Live at the BBC

Live at the BBC is a live album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 26 June 1995 on Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album was recorded on 22 July 1978 at BBC Studios in London, with one track recorded on 31 January 1981. The studio versions of the first six songs were released on Dire Straits. Live at the BBC was the band's third live album, preceded by Alchemy: Dire Straits Live (1984) and On the Night (1993).
Live at the BBC was released on 26 June 1995, the year in which the group officially disbanded. According to Knopfler, the album was released because Dire Straits still owed one album to Phonogram Records (now Mercury Records). This album was a means to end the legal contract, before Mark Knopfler began his solo career (still signed to Mercury).
Live at the BBC consists of eight songs, the first seven were recorded for the BBC Live in Concert series on 22 July 1978. The eighth song, "Tunnel of Love", was recorded for the BBC TV program The Old Grey Whistle Test on 31 January 1981.
The album features one unreleased song, "What's the Matter Baby?", that Mark Knopfler co-wrote with his brother David. It is the only song to appear on a Dire Straits album not written exclusively by Mark Knopfler. The song's riffs and general structure were used for the song "Lady Writer", which appeared on the band's second album, Communique, which may explain why it was not re-recorded.
Two other Dire Straits songs list Mark Knopfler sharing writing credits—"Tunnel of Love" (with Rodgers and Hammerstein) and "Money for Nothing" (with Sting)—but in each case the song itself was entirely written by Knopfler, with only a small contribution to the backing or arrangement by the other credited artist.
In his review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann gave the album three and a half out of five stars, writing, "It's a modest effort from a modest band and, in that sense, a better representation of them than Alchemy or On the Night, both of which reflected their worldwide popularity." The album stayed on the UK albums chart for one week.