Let's Active - Two More from 84

 1984-04-01 New York, N.Y. (aud - G. Poole)

and

1984-11-21 Detroit, MI (aud - JEMS, 2026 edit)

sound quality: VG to VG+

SAMPLE: Room With a View (Nov. 21)

Check out the new site HERE

ROB SEZ: Woke up the other day and realized I hadn't posted anything by this, one of the two bands that originally inspired the blog, in ... forever. Now that you can FINALLY stream Let's Active's officially-released tracks on all the platforms AND download them all in hi-res lossless glory, I think it's time to post at least a few more by Mitch Easter's overlooked musical combo. 1984 was a good year for the band, despite Sara Romweber's departure as drummer in the spring. Sara is heard here on the first, but not the second recording. Before she left, the band completed basic tracks for Cypress, and then embarked on an extensive tour. With Sara out, Mitch recruited Jay Peck on drums and also brought on board Tim Lee (The Windbreakers) on keyboards. Although 1984 would be the last year for Faye Hunter's active involvement, she's heard here on both recordings with her superlative bass playing and singing. I didn't touch the NYC recording from April 1, originally made by Gene Poole and shared by elegymart. The Nov. 21 recording from Detroit was fine (no surprise, since it came from the JEMS crew). Even so, I thought it could use more presence in the middle frequencies, so I created a minor revision using one pass of filter curve EQ and one pass of volume adjustment. Do you just love Mitch's metal band hair?? 

FLAC

MP3@320

Pylon - 1983-04-22 Athens, GA (sbd M1)

40 Watt

Athens, GA

April 22, 1983

  

soundboard recording (EX quality; cassette copy of master)

SAMPLE: Feast On My Heart

Pylon:

Randy Bewley (R.I.P.) - guitar

Vanessa Briscoe Hay - vocals

Curtis Crowe - drums

Michael Lachowski - bass

  

LINEAGE: online download of 16-bit lossless file > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for normalization & DC offset, track splits, removing dead spots, fades, tagging, and 1 pass of EQ > FLAC16  *NO COMPRESSION, NO NOISE REDUCTION*

  

Vanessa fronts Pylon Reenactment Society.

ROB SEZ:  If you like a feisty lead singer delivering your Pylon art-punk vocals, look no further. Vanessa growls and screeches impressively here. HUGE thanks to the kind trader who shared this with me. He prefers to remain anonymous, and told me this is a copy of the soundboard master. As received, I only needed to split and tag the tracks, normalize, apply fades, remove dead spots, and apply one pass of modest eq to bring the high frequencies into better balance. No compression and no noise reduction were used in this edit. 

  

This recording had a couple of anomalies: it's missing the first few seconds of the opening song, and an oddly-placed cut resulted in only a minute-ish of track 04 being captured and just a bit more of track 05. I applied fades judiciously to preserve as much music as I could. All other tracks are full song renditions.

  

This is my last post in the Pylon mini flood. I hope someone enjoyed it; it's been awfully quiet in the comments department lately.

FLAC

MP3@320

 

Pylon - 1988-12-31 Athens, GA (sbd M1)

40 Watt
Athens, GA
Dec. 31, 1988
  
soundboard recording (EX quality; from cassette copy of master)
  

SAMPLE: Gravity

An old Pylon gig flier I defaced.

LINEAGE: online download of 16-bit lossless file > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for normalization & DC offset, track splits, removing dead spots, fades, tagging, and 1 pass of EQ > FLAC16  *NO COMPRESSION, NO NOISE REDUCTION* 

Pylon:

Randy Bewley (R.I.P.)  - guitar
Vanessa Briscoe Hay - vocals
Curtis Crowe - drums
Michael Lachowski - bass

ROB SEZ: HECK YES: New Year's Eve with Pylon. HUGE thanks to the kind trader who shared this with me. He prefers to remain anonymous, and told me this is from a cassette copy of the soundboard master. As received, I only needed to split and tag the tracks, normalize, apply fades, remove dead spots, and apply one pass of modest eq to bring the high frequencies into better balance. No compression and no noise reduction were used in this edit. Vanessa announces Catch as "a new song" (a studio recording appears on the 1990 LP Chain). On this recording, Crazy features a minute-long Randy Bewley instrumental prior to the rest of the band joining in; I like it.

FLAC

MP3@320

  

Pylon - 1988-07-23 Athens, GA (sbd M1)

40 Watt

Athens, GA

July 23, 1988

soundboard recording (EX quality; from cassette copy of master)

00 stage entrance, tuning

01 Driving School

02 Cool

03 Working Is No Problem 

04 Gravity

05 Altitude

06 Show

07 Crazy

08 Danger

09 No Clocks

10 Read a Book

11 There It Is

12 Weather Radio

13 Volume

14 Beep

15 Stop It

16 pre-encore applause, etc.

17 M-Train

18 Feast On My Heart

19 pre-encore applause, tuning, etc.

20 Dub

SAMPLE: Cool

Pylon:

Randy Bewley (R.I.P.) - guitar

Vanessa Briscoe Hay - vocals

Curtis Crowe - drums

Michael Lachowski - bass

LINEAGE: online download of 16-bit lossless file > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for normalization & DC offset, track splits, removal of dead spots, adding fades, tagging > FLAC16   -NO EQ, NO COMPRESSION, NO NOISE REDUCTION-

Do yourself a favor: get Pylon Box

ROB SEZ: HUGE thanks to the kind trader who shared this with me. He prefers to remain anonymous, and told me this is from a first-generation cassette copy of the soundboard master. As received, I only needed to split and tag the tracks, normalize, apply fades, and remove dead spots. No eq, compression or noise reduction were used; no small animals harmed.

Vanessa not only thanks the 40 Watt, but also R.E.M. — the reason for which is not evident, since REMTimeline has the band in N.Y. state in this part of July, and they played no known gigs on 23 July. 

I like this recording a bit better than the 1983 soundboard I shared last week. Vanessa's voice is more prominent in the mix, and the band sounds tighter than ever. Please enjoy.

FLAC

MP3@320

    

Pylon - 1983-06-29 Athens, GA (sbd M1)

40 Watt

Athens, GA

June 29, 1983

  

soundboard recording (EX quality; from cassette copy of master)

   

SAMPLE TRACK: Buzz

Pylon:

Randy Bewley (R.I.P.) - guitar

Vanessa Briscoe Hay - vocals

Curtis Crowe - drums

Michael Lachowski - bass

The recording I'm sharing is pretty good.
But this official release is AMAZING.
A must have; go get it.

ROB SEZ:  HUGE thanks to the kind trader who shared this with me. He prefers to remain anonymous, and told me this is from a first-generation cassette copy of the soundboard master. Sounds pretty damn good to me! Apparently, two sets were played this night: Set 1 is comprised of tracks 1-9. The tape flip happened near the end of Yo-Yo and the start of K. About 30-45 seconds from the end of the former was lost as a result, but only a few seconds of the latter's opening notes are missing. Otherwise, this is the complete performance. 

 

As received, I only needed to split and tag the tracks, remove dead spots, create fade-ins and fade-outs, and apply 1 pass of modest eq to bring the high frequencies into better balance. No compression and no noise reduction.

Vanessa: if you happen to read this, please remember I did ask! 42 years later, I hope you'll agree there's no real harm in letting the band's fans hear this amazing performance. No one's making any money here. This is from a fan for fellow fans.

    

FLAC

MP3@320

R. E. M. - 1982-01-22 Greensboro, N.C. (sbd - upgrade)

Friday’s
Greensboro, N.C.
Jan. 22, 1982
  
soundboard recording (quality: EX; ‘File Under Kudzu’ boot CD rip, revised Jan. 2026)

LINEAGE: online download of flac files (File Under Kudzu bootleg CD rip) > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for normalization & DC offset, re-tracking, removing dead spots, fades, tagging > flac NO EQ, COMPRESSION or DIGITAL FILTERING

ROB SEZ: As received, this was a startlingly clear and crisp recording, well suited to a knock-you-off-your-chair performance by R. E. M. The debut single was out and most of the Chronic Town debut EP had been recorded. This gig marks the live debut of Catapult (already sounding fully formed and nearly ready for the studio), and features a best-ever cover of Ghost Riders In the Sky, plus a one-off song with no title. If I were to rank best R. E. M. performances from the early 1980s, this would easily make my top 5. January 1982 found the band barnstorming its way through Georgia and N.C., with many more gigs and states to follow in the ensuing months. R. E. M. also played Friday's on Nov. 6, 1981.  

The only source I know for this performance is the bootleg CD File Under Kudzu, my starting point for this revision. If anyone offers awards for worthy bootlegs, this one should be nominated. Great choice of performance, extraordinary sound quality, and nice packaging (see image scans from Discogs in the download folder). I can't claim this is necessarily a sonic upgrade compared to other versions. In light of how amazing the performance and recording already were, I was looking for an excuse to share it. A light revision and re-tracking job is my justification, and I feel this is a better listening experience than previous versions. 

For context, here's Peter Buck from an interview by David Fricke in 1990 (from R. E. M. The Rolling Stone Files): 

“There was a place in Greensboro, North Carolina, called Friday’s. It was a pizza parlor, and the guy had bands play. It was an L-shaped room; you could see through the bar to the ovens, with the guy with the long stick with pizzas on it, and see us, too. He’d charge a dollar, we’d get 150 people in there, and we’d get the door. People would let us sleep on the floor. There were clubs like that in every city.”

FLAC

MP3@320

R. E. M. - 1984-10-06 St. Louis, MO (FM - McKenzie Tapes source)

Graham Chapel
Washington University

St. Louis, MO

Oct. 6, 1984

FM recording (courtesy of the McKenzie Tapes project) Sound quality: VG to VG+

  

LINEAGE: McKenzie Tapes recording (16-bit wave file) > Adobe Audition 2025 for de-noising, phase correction, and normalization > AIFF file > Audacity 3.7 for Mac for track splits, 1 additional pass of NR, and EQ > FLAC

SAMPLE: West of the Fields (live 1984-10-06)

01 Harborcoat
02 West of the Fields

03 Kohoutek
04 Pilgrimage
05 7 Chinese Bros.
06 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) 
07 Hyena
08 (Don't Go Back to) Rockville
09 Barney Miller Theme - Chicken Train

10 Sitting Still
11 Letter Never Sent
12 Gardening at Night (fades in)
13 9-9 - Frogmore - Windout
14 Old Man Kensey
15 Pretty Persuasion
16 band exit - crowd - return to stage
17 Little America
18 Second Guessing
19 Paint It Black
20 In the Year 2525 (false start)
21 In the Year 2525
22 We Walk w. Behind Closed Doors
23 Femme Fatale
24 1,000,000

25 Moon River

This recording is missing the first song played as well as the final 5.

About this recording & performance:
I started with a diamond-in-the-rough lossless recording kindly provided by Tom G. from the McKenzie Tapes Project (learn more at themckenzietapes.com). The recording had no known lineage, but my ears heard a generated FM recording that suffered from multiple deficiencies. On a quality scale, I would have rated it a C-. After a couple of attempts at digital revision over the past 2 years, I’m finally happy with the result. It’s now a decent-sounding FM recording that merits an overall grade of B in my rating system, with just a few sections that dip slightly. In sum, this is quite listenable, even for fans who only want to hear higher quality recordings. Performance wise, this is one to savor: the band is on, and having fun — tight and confident this far into the tour, but loose enough to play requests (ex: a rousing version of the rarely-played Paint It Black). This is one of my favorite live recordings by the band in 1984.

FLAC

MP3@320

 

R. E. M. - 1981-09-23 Tyrone's O.C., Athens, GA (sbd - Bert13 revision)

Tyrone's O.C.
Athens, GA
Sept. 23, 1981

soundboard recording (quality: EX)

UPGRADE: Although this is not a substantial upgrade in sound quality compared to the older versions in circulation, this one features phase & speed correction. Overall, it's the best this recording has sounded. The performance is spectacular!

01 Just a Touch
02 Ages of You 
03 1,000,000
04 Get On Their Way

05 There She Goes Again

What the heck is Bill doing with that shoe??

06 Action

07 Wait*
08 Sitting Still
09 Permanent Vacation
10 Mystery to Me
11 White Tornado
12 I Can't Control Myself
13 Burning Down
14 Shaking Through
15 Laughing
16 Romance
17 Pretty Persuasion
18 That Beat
19 Stumble
20 Radio Free Europe
21 Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

22 The Lion Sleeps Tonight 
23 Skank
24 Gardening at Night

25 Windout

26 9-9 

soundcheck:
27 unknown instrumental
28 Sitting Still
29 1,000,000
30 The Lion Sleeps Tonight

    *On "Wait," Lynda Stipe and Cyndy Stipe sing backing vocals

 

FLAC

MP3@320

HUGE THANKS to Bert13 for the digital revision & permission to share

R. E. M. - Two Big Nights in Athens 1982 (sbd)

i & i

Athens, GA

Oct. 21-22, 1982

  

soundboard recordings (quality: VG+ from low-generation sources)

ROB SEZ: While pestering my secret source for more mid-1980s soundboard recordings, I thought I'd try a little detour with this early '80s twofer from my archive. I've always liked one of these two recordings. The Oct. 22 set sounded very good when I received it, so I left that one alone. But the Oct. 21 set never sounded very good -- almost as if someone took a decent-sounding, low-generation soundboard recording, then added a blunt-force, low-tech filter that muffled everything. So I did some work on it, and now it's just about the equal of the Oct. 22 show. As you'll see from the track listings, mostly different songs were preserved from what was likely a similar set played both nights. Between these two recordings, we get to hear 23 different songs, which make up most of the band's live repertoire from this era. I had fun doctoring up an old poster publicizing the band's 2-night stand at the i & i club, but on different dates than these. There was a ghastly image of the band defacing the original poster, so I replaced it with a rare photo. Please enjoy.

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1982

     (revised 2025)

01 Moral Kiosk (fades in)

02 Catapult

03 After Hours - 1,000,000

04 West of the Fields

05 Radio Free Europe

06 White Tornado

07 Ages of You

08 We Walk

09 Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)

10 So You Want to Be a Rock'n'Roll Star

11 Stumble - Skank

12 Neverland (fades out after a minute)

Friday, Oct. 22, 1982 

01 So You Want to Be a

     Rock'n'Roll Star 

02 Moral Kiosk

03 Pilgrimage

04 Shaking Through

05 Wolves, Lower

06 Laughing

07 Romance

08 Sitting Still

09 Pretty Persuasion

10 Catapult 

11 1,000,000

12 Gardening at Night

13 9-9 (fades out)

FLAC

 

MP3@320

  

Rapid Eye Movement - Holiday Fanclub Singles (complete)

FLAC UPGRADE, courtesy of Colin

R.  E.  M.

Holiday Fanclub Singles (complete)

1988-2011

ROB SEZ: I can think of no better musical celebration of the holidays than listening to the complete set of fanclub singles issued by R.  E.  M.  After calling it quits, the guys shut down the fanclub in 2011. I've had these posted as high-quality MP3s for many years. A couple of years ago, Colin at the magnificent Dream Remaster blog was able to upgrade nearly all of these to FLAC, with just a few remaining as MP3s. I thought it was past time to share 'em here.

soundboard recordings (sound quality range VG+ to Ex-; many are vinyl rips with attendant pops & a few skips)

First fanclub single, issued in 1988

THANK YOU KINDLY to the original rippers, sharers & posters. HUGE THANKS to Colin!

1988a Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

1988b See No Evil (Television cover)

1989a Good King Wenceslas

1989b Academy Fight Song

1990a Ghost Reindeer In the Sky

1990b Summertime (final seconds cut)

1991a Baby Baby (Vibrators cover)

1991b Christmas Griping

1992a Where's Captain Kirk?
          (Spizzenergi cover)

1992b Toyland

1993a Silver Bells

1993b Christmas Time Is Here

1994a Sex Bomb (Flipper cover)

1994b Christmas In Tunisia

1995a Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)

1995b Java (Allen Toussaint cover)

Artwork for 1999 holiday single

1996a Only In America
           (Jay & The Americans cover)

1996b I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor cover)

1997a Live for Today

1997b Happy When I'm Crying
           (Pearl Jam cover)

1998a Lucky (M. Stipe w/Radiohead)

1998b E-Bow the Letter
           (live w/Thom Yorke)

1999a Country Feedback
           (Live w/Neil Young)

1999b Ambulance Blues
          (Live w/Neil Young)

2000a Christmas Time (Is Here Again)

2000b Hastings & Main

2000c Take Seven

2001a Let Me In (Live)

2001b Find the River (rehearsal)

2002a No Matter What (Badfinger cover)

2002b Jesus Christ (LX Chilton cover)

2002c M. Stipe reads Martin Luther King

2003a Country Feedback (Live)

2003b It's the End of the World As We 
          Know It (And I Feel Fine) (Live)

2004a I Wanted to Be Wrong (Live)

2004b She Just Wants To Be (Live)

2005a Turn You Inside-Out (Live)

2005b The Great Beyond (Live)

2006a Tongue (Live) [performed by Tin Cup Prophette]

2006b So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) (Live)

2006c These Days (Live) [performed by The Observatory]

2006d Begin the Begin (Live)

Final fanclub single, issued in 2011

2007a Merry Xmas Everybody
          (Slade cover)

2007b Magnetic North

2008a Living Well Is the
          Best Revenge (Live)

2008b Let Me In (Live)

2008c Just a Touch (Live)

2009a Santa Baby

2009b Crazy Like a Fox
      (Link Cromwell & The Zoo cover)

2010a Christmas
          (Baby Please Come Home)

2010b IHT->U->EDIYTW (Dubmix)

2011a Perfect Circle (Live)

2011b Life and How to Live It (Live)

FLAC (plus a small handful of MP3s)

 

MP3@320

ARTWORK FOR ALL SINGLES INCLUDED.

Check out the many connections between 
R.  E.  M. and The dB's at THIS earlier post.

For complete fanclub singles discography info, look at these
two great fan sites: HERE and HERE.

   

R. E. M. - 1986-09-05 Pelham, AL (sbd - Buren Fowler master tape) UPGRADE

UPGRADE - soundboard master

  

Oak Mountain Amphitheatre

Pelham, AL

Sept. 5, 1986

 

soundboard recording (quality: EX, master tape transfer)

artwork, revised from original post, is included

  

AUDIO SAMPLE: Driver 8 - upgraded version

ROB SEZ: UPGRADE - MASTER TAPE SOURCE, REVISED. The source for this recording is Buren Fowler (R.I.P.), the band’s guitar tech and second guitarist for live performances in 1986 & 1987. (Michael introduces Buren briefly after Driver 8.) Before the show, Fowler gave the FOH sound guy a C-90 and asked him to record as much as would fit. Apparently, he held onto the tape as a keepsake of his time with R. E. M.  Later, Buren gave this and other live tapes to his friend, T. Patton Biddle (“Pat the Wiz”) for safe keeping. 

A friend of Pat's digitized the master tape, revised it with subtle-but-significant enhancements made with pro software, and kindly shared it with me. My debt of gratitude lies with Mr. Anonymous, Buren, and Pat — all behind-the-scenes heroes who played their part in the phenomenon that was R. E. M. As for the performance, you can feel the pent-up energy of the band, which hadn't played together for many months after completing Lifes Rich Pageant. After a week of tour rehearsals in Knoxville, TN, the guys obviously were ready to roll. The lucky fans in attendance witnessed the live debut of 9 songs, including 6 from the new album. This recording does not represent the entire performance: it's missing 6 songs played that night, including the first 4. You can hear 5 of the missing songs, in fairly good audience quality, in this recording.

  

FLAC

 

MP3@320

Stay tuned; more to come.

      

    

R. E. M. - 1987-11-05 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL (sbd - Buren Fowler master) - NEW

The Pavilion

The University of Illinois Chicago

Chicago, IL

Nov. 5, 1987

    

soundboard recording (quality: EX, a pristine recording)

   

  

SAMPLE: Auctioneer (Another Engine) live UIC '87

    

ROB SEZ:  For a good while, there was a rule of thumb in R. E. M. fan circles that went something like this: if you're looking for live soundboard recordings from 1986 and 1987, don't bother. Other than the live bonus disc released for the 25th anniversary of Document (and a rather odd benefit concert in January 1986), said the rule, there just aren't any soundboard recordings from 1986 or '87. Then, earlier this year—like musical manna—T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz) shared with me a good handful of soundboard recordings, a couple of which are pretty much perfect. Recently, I shared a soundboard recording from the 1986 Pageantry Tour launch on Sept. 5th in Pelham, AL. 

Can you tell I LOVE this photo?
Michael onstage, Charleston, WV October 1987
photo credit: grumpnet

This week, I'm sharing a pristine soundboard recording from the 1987 Work Tour. For my money, the performance and sound quality are second only to the Document anniversary bonus disc. Full credit to Pat and Buren Fowler, the band's guitar tech and supplemental guitarist for live performances in '86 and '87. Buren gave the FOH sound guy a 90-minute tape and asked him to record as much of the show as would fit on it. Pat then digitized the tape, and this is the fabulous result—even though it lacks 6 songs played that night. Later, Buren shared this and other tapes with Pat, who held onto them after Buren's death in 2014. 

Just one request: play this one LOUD! 

FLAC

   

MP3@320