Dire Straits Announce New Box Set Of ‘Dire Straits – Live 1978-1992’ Set To Be Released On November 3

On November 3, 2023 UMC/Mercury will release Dire Straits – Live 1978-1992, an 12 LP/8 CD box set of live performances by Dire Straits, a band that straddled the globe in the eighties and nineties with their sophisticated rootsy guitar rock wedded to literate story-telling lyrics.

Emerging on the club and pub circuit in 1977, Dire Straits were led by charismatic Geordie singer-songwriter, record producer and composer Mark Knopfler, one of the most successful musicians the UK has ever produced, who is often cited as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Dire Straits’ sound defined the late 70s/early 80s with huge hits such as “Sultans Of Swing”, “Romeo And Juliet”, “Money For Nothing” and “Walk Of Life”. Dire Straits’ 1985 album Brothers In Arms, a global No 1 and double Grammy Award winner, is one of the world’s best selling albums. After releasing their final album ‘On Every Street’ in ’91 and touring in ‘92, Knopfler called time on Dire Straits in 1995 and set off on a new path as a solo artist.

Dire Straits Live 1978-1992 features newly remastered versions of the classic Dire Straits’ live albums Alchemy (‘84) and On The Night (‘93), ‘93’s Encores EP, ‘95’s Live At The BBC, and the previously unreleased Live From The Rainbow Theatre show from ’79, and captures the band’s thrilling heartland rock played with breath taking virtuosity from their first live recordings at the BBC in ’78, through to their final shows in ‘92 in On The Night.

The expanded version of the original double album Alchemy will include unreleased songs from the performance – “Industrial Disease” and “Twisting By The Pool” – as well as “Love Over Gold”, and the extended versions of “Telegraph Road”, “Solid Rock”, “Going Home” and “Portobello Belle”.

An expanded version of the original On The Night will include tracks performed during the tour which have never been released, taken from multitrack recordings of shows in Nimes, Rotterdam and Paris: “Tunnel Of Love,” “Telegraph Road,” “Sultans Of Swing,” “Two Young Lovers,” “When it Comes To You,” and “I Think I Love You Too Much.”

Says Mark Knopfler: ‘People will always want you to play songs from the songbook; that’s part of what you’re doing playing live. You’ve got to please yourself but at the same time it’s a celebration. You’re all there to have a good time together. I enjoyed writing the songs, I enjoyed recording them, so I’m going to enjoy playing them. I don’t play anything I don’t want to play, so if I get up there and play ‘Romeo And Juliet’ or ‘Brothers In Arms’, it’s because I want to play them. It’s important to me that it’s important to people, that you’ve created milestones in people’s lives.” [Mark was speaking to journalist and broadcaster Paul Sexton, author of the box set sleeve notes.]

Live 1978-1992 (Mercury/UMR (U.K.), 2023)
** previously unreleased full version

CD 1-2/LP 1-3: Alchemy: Dire Straits Live (Expanded Edition) (released as Vertigo 818 243-2 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. 25085 (U.S.), 1984)

1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. Industrial Disease *
3. Expresso Love
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. Love Over Gold
6. Private Investigations
7. Sultans of Swing

1. Twisting by the Pool
2. Two Young Lovers
3. Portobello Belle **
4. Tunnel of Love
5. Solid Rock
6. Telegraph Road
7. Going Home – Theme from Local Hero

All tracks recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – July 22-23, 1983
Edited version of Disc 2, Track 3 released on Money for Nothing (Vertigo 836 493-2/Warner Bros. 25794 (U.S.), 1988)

CD 3-4/LP 4-7: On the Night (Expanded Edition) (released as Vertigo 514 766-2 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. 45259 (U.S.), 1993)

1. Calling Elvis
2. Walk of Life
3. Heavy Fuel
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. Private Investigations
6. Sultans of Swing *
7. Fade to Black *
8. Your Latest Trick
9. When It Comes to You *
10. I Think I Love You Too Much *

1. You and Your Friend
2. On Every Street
3. Two Young Lovers *
4. Tunnel of Love *
5. Telegraph Road *
6. Money for Nothing
7. Brothers in Arms

All tracks recorded live at Arènes de Nîmes, France – May 19-21, 1992 and De Kulp, Rotterdam, The Netherlands – May 29-31, 1992

CD 5/LP 8: Encores (released as Vertigo 862 209-2 (U.K.), 1993)

1. Your Latest Trick
2. The Bug
3. Solid Rock
4. Local Hero – Wild Theme

CD 6/LP 9: Live At The BBC (released as Vertigo 528 383-2 (U.K.)/Warner Bros. 46053 (U.S.), 1995)

1. Down to the Waterline
2. Six Blade Knife
3. Water of Love
4. Wild West End
5. Sultans of Swing
6. Lions
7. What’s the Matter Baby?
8. Tunnel of Love

Tracks 1-7 recorded live for BBC in Concert – 7/22/1978
Track 8 recorded for The Old Grey Whistle Test – 1/31/1981

CD 7-8/LP 10-12: Live At The Rainbow *

1. Down to the Waterline
2. Six Blade Knife
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Lady Writer
5. Lions
6. Sultans of Swing
7. Les Boys
8. Portobello Belle
9. News
10. What’s the Matter Baby?

1. Setting Me Up
2. In the Gallery
3. Solid Rock
4. Southbound Again
5. Where Do You Think You’re Going?
6. Wild West End
7. Twisting by the Pool
8. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)
9. That’s Alright Mama (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)
10. Nadine (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)
11. Keep On Knocking (with Phil Lynott & Tony De Meur)

All tracks recorded live at The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – December 20-21, 1979