Dire Straits - When It Comes To You (Live in Nîmes, France / 1992 / Visualiser)

[Chris W]

Chris I am sorry to say you that you are wrong.

The producer, the one who is putting the money has also the final word in many case.

Don't you think that is Mark since the end of Dire Straits? I'm not sure even how much a record label was involved in 'On Every Street'. If you watch all the background videos online, it seems like Mark pretty much called the shots on what was recorded, where it was recorded and who was involved.
Since he went solo he's worked in his own, highly sophisticated recording studio. Most artists like him make the record they want to make, then license it to a label to release. Mark also puts out stuff on his own website.
That's what happens when you have hit after hit and become a multi-millionaire, you gain the ability to control everything yourself, you no longer need a label. mark doesn't even have a regular manager any more....likewise Paul McCartney.

[ds1984]

Chris I am sorry to say you that you are wrong.

The producer, the one who is putting the money has also the final word in many case.

Don't you think that is Mark since the end of Dire Straits? I'm not sure even how much a record label was involved in 'On Every Street'. If you watch all the background videos online, it seems like Mark pretty much called the shots on what was recorded, where it was recorded and who was involved.
Since he went solo he's worked in his own, highly sophisticated recording studio. Most artists like him make the record they want to make, then license it to a label to release. Mark also puts out stuff on his own website.
That's what happens when you have hit after hit and become a multi-millionaire, you gain the ability to control everything yourself, you no longer need a label. mark doesn't even have a regular manager any more....likewise Paul McCartney.

Read again to what I was anwering :

But nothing.... Like it or not, artists in ALL disciplines have been the final word on what is published.

That is exactly my point, Mark Knopfler in this case is the one who put the money, he is the producer.

And I stand on my point that it is inacurate to write sentence such as "artists in ALL disciplines have been the final word on what is published'".

How many film directors in the US would have liked you to be true !!!

[Chris W]

It was obviously a generalisation, but it is generally true.
The label isn't in the studio telling you what is a good take or not, making you keep a guitar solo you'd rather redo.
The label isn't writing the songs. 99% of the time the label isn't controlling which songs go on a live album and which get ignored.
After Brothers In Arms I think ~Mark pretty much controlled all decisions.
He shocked everyone around him by deciding to make another DS album. The label and management allowed the album to be released with no obvious hit song on it. The tour was all mark's ides, including the band members, the length of the tour. No one outside of Mark decided which songs we would play on the tour, even which songs we would play each show.

[ds1984]

It was obviously a generalisation, but it is generally true.

We won't agree about the "generally true" part.

The label isn't in the studio telling you what is a good take or not, making you keep a guitar solo you'd rather redo.

This is the job of the record producer. If as an artist you have signed a 360 deal artist contract with a label, the producer in working for the lablel and represent the label.

The label isn't writing the songs.

This is not the job of the label

99% of the time the label isn't controlling which songs go on a live album and which get ignored.

I don't see much difference between a studio and a live album apart that most of the time a live album used not to sell as well as a studio album.
Again if you have signed a 360 deal artist contract with the label...

After Brothers In Arms I think ~Mark pretty much controlled all decisions.
He shocked everyone around him by deciding to make another DS album. The label and management allowed the album to be released with no obvious hit song on it. The tour was all mark's ides, including the band members, the length of the tour. No one outside of Mark decided which songs we would play on the tour, even which songs we would play each show.

I agree with you on that, as Mark owned the money he got freedom and powership.
Regarding Calling Elvis, it was a hit as the band had before BIA.

The problem was not OES but BIA.

BIA was a lucky accident.

[hunter v2.0]

As for 'When it comes to you', such a depressing song. I used to love it 30 years ago, but now don't even think it's a good song. The live version is very dead, Mark's singing terrible and his guitar playing really nothing special.

I disagree. Songs aren’t always going to be about happy subjects! The Dire Straits version is very atmospheric. I love the synth pad, Mark’s tone on the Pensa-Suhr and the way he delivers his vocal. It’s one of my favourites from On Every Street. I love the live versions too, both by NHB and DS.

Exactly! When It Comes To You is a great song. The studio and live version are great. Possibly the best from the TNH era

Of course you are both wrong 

When I wrote 'depressing' I wasn't referring to the subject matter, but more the mood. Also I find the live performance extremely lackluster. It feels like Mark is totally going through the motions, which is kind of ironic considering his high expectations of the band. But as the band leader, songwriter and frontman, I guess that's your prerogative ...

[Robson]

"He shocked everyone around him by deciding to make another DS album"

Why was it shocking? It was a great event in the media. DS is back after 6 years! But I'm definitely wrong again. However, I will stick to my memories

[Chris W]

How many film directors in the US would have liked you to be true !!!

I read it the first time.
Hollywood is just about the only exception, where you have to raise millions of investment dollars just to cast a movie. And actually I think it's a minority of incidents where the4 director is unhappy with the Final Cut.
In art, photography, writing, the creative process is pretty much 100% controlled by the artist. People are always scrapping their work rather than release something they can't stand behind.
In music people mostly make their records in home studios, without the label meddling.
In the CONTEXT of this discussion, people were blaming 'labels' and 'producers' for the lack of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler unreleased material.
So in this CONTEXT, the releases would be completely under the control of Mark and John, mostly Mark.
Try bringing up your film directors again - it's basically the exception to what we are actually discussing.

[Chris W]

I don't see much difference between a studio and a live album apart that most of the time a live album used not to sell as well as a studio album.

No idea what you are talking about.
In the studio you have a set number of songs, maybe 12. You work on each song until you are happy with it (multiple takes).
Live you have 25+ songs, they are all a single take where you really need a nine piece band to all play it well in order to choose it. Then you have multiple shows. So you have hours of material and dozens of songs to choose from. Completely unlike making a studio album.

Regarding Calling Elvis, it was a hit as the band had before BIA.

The problem was not OES but BIA.

BIA was a lucky accident.
[/quote]

Calling Elvis really wasn't a hit. There was nothing on OES to match Brothers In Arms and Money For Nothing (the songs).

[Chris W]

Why was it shocking?

because no one involved expected it. John was shocked, Ed Bicknell was shocked. Everyone felt mark had changed and moved on since the end of the BIA tour and several years had passed. NO ONE expected another DS album, let alone a lengthy world tour.

[Robson]

Maybe it wasn't about the hits. Times had changed. Dire Straits in the early 90s were different too. But the level of the On Every Street album was high. For me:)

[Robson]

Why was it shocking?

because no one involved expected it. John was shocked, Ed Bicknell was shocked. Everyone felt mark had changed and moved on since the end of the BIA tour and several years had passed. NO ONE expected another DS album, let alone a lengthy world tour.

Chris do you think the last album and tour should have happened sooner?

[Chris W]

I think it would have been logical to follow up the huge success of BIA with a new album and tour within two years, yes.

[Chris W]

Regarding unreleased classics - I'm sure Sultans Of Swing from the '92 tour sounded pretty terrible.
The drum sound isn't great on the Basel video. And yes it's a thrash fest. Something I regret but also a product of circumstances.
We had a B kit, which probably didn't sound as nice as my main kit. I was also set up right in front of Mark's very loud guitar speakers. I couldn't really hear anything but guitar, which made me thrash the kit and over play. Mark's guitar would have been loud in all the drum mics too.
With modern digital technology you could probably rescue it - which is I'm sure why Guy started to work on all those old recordings for the box set.

[Brunno Nunes]

The treatment given to Dire Straits releases is historically modest, often bordering on mediocrity, and lately with the presence of "nickel hunting", the tenth edition of the album BIA, look at the way MK's solo albums have been released since 2009, you have to be willing to spend a lot of money to get what the record company imposes, this latest release is... discouraging, the marketing team is a disaster, oddly enough, it shows amateurism, look at the photos and information recently posted on the official channels, even the date of the videos...

And yet you are a hardcore fan?? ??
Being a smash hit artist, multi-millionaire and powerful entity almost as the sole controller of Dire Straits and his solo career, you can't blame a record company for the last 20 years of releases. mark has signed off on everything, from solo albums, to re-issues to photo sessions.

Yes, like everything in life there are two sides, this is the side that for me leaves something to be desired, that fails when it comes to DS and MK and I'm not just blaming the record company, it's clear that for decades MK has had control over what he wants to do with his work, for me it's clear that all of this is the consequence of a set of decisions that go through the Marketing team, record company, producer and of course, the greatest weight of the decision is MK's. And yet, I am a hardcore fan, because when I weigh it up, the songs he made with Dire Straits are greater than these modest release choice policies that I highlighted, the albums are incredible, the songs are wonderful, I love every tour the band did during their time of activity and I am deeply connected to their entire work like nothing else in this world, simply like that, and yet, this does not make me a blind and alienated fan, incapable of self-criticism of the band and artists that I admire the most, far from it, the fact of knowing my research object naturally leads me to realize where the gaps are, at least from my point of view. If everyone involved in the production of the DS release had a bolder and less modest outlook, we would have at some point had videos of these songs that were left out of Alchemy and On The Night. The Live 78/92 box set was a very positive sign, hopefully it sold well to encourage them to produce more material like this instead of releasing yet another version of the BIA album that would be more of the same.

[ds1984]

I wonder how much UNinvolved Mark was in the live boxset release.

I do my own speculation on the matter.

Mark love his fans - he has a true attention for us even if we are always asking for more and better.

Who know who asked him to give his blessing on issuing a live boxset featuring unreleased material and he instantly agreed.
So no other than Guy was hired for the project, but as it is a budget release, he was only given very limited time to get the job done*.

Mark then gave his approval on the final new mixes and proposed Guy to share a drink at the local pub...


* unfotunately Guy ran out of credits while working on the transition between PB and TOL