Dire Straits - BBC Sessions (1978-1992)

Dire Straits never played much for the BBC. They did two show BBC concerts in 1978. The second and slightly longer one has been officially released as the album "Live at the BBC," so I'm not going to bother with that one. (Although, if you're a stickler for accuracy like I am, note that the last song on that, "Tunnel of Love" is from a different, non-BBC concert.) However, I'm using the first BBC show they did plus a few other things to cobble together enough material for this BBC album.

That first BBC show took place in March 1978, six months before their debut album was released. The first four songs here are from that. There wasn't much applause in the first place, since the band was unknown to the audience at the time, having formed mere months earlier. I've removed what applause remained so the songs fit with some studio tracks later in the album. Note that "Sultans of Swing" was also played at this concert, but the recording of that doesn't seem to have been bootlegged.

Given what a great song "Sultans of Swing" is, it's a lucky thing that the band played it for the BBC again in 1978, for the BBC TV show "The Old Grey Whistle Test." So that version is here. It's officially unreleased, like everything else on this album. The next song, "Tunnel of Love," was also done for that show, but in 1980.

The rest of the album come from non-BBC sources, but they're still radio or TV appearances. These are all such appearances I could find that weren't lip-synced (other than a full show done for the "Rockpalast" TV show in Germany in 1979). The next two songs, "Romeo and Juliet" and "Skateaway," were done for the US TV show "Fridays" in 1980. 

After that, there's a big skip in time. Dire Straits had massive success in 1985 with their album "Brothers in Arms," but I couldn't find any live radio or TV show appearances from that time period. Then there was an extensive hiatus until a final album in 1991. The last four songs come from a US radio station appearance in 1992 supporting that album. It was one of the last things the band did before breaking up. It contains two songs, "Wild Theme" and "The Long Highway," that the band never released. I've put them on the second Dire Straits stray tracks albums I made. But I'm including them here too so one can have all four songs from that radio session together. 

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 Down to the Waterline (Dire Straits)
02 Water of Love (Dire Straits)
03 Wild West End (Dire Straits)
04 Lions (Dire Straits)
05 Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits)
06 Tunnel of Love (Dire Straits)
07 Romeo and Juliet (Dire Straits)
08 Skateaway (Dire Straits)
09 Two Young Lovers (Dire Straits)
10 Iron Hand (Dire Straits)
11 Wild Theme [Instrumental] (Dire Straits)
12 The Long Highway (Dire Straits)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15110369/DireSts_1978-1992_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

The cover photo shows the band backstage at the Marquee Club in London in 1978.