French Made (Dog N Cat DAC-009)
Pavilion de Paris, Paris, France – June 6th, 1976
Disc 1: Honky Tonk Women, If You Can’t Rock Me/Get Off My Cloud, Hand Of Fate, Hey Negrita, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, Fool To Cry, Hot Stuff, Star Star, Angie, You Gotta Move, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Happy, Tumbling Dice, Nothing From Nothing, Outta Space
Disc 2: Midnight Rambler, It’s Only Rock And Roll, Brown Sugar, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man. Bonus June 7th, 1976: Happy, Tumbling Dice, Midnight Rambler, It’s Only Rock And Roll, Brown Sugar, Jumping Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man
Dog N Cat are following in the footsteps of their predecessor label VGP. Find (or download) never-before-heard-newly-surfaced tapes and release them among an avalanche of reissues and permutations of material that has been released before. This video soundtrack recording has seen many different releases on many different labels. Most well known are Paris Aux Printemps (TSP-CD-126-2), French Made 1976 (VGP 258) and the Pavillion De Paris on Sister Morphine last year and reviewed on this site. After reading reviews of the previous incarnations I don’t know what makes this new release stand out from the others.
This is the complete tape with no obvious cuts or songs missing. Jagger’s between song commentaries sound very distant and there is an overall dullness to the tape. But the music is all very well balanced and enjoyable. It’s even possible to hear Billy Preston’s contributions to the music. Hearing his clavenet on “Midnight Rambler” is a unique experience. The band get off to a slow start with a very lifeless and sluggish “Honkey Tonk Women” and “If You Can’t Rock Me/Get Off Of My Cloud”. They do pick up steam by “Hand Of Fate” and the Black & Blue numbers come off real well.
The ballads of the set, “Fool To Cry” and “Angie” are very passionate. Things get a bit stale again with “It’s Only Rock And Roll” but the final numbers “Brown Sugar”, “Jumping Jack Flash” and especially “Street Fighting Man” end the show strongly. The bonus tracks contain seven numbers from the following concert at the same venue. The soundboard tape is used and the sound is much more bright and clear. There is a little tape disturbance at the beginning of “Brown Sugar”, but I enjoyed this part much better. It has a nice and dynamic live sound to it.
The packaging is typical DAC: thick glossy cardboard inserts with appropriate photos from the event. French Made should appeal to those who don’t already have this material, but I don’t believe this adds much to more seasoned Rolling Stones collectors. There are so many releases of these tapes that only an official release might be enough incentive to pick this show up again.
