Other points of reflection I had with this release:
2- San Antonio 85 is more real than Alchemy, and I don't even need to talk about OTN. Rainbow 79 and San Antonio are the only live releases of a Dire Straits show in its entirety. Amen!🙏🏻
Boa tarde Brunno,
Regarding SA more real than Alchemy, are you refering to some MK's banters left out (TOL being the perfect example), the curious case of the altered PB end and SR coming from another gig ?
Appart from that, I believe Alchemy has always been regarded as one of the (very) few true live album.
But I'm kind of a purist too and I prefer a live album untouched, with mistakes than one "enhanced" in the studio.
The only thing I'm ok with is a mixing that allows you to clearly hear all unstruments.
Regarding the general sound and how it should sound there is no "single source of truth" as it depends on many factors" : the venue and where you are in it, the equipment, if you have noisy talkers/screamers near you, etc...
There was a tume I used to buy many official live CDs until I heard that most of them are re-worked in the studio, sometimes heavily.
I was kinda schocked when I read that even the Who's Live at Leeds was doctored !
Since then and before the many re-issues I managed to find a copy to download of the bootleg Live at Leeds Complete where everything is left as it is.
When I refer to Alchemy, in this aspect, it is only that historically there have always been four songs missing that were played: ID, LOG, TBTP and PB, which was fixed four decades later. Even so, Alchemy is the result of two consecutive nights, with a few cuts in some versions and a small overdub in Solid Rock, as we know. In parallel, San Antonio is the result of a single night from start to finish, there are no cuts in songs, no absence of music, no overdubs, there is an incredible mix and sound definition, this provides a greater sense of reality, this care and respect in preserving the integrity of the presentation in its entirety, giving us the opportunity to contemplate the show like the lucky ones who were there to watch the event in 1985, this is what truly makes it an authentic record of an era and closes the cycle, IMO.
Of course, like you, I am a purist, I value these aspects, but I fully recognize that most people do not care about this, I am a drop in the ocean. This time we were lucky, as they delivered San Antonio 85 impeccably, congratulations to everyone involved, especially Guy Flecher.
