Bookmark as:http://www.pf-roio.de/roio/roio-cd/bells_notredame.cd.html
Format: 2CD
Catalog: LBR 033/2 The Last Bootleg Records
Misc.:<no info>
Produced: In Italy by CD Company srl, 12/94
Date: 940730
Cover: Centered along the top edge of the front cover is the band name in a 3/4" blocky font, with the CD title directly below that in a font half as big. The cover art is of a cathedral at night, dominated by the spire in the foreground depicted at a slight angle and occupying the left third of the cover. A clouded moon appears behind the spire, but the cover is very dark overall--The moon is a white spot small enough to sit atop one of the letter keys on your keyboard without overlapping the sides, and it's the only color on the cover that could reasonably be called bright. Nice drawing, though. On the reverse side of this single-sheet front cover is a distant photo at about stage level showing Gilmour's half of the stage. Also a mostly bluish-green and black picture, broken only by white lights around Mr. Screen, some lights in front of the stage and Dave in a white T-shirt with his red Stratocaster standing about an inch tall on the paper, to give you some perspective. The inside back cover is a blank, white page. The back cover has the identical text in the same place as the front cover, but includes the vital information below that in a still smaller font: "Recorded live in Chantilly, Paris, July 30, 1994". The tracks are listed below that in the same font, and the encores are correctly noted as such. Tracks are listed correctly and times are included but only match my CD player on 4 of the 21 tracks. Centered below that we read a fanciful note indeed; that "All songs written and arranged by: Waters, Gilmour, Wright, Mason." While it's nice that their names are spelled correctly, the information is only partially true since Roger Waters had not a thing to do (sadly enough) with the material from the last two albums which dominates the first set. To the right of this note is a small circular symbol of 15 concentric black circles on a white background, roughly the size of a U.S. ten cent coin with no text around it. My copy has a bar code printed on a sticker which is affixed on the outside of the CD case. The CD's themselves both list the group name, CD title and disc number. They are both picture discs in the same dark motif as the cover, mostly black with some dark aquamarine detail. The first disc pictures the cathedral spire detail from the cover, while the second disc picture is of a cathedral viewed from the side at a distance. Very nice-looking package overall, certainly appearing to be commercial quality in every way--I just wish there was a booklet instead of one page for the front cover.
Sources: 30 Jul 1994, Chantilly, Paris.
Hires-coverscans: <no info>
MP3-Soundsample: <no info>

Tracks:

      Disc 1
       1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond 1-5   12:27
       2. Learning to Fly                   6:10
       3. What do You Want From Me          4:20
       4. On the Turning Away               7:13
       5. Take it Back                      6:40
       6. Coming Back to Life               6:29
       7. Sorrow                           10:58
       8. Keep Talking                      7:31
       9. One of These Days                 7:39
      10. Astronomy Domine                  4:27
      11. Breathe                           3:20

      Disc 2
       1. Time & Breathe Reprise            6:47
       2. High Hopes                        7:55
       3. The Great Gig in the Sky          5:47
       4. Wish You Were Here                5:57
       5. Us and Them                       6:22
       6. Money                             9:33
       7. Another Brick in the Wall Pt2     7:17
       8. Comfortably Numb                 11:18
       9. Hey You                           5:23
      10. Run Like Hell                     9:32
Band:
      David Gilmour
      Rick Wright 
      Nick Mason

Xref:<no info>
Quality:
  • Ex-
Comments: Track times from CD.


This is a digital source with the bulk of the signal in the high end, it seems, though the bottom end of the signal is well represented nonetheless. The stereo effect is nicely preserved and the feeling of "being there" is captured.


The main drawback to this otherwise very nice recording is the incessant arhythmic clapping and tuneless singing by the enthusiastic people near the mics. All tracks were recorded in their entirety despite a few mic movements at the predictable points in the show with accompanying slight drops in recording level. Luckily, these disturbances are the best kind--few and brief. What we have here is yet another great '94 tour 2CD set. Yes, there's some crowd noise, but the performance is certainly "up there" on the inspiration and improvisation scale, and the recording itself is really quite good despite the noise.


Gilmour seems to be in a fine mood (wouldn't you be?) and speaks French 95% of the time, appearing to speak to the crowd more than usual and sounding quite comfortable with the foreign language. The show ends with a few bars hinting at the Who's "My Generation"-- It's that kind of night!


All three principal members shine at various points in the proceedings, and the entire ensemble turns in another phenomenal night's work. The band is a well-oiled machine by this point, having been touring vigorously for 4 months, and the performance shows the benefit of lots of rehearsal. Gilmour and his mates are definitely enjoying playing for European audiences for the first time in several years, and they reward those assembled with a smooth and tight performance.


The crowd is justifiably appreciative, and even entertains us a bit themselves when things are a little quieter--listen for the beginning of ABITW as an example! However, this gets to be a bit annoying, though this crowd is certainly not nearly as intrusive as the average American audience. The quiet, introspective fans of the early seventies have sent their children to view this tour, and the kids make a lot more noise than their parents did. Why didn't mom and dad teach them the virtue of quietly listening to a performance and saving the yelling, clapping, whistling and other noise for the breaks between songs? At least we still have the tapes mom and dad helped make so great! :)


If you are going to be bothered by crowd noise (sometimes quite close to the mics) that doesn't necessarily overwhelm the music but is definitely evident, then you may want to look elsewhere. However, if audience noise doesn't bother you as much, then this is a fine performance that you will certainly enjoy. This isn't necessarily the first '94 set you should get, but there are certainly worse ones out there than this.


If you already have a couple or a few '94 CD's and you like the ones you have, this one would not be a bad choice, since you know basically what you're going to get. I collect these more recent shows for the source quality, but I find I listen to the older shows more frequently because the performances are not as closely tied to click tracks, light cues and computer programs. Sometimes the term "Comfortably Numb" comes a bit too close to describing these recordings -- but they sure can blow the minds of the naive. "Bells From Notre Dame" will do the job and look good doing it. -ANON


I thought that the sound quality was very good, albeit a bit quiet. The fan noise, I thought, only added the "being there" feeling. I know that this did not annoy the band as well because during the next night's show (which I attended) the band took the liberty to play along with the crowds chanting for about 15 or 20 secs. Overall, good sound quality and stong sense of being in the crowd. Worth buying, in my opinion. - ANoN


Great show from Paris. Sound quality is excellent. However, there is a lot of audience clapping on this disk, especially at the begin and end of the songs. Fortunately, Floyd plays loud to drown out the crowd. Disk from CD Music Co, same as Kiss The Stone. The Who's "My Generation" is actually part of RLH finale (small portion). BTW, do we really need that much detail about the cover art? Nice picture disks. Anyone translate the French from Gilmour - JZ



(Last update: 971020)

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