Sunday, February 26, 2012

R.E.M. 9 June 1984 Passaic, NJ SBD - analogloyalist master

Ask me what my favorite live era is for R.E.M. and depending on the day (and my mood) it'll vacillate between their 1984 (Little America) and 1985 (Reconstruction) tours.  On the one hand, in 1984 they are, at the base, still the garage band of their pre-I.R.S. days playing garage punk folk.  On the other, in 1985 what they lose of that garage sense is made up for by increased mysticism and atmosphere.

I'm not sure if Peter Buck changed his rig between tours, but the 1984 sets feature that signature jangle crunch, perhaps at its finest, while 1985 saw Buck's tone gain a fair bit of range (it sounds like he discovered chorus pedals, that is).  The difference is there, though - any of the band's pre-Fables material, when played on the Reconstruction tour, does sound markedly different in terms of guitar sonics.

So depending on my mood and mental place I'll either reach for an '84 soundboard, or one of the many '85 gigs.


 Of late I've been studiously evaluating my catalog of '84 soundboard recordings.  I guess one would place, from a pure sonic perspective, the July 7, 1984 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago (Brawlroom as we lovingly/hatingly referred to it, my relationship with that venue tends more to the hate side than love, but that's a story for another day) - as released on the Reckoning Deluxe Edition - at the top of the heap, with the others ranked against it as the baseline.

While there are rarer sets than today's feature, or more interesting from a setlist or performance perspective, there are - in my humble opinion - no greater-sounding sets than the band's one-off (for MTV) gig June 9, 1984 at the Capital Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey.

This set was a one-off arranged for MTV, for their "Rock Influences: Folk Rock" episode.  As such, and the band still relatively tight from having recently come off an European tour, the band wasn't as sloppily loose as sets from this era could be.  It's obvious that the band is intent on delivering a knockout punch, both for the TV audience and for the assorted celebs/heroes that were in attendance, because the last three songs (not included here, as they were not broadcast/on the master reels) featured various Byrds and others guesting.  It's a wonderfully tight, smooth, well-executed gig by an amazing rock band.

So as not to be completely professional, the band chose this spotlight to debut not one, but three new tracks: "Hyena", "Old Man Kensey" and "Driver 8".  Except "Hyena" which is - moreso than the others - clearly a work-in-progress, the new tracks sound as if they could have been in the set for years.

I'm not sure the provenance of the tape/source used for this post, as I've had it in my collection on CD-R for years, but it's certainly not a recording of the TV broadcast, and not an after-the-fact radio rebroadcast either.  I would bet a hundred Bucks (Peter) that this is copied from the actual master or a first-generation dub of it.  There's no hallmarks of FM or TV lineage, it's got full frequency range up to 22.5 kHz (FM cuts off at ~17kHz, and TV even lower), and it doesn't have that classic FM compression feel to it.  It also is thankfully lacking in that high-frequency "smearing" (usually audible in the cymbals) characteristic of FM broadcast.  Nearly all the other circulating soundboard sets of '84 R.E.M. are ultimately broadcast-sourced, or Nth-generation tape dubs of pre-broadcast radio show LPs (such as the Seattle "The Source" gig), and come nowhere close to sounding as good as this.

How does this Passaic set compare to the Chicago set used on the Reckoning Deluxe Edition?  I think it's of a piece with it - while I disagree with the mastering on the Chicago set, I have no quibbles with the performance or overall sound.  I would just rather listen to this gig than the Chicago set.

I spent a fair bit of time touching up this Passaic set to the point that the band could lift this set from this blog and release it tomorrow, and nobody would know it was mastered by some dork in his bedroom office.  It's *that* good.  You can put that (put that put that) on your wall.

I don't care if you've grabbed this gig in the past from any other place on the Intarwebs, this version here is the definitive version.  I place my reputation on it.

Enjoy!

R.E.M.
9 June 1984
Capital Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey

For MTV's "Rock Influences: Folk Rock" episode
mastered February 2012 by Analog Loyalist

Soundboard reel -> ? -> FLAC -> analogloyalist mastering -> you

Setlist:

01 ...intro...
02 Pale Blue Eyes
03 Second Guessing
04 Hyena *
05 Letter Never Sent
06 Harborcoat
07 Seven Chinese Brothers
08 Pretty Persuasion
09 So. Central Rain
10 Gardening At Night
11 9-9
12 Windout
13 Old Man Kensey *
14 Sitting Still
15 Driver 8 *
16 Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)
17 Radio Free Europe
18 Little America
-- So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star (w/Roger McGuinn)**
-- Do You Believe In Magic (w/John Sebastian) **
-- Gloria (w/Roger McGuinn) **

* - live debut.
** - not broadcast, and not included here. (I've never seen these on any soundboard set from this gig; it appears only an audience recording captured them.)

FLACs to put on your wall, here.

What are your favorite - both in terms of performance, setlist and sound quality - REM soundboard sets from this era?  Anybody sitting on an unreleased soundboard from either Pageantry or the Work Tour?  Please share!

19 comments:

  1. Thank you for the post, kind sir. I have had this recording in my collection for many, many years, but am gagging to hear your masterful treatment of the remaster. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, thank you for the post and using a service which allows a reasonable speed for free downloading.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looking forward to hearing this after your magnificent hybrid of Larry's Hideaway. Many thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This show sounds fantastic. Thanks for your work on it. I needed this on a Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome! Thanks!

    An unreleased soundboard from either Pageantry or Work tours?

    That would be amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow -- you did an amazing job with the sound on this. Really, really smooth and well balanced. What programs/strategy did you use?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for this master, excellent job. I was looking to replace my SHN files and this will do nicely!

    How do you feel the band's performance is on this set, compared to other 1984 performances? A lot of fans rate the Seattle show highest on those terms. I'm bias to Passaic due to the inclusion of Harborcoat and Sitting Still.

    It's funny how there are at least a dozen 1984 SBDs in circulation and yet the consensus is that not a single 1986 SBD exists. Shame. Some of AUDs are almost as good though, especially if you value crowd noise/ambience.

    While we're at it, I'd love a thread where we coudl discuss the best boots from each tour in terms of audio quality and performance. I need help paring down my collection and its too hard to weed through dozens of shows!

    ReplyDelete
  8. @clsid number: A magician never reveals his secrets ;) Seriously, I picked a contemporary show with "perfect" EQ (nevermind other significant issues I had with that particular gig), grafted a heavily-tweaked variant of that source EQ to my Passaic set (so Passaic now has a similar EQ curve to the source I stole the EQ from), ran it through my audio blender, did some stuff, and here we are (here we arrre, here we arrrrre...). What I've posted was Release Candidate 5 (which in Microsoft terms would have been Service Pack 3, haha) - which means I road-tested 5 versions of this over the course of a week until the best one clearly showed itself. And it did, magnificently.

    @unknown: I must be a terrible REM fan. I only have passing familiarity with the Seattle set and can't really rate it at all. I guess it's because I really don't like FM-sourced material, though I know that transcription disc bootlegs are out with pre-FM lineage. I just have never really heard a clean, nice version of the Seattle set and never really bothered to root one out. Anyone care to help?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown here (not sure why I came up as unknown). I think my Seattle is FM sourced, not pre-FM. The Seattle boot is a tricky one because Driver 8 and Catapult were released on UK 12"s (and the IRS reissues) so they get left off any versions going up on dime. Sitting Still was also performed and is not in circulation (would be interesting to see if its on the transcription discs). I guess one of my questions is whether or not Seattle 84 is held up so highly because its so widely available? ie Most fans won't have heard dozens of Reckoning tour perfs so would have smaller selection from which to choose the best.

    ReplyDelete
  10. thanks for posting..
    I have this boot (and I am a REM fanatic) so it will be interesting to listen to a mastered version. There is pro-shot video of this show on youtube as well.
    Having collected ALL the HQ REM boots from the IRS years, I would highly recommend:
    4/2/84 Paris (source= French Radio Broadcast Master Reel)
    10/2/85 Rockpalast show / Germany (source = DVD rip of TV broadcast) probbly THE BEST boot from the Fables Tour IMO.
    I share frustration bout the lack of Pagentrey tour SBDs..
    I have a decent (A-/ B+) Aud boot from my Boston Wang Center 11-02-1986 show (which I still contend would have been a brilliant bonus CD to the Life's Rich Pagent re-issue.. BEST R ever attended.
    There is also really good (A/+A) Aud boot from their Felt forum show in New York (1986)
    Sorry I have no links but simple google search should turn these up..

    ReplyDelete
  11. thanks for posting..
    I have this boot (and I am a REM fanatic) so it will be interesting to listen to a mastered version. There is pro-shot video of this show on youtube as well.
    Having collected ALL the HQ REM boots from the IRS years, I would highly recommend:
    4/2/84 Paris (source= French Radio Broadcast Master Reel)
    10/2/85 Rockpalast show / Germany (source = DVD rip of TV broadcast) probbly THE BEST boot from the Fables Tour IMO.
    I share frustration bout the lack of Pagentrey tour SBDs..
    I have a decent (A-/ B+) Aud boot from my Boston Wang Center 11-02-1986 show (which I still contend would have been a brilliant bonus CD to the Life's Rich Pagent re-issue.. BEST R ever attended.
    There is also really good (A/+A) Aud boot from their Felt forum show in New York (1986)
    Sorry I have no links but simple google search should turn these up..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for this!
    Youtube has the entire MTV broadcast if anyone is interested in the video!
    Other great early REM boots?
    try 4/20/84 France
    its taken from the Master Reels of a radio show that was never broadcast??)
    Great sound / great performance IMO

    also, there is great audio rip from the 10-2-85 Rockpalast Germany TV performance.
    Check TUBE for this..
    Best Fables tour bootleg out there..

    the only decent 1986 tour boot I know of is great audience (A/A+) boot from the Felt Forum NY.
    (sorry I dont have links)

    Was really hoping the deluxe re-issue of Life's Rich would have included SBD from 1986 show but alas..

    no such luck..

    Too bad..
    the BEST REM show I ever attended was 11/2/86 Wng theater Boston.. So good Stipe mentioned it in a Rolling Stone interview! Band ws hitting on all cylinders.. previewed songs from Document as well..

    maybe someday!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This audio IS the soundtrack to the pro-shot video. There is no separate soundboard recording. It was dubbed from 3/4" to VHS hi-fi in the early '90s. It circulates on DVD in excellent quality (YouTube clips are ripped from the DVD). A few songs were aired by MTV on the show Rock Influences (the ones with Roger McGuinn) but the rest of the show is unreleased.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love your site(s). I downloaded the five rar files, but only one would open. Are the links supposed to be active? Not sure if the problem is on my end or on yours.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @bruno: All you have to do is, using 7-Zip or WinRAR, extract the first .rar file - it will unzip the rest automatically.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I was at the REM/Dream Syndicate show at the Aragon Ballroom that night 7/6/1984. Great show as I recall. Same night This is the Dream Syndicate Live LP got recorded as well. Afterwards, a few miles north, the Cubby Bear club hosted The Replacements with openers Del Fuegos. So of course, everyone who was cool went there. Folks were hoping that Peter Buck would show up and play "I Will Dare" with Replacements, but it didn't happen. My pal Randy and I hung out with Dream Syndicate guys debating the merits of "Medicine Show" LP compared to Days of Wine and Roses LP. Haha.

    ReplyDelete