The dB's - Los Angeles 2024 (aud master)

  

Zebulon Cafe

Los Angeles, CA 

Nov. 17, 2024

  

audience master (sound quality: VG+ to Ex-)

           SAMPLE: (I Thought) You Wanted to Know

01 crowd/tuning

02 The Fight

03 Cycles Per Second

04 chat

05 Big Brown Eyes

06 Before We Were Born 

07 That Time Is Gone

08 She's Not Worried

09 Living a Lie

10 Ask For Jill

11 chat

12 Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)

13 Happenstance

14 Love Is for Lovers

15 From a Window to a Screen

16 I'm In Love

17 Neverland

18 chat

19 Dynamite

20 Amplifier (with band intros)

21 Black and White

22 encore break

23 We Were Happy There

24 Chat

At the Zebulon Cafe, during this here show.

25 My Little Red Book*

26 In Spain

27 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know

   

    *Bacharach/David song, sung by Will

The dB's:

Peter Holsapple - vocals & guitar 

Chris Stamey - vocals & guitar

Gene Holder - bass

Will Rigby - drums

    

Wes Lachot - keyboards

ROB SEZ: I tried to catch our heroes on their brief tour in 2024, and again in early 2025, but it was not to be. The only show I could possibly attend was cancelled due to illness, and later it was rescheduled to a date that didn't work for me. But virtual reality is still a version of reality, so I was very pleased that Man of Stealth taped this gig at the end of The dB's 2024 jaunt. The ostensible purpose of the mini tour was to promote the first-ever U.S. vinyl release of Stands for Decibels, in all its remastered glory. A remastered / reissued Repercussion followed soon thereafter. Additional thanks go to Dennis Orr, who mastered this recording, which sounds very good indeed. Blog reader FRS shot this video of "Amplifier" during this gig—nice!

*It's a amazing and remarkable to see the 4-piece dB's lineup still playing live music together 45 years after they started out — as Carolina-transplanted starving artists, trying to make it in NYC.*

FLAC (hi-res 24-48)

MP3@320

Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - Philadelphia, PA 2024 (sbd-stage matrix)

The Loft at City Winery

Philadelphia, PA

March 17, 2024

sbd-stage matrix recording (sound quality: Excellent)

CD 1

1.  intro

2.  She Was the One

3.  Geometry

4.  Big Brown Eyes

5.  Here Without You

6.  From a Window to a Screen

7.  Molly Says

8.  After All This Time/

Lost Without You 

9.  Swanhilda

10  Early In the Morning

11. Close Your Eyes

12. Our Back Pages 

CD 2

1.  The Child In You

2.  The Lord of the Manor

3.  She's Not Worried

4.  Today Could Be the Day

5.  Nothing Is Wrong

6.  Black & White

7.  I Want to Break Your Heart

8.  Angel

9.  <encore applause, tuning>

10.  Lonely Is as Lonely Does

11.  Something Came Over Me

12.  Here and Now

ROB SEZ: We're getting back to the origins of the blog with this post. Lilpanda is the one to thank for this very impressive recording. He snagged a direct feed from the soundboard and added an ambient recording using onstage microphones, mixed to create a superb audio artifact. If you leave a comment (GIGANTIC hint) please thank the great Lilpanda.

FLAC (hi-res 24-96 files) 

MP3@320

HOLSAPPLE-STAMEY FANS! Don't forget to snag Peter's new album The Face of 68, out now on vinyl, CD and digital release. Chris's next album Anything Is Possible is due out in July on Label 51 Recordings. The first single is the Beach Boys-esque "I'd Be Lost Without You." You can hear the title track HERE, and "Dont Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)" is HERE. 

         

      

R. E. M. - What the Hell Just Happened? 1987-08-19 Athens, GA (sbd - M1) - NEW

The 40 Watt Club

Athens, GA

Aug. 19, 1987

  

soundboard recording

(Pat the Wiz's digital revision from his master reel)

    

01 Finest Worksong 

02 Welcome to the Occupation

 

03 The One I Love

04 Begin the Begin

05 Orange Crush*

06 Disturbance at the Heron House

07 Title

08 Superman

09 return to the stage

10 It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

   

     *LIVE DEBUT

   

SAMPLE TRACK: "Disturbance at the Heron House" (live Aug. 19, 1987 - sbd)

   

ROB SEZ: This recording prompted my return to blogging after years away. It’s easily one of my top 3 live recordings ever by the band. Michael, Peter, Mike and Bill are firing on all cylinders and sound elated to be playing 5 songs from album number 5, plus a few chestnuts and one brand-new song: Orange Crush, heard here in an early Michael-is-ranting version. Document had been completed by the time of this performance, but hadn't yet been released. I got the idea of compiling an alternative version of Document, and dug out of my archive an old, rare soundboard recording of this performance. That recording had some problems with digi noise, not to mention an unknown lineage. For some time, I’d been aware of the audience recording for this performance that came from the JEMS team. But once I knew there was a soundboard recording out there, possibly in better shape than the one in my archive, I was determined to find it. Eventually, that led me to the guy who recorded it in the first place: the true southern gentleman T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz), who’s still living near Athens, GA after playing his part in the early career of R. E. M. Pat was utterly gracious in agreeing to send me the digital transfer made from the master recording. I am proud to present what I believe is the definitive version of this gob-smacking performance, absent a transfer from the master with no post-transfer digital amendments. Please enjoy.

   

Someone who was there must’ve said:

What the hell just happened?

FLAC

MP3@320

If you want to hear my alternative version of Document, featuring demos and live takes, that's HERE. A generous handful of tracks come from this live recording.

Further details & recording lineage:

REMTimeline says:

Silent Peas show. R. E. M. perform unannounced as a supporting act & the live debut of “Orange Crush” features a totally different vocal arrangement, with Stipe just singing/rambling various army and war statements etc. Mike Mills & Bill Berry's usual backing vocal is not present in this version. Mike Mills thanks the Silent Peas for letting R. E. M. open the show for them.

LINEAGE: T. Patton Biddle's master cassette —> TPB's digital transfer, using unknown equipment —> unknown digital editing, including added compression —> Audacity for tracking, fades, normalization, editing out dead air, and 1 pass of eq to boost bass frequencies and lower treble —> FLAC

Find a link for the original raw, untracked, unprocessed file under Comments. 

That's it (for now) for my R. E. M. special shares.

Plenty more to come from The dB's and other artists.

           

R. E. M. - 'Surprise Guest' at The 40 Watt, Feb. 10 & Sept. 3, 1987 (sbd M1) - NEW

The 40 Watt Club

Athens, GA

Feb. 10, 1987

  

soundboard recording

(Pat the Wiz's digital revision from his master reel)  

00 stage entrance

01 Begin the Begin (fades in) 

02 Oddfellows Local 151

03 Lightnin’ Hopkins

04 Just a Touch (aborted)

     Note: Drew Worsham subbed for Bill Berry on drums

SAMPLE TRACK - Oddfellows Local 151 (live on Feb. 10, 1987)

The 40 Watt Club

Athens, GA

Sept. 3, 1987

  

soundboard recording

(Pat the Wiz's digital revision from his master reel)

00 stage entrance

01 Finest Worksong

02 These Days

03 Title

04 I Believe

05 It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

06 unknown, untitled+

07 Disturbance at the Heron House

08 The One I Love

09 Begin the Begin

      +Michael claims this previously unknown song was written “at 9:20 this evening” — which is quite possible, given how shambolic & unfinished it sounds.

ROB SEZ: I'm calling this one “Surprise Guest” due to the nature of the performances. I like the thought of a few people in & around Athens knowing R. E. M. would be making an appearance these nights, but others only hearing rumors about a surprise guest. The February set is noteworthy because two songs from Document see their live debut: “Oddfellows Local 151” and “Lightnin’ Hopkins.” These recordings are yet more goodness from the sound archives of T. Patton Biddle (Pat the Wiz), who made some of the most historically significant recordings of R. E. M. in the 1980s. Pat was kind enough to share with me digital transfers from his safety tapes. These two opening sets have previously circulated in soundboard quality, but they're not currently available through the usual channels. To my knowledge, this is the first time they've been placed into circulation with a known lineage, so this may be a new source even for those who already have other versions. I don't know if they're an upgrade or not, since I don't own any other versions. Check the comments if you want the untracked, raw files as I received them.

The view from the floor at The 40 Watt
  

FLAC

MP3@320

FURTHER DETAILS & RECORDING LINEAGE

REMTimeline says:

Feb. 10, 1987: Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe along with Drew Worsham on drums, play an impromptu set after Mystery Date. “Just A Touch” is aborted halfway through due to Peter Buck blowing out the [borrowed] guitar amp he was using.

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 p.m. that evening.

LINEAGE: T. Patton Biddle's master cassette —> TPB's digital transfer, using unknown equipment —> unknown digital editing, including added compression —> Audacity for tracking, fades, normalization, deleting dead spots, tempo adjustment, and 1 pass of eq to boost bass frequencies and lower treble --> FLAC

Stay tuned; more to come.