R.E.M. 09/03/1987
Set I
Finest Worksong, These Days, Title, I Believe, It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Disturbance at the Heron House, The One I Love, Begin the Begin
Set II
Set III
Comment
Collectors With This Show
| User (active/rating) | Media / # | Show | Sound | Details | DB Source | User Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tulum | FLAC / 11 | View | first-gen cassette > DAT 32khz > iZtotope RX master, clean-up and convert to 44.1>Adobe... | |||
| Notes: | Before Rolling Stone magazine proclaimed them "America's Best Rock and Roll Band," R.E.M. were hard at work on earning exactly that honor. Their fifth LP, "Document," would propel "The One I Love" to number 9, and a U.S. tour would follow a shorter one in Europe. Before work, however, they stopped in twice to play unannounced sets at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia. Opening first for Silent Peas and then Smokin' Dave and the Premo Dopes, R.E.M. previewed songs from the new album, ran through familiar ones, and even tried a few they hadn't finished. The music for "Orange Crush" is settled, but its lyrics aren't; "The One I Love," a 1986 tour staple, featured a new guitar-and-voice intro on the second night; and the still-mysterious "Title" makes both sets. Six songs floated in and out over the two appearances. Soundboard versions of these shows circulate, though with some diginoise. Butterking took a shine to the first-generation audience recordings, made, we believe, with a portable cassette deck with a built-in mic. That made us think of Jared's adage that "a tape is better than no tape." The exception here is that both nights sound quite good. We applaud the taper not only for his second night request of the ultra-rare "Radio Free Lightnin' Hopkins," but also for his quick rejoinders to passersby who tried to interfere with recording duties. Jared would get a hearty laugh from these now, just as he did when he got these tapes some time ago. And it's a laugh we think of often. A final note: typically, recordings that have been converted to 32 khz don't appear on DIME. We ran the particulars by DIME moderators ahead of time, and they kindly granted a waiver. Thank you, mods, for helping us get this out to fellow fans and collectors. On behalf of my great friends at JEMS, we hope you enjoy this! | |||||
| Tulum | FLAC / 10 | View | soundboard recording (first-generation copy from Pat the Wiz's master reel) | |||
| Notes: | T. Patton Biddle's master reel, recorded at 15 IPS --> TPB's cassette safety copy --> TPB's digital transfer, using unknown equipment --> Audacity for tracking, fades, normalization, deleting dead spots, tempo adjustment, and 1 pass of eq to boost bass frequencies and lower treble --> FLAC REM Timeline says: Sept. 3, 1987: Smokin' Dave And The Premo Dopes show. R.E.M. perform unannounced as a supporting act, and according to Michael Stipe during the show, the unknown track was written at 9:20 pm that evening. Additional note: Here is yet more goodness from the tape archives of T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz), who made some of the most historically significant recordings of R.E.M. in & around Athens in the 1980s. Pat was kind enough to share with me digital transfers from his safety tapes. This recording previously circulated in soundboard quality, but is not currently available through the usual channels. To my knowledge, this is the first time it's been placed into circulation with a known lineage, so this may be a new source even for those who already have another version. I don't know whether it's an upgrade, since I don't have access to another version. Rob-in-Brevard Dec. 2025 | |||||
| BLG | FLAC / 1 | View | SBD > ana1 > DAT > FLAC | |||
| Zoooma | FLAC / 0 | View | audience | |||
| Notes: | via JEMS Archive Lineage: first-gen cassette > DAT 32khz > iZtotope RX master, clean-up and convert to 44.1>Adobe Audition>FLAC via Trader's Little Helper | |||||
| adorup | cd / 0 | View | ||||
| Bluesthinker | FLAC / 1 | View | SDB but some faint digi | |||
| Notes: | 40 Watt Club Set 1. These Days 2. Title 3. I Believe 4. It's The End of The World As We Know It 5. Unknown 6. Disturbance At The Heron House 7. The One I Love 8. Begin The Begin | |||||
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