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Tulum's Collection

R.E.M.   09/05/1986

Oak Mountain Amphitheater, Birmingham, AL
Source Soundboard Cassette Master - Yamaha KX-580SE - Magix Audio Cleaning Lab - iZotope RX 10 (Mastered) - FLAC
Media FLAC   22 discs
Notes The performance is the band's 1986 tour opener following a week of rehearsals in Knoxville, TN. Unfortunately, it lacks 6 songs played that evening. Nonetheless, it is the finest-sounding 1986 live recording now in circulation, and the first concert-length soundboard recording to emerge so far.

The recording originates with Buren Fowler, who played auxiliary guitar in R.E.M.'s touring lineup in 1986 and 1987. On Sept. 5, Buren handed the FOH sound engineer a C-90 and asked him to record the performance, presumably as a souvenir of his time with the band. Later, Fowler asked his friend T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz) to hold onto this and other tapes for safe keeping. Years pass, Fowler dies in 2014, and the tape is still in Pat's possession. A friend of Pat's, who wishes to remain anonymous, gained access to Fowler's master tape and made a digital transfer. Recently, he created this digital revision and was kind enough to share it with me.

I created the artwork prior to sharing the recording on my blog.

I'm just the intermediary here. All thanks should be directed to Pat and his anonymous friend.

Rob-in-Brevard
Dec. 2025
dbs-repercussion.blogspot.com
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Owned by Tulum · Last Updated Jan 14, 2026