portobello Belle should have been included. Read more
Published on July 17 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly mindblowing!
Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits at their earliest best!All the songs were excellent though I think Portobello Belle should have been included. Read more
Published on July 17 1999 by snagtango@aol.com(Satyajit Nag)
Listmania!
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