Rolling Stones – Mercy Paris (JL-011~12)

Mercy Paris (JL-011~12)

Hippodrome D’Auteuil, Paris, France – June 14th, 1982

Disc 1 (68:23):  Under My Thumb, When The Whip Comes Down, Let’s Spend The Night Together, Shattered, Neighbours, Black Limousine, Just My Imagination, Twenty Flight Rock, Going To A Go Go, Chantilly Lace, Let Me Go, Time Is On My Side, Beast Of Burden, Let It Bleed

Disc 2 (75:25):  You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Little T & A, Tumbling Dice, She’s So Cold, Hang Fire, Miss You, Honky Tonk Women, Brown Sugar, Start Me Up, Jumping Jack Flash, Satisfaction.  Bonus tracks rehearsals from Madrid – July 6th, 1982:  rock and roll jam, Angie 1, Angie 2

The Rolling Stones’ visit to Paris on June 13th and June 14th marked their first in eight years.  When they played Paris last it was four nights in the old slaughterhouse which were filmed and professionally recorded and used for the great live album Love You Live.  Both of the Paris shows were taped and have been pressed.  There are two audience recordings for the second show.  Mercy Paris contains the first tape to surface.  (An second tape was pressed on European Tour Paris 1982 (VGP-289)).

Bill Graham starts off the show by introducing the Rolling Stones before “Under My Thumb” and what follows is a very fast and tight two hour set in front of a massive Parisian crowd.  Mick talks to the audience in passible French, giving the song introductions. 

He even goes so far as to sing some lines in “Beast Of Burden” in French and to emphasize the Parisian settings such as singing “I met a divorcee right here in Paris / I tried to put up some kind of fight” in “Honky Tonk Women.”  The final numbers end the show in a complete frenzy for what would be the final Stones show in Paris for many years.  

The bonus tracks include a twenty minute rehearsal attributed to Madrid on July 6th.  It is taken from an amateur recording in the recording studio as the band practices for the show.  The first ninety seconds is an unnamed rock and roll jam.  The second and third tracks are run through of “Angie.”  The track hadn’t been played since the 1976 tour of Europe and would be introduced to the set on July 7th in the Madrid show.  You can hear the band practicing and trying to get the timing of the saxophone down.

Overall, for a mid tour recording this one is pretty good and worth having.  The JL label is the only pressing of this particular tape source.  The bonus tracks are an interesting touch.  The rehearsals isn’t particularly revelatory, but does offer a good fly on the wall peek at the Stone working on expanding the set list.  Mercy Paris comes in a double fatboy jewel case (this was before the double slimline became popular).  The cover shot comes from the tour and the back shot comes from the “Waiting On A Friend” video shoot.