R.E.M.
Open Air Theatre
San Diego State University
San Diego, California
July 26, 1985
RG Master Cassettes via JEMS
New Wave LA Series Vol. 34
Recording equipment: unknown microphone and unknown cassette deck
JEMS 2020 Transfer: RG Master Cassettes > Nakamichi RX-505 (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > CD Wave > ffmpeg > FLAC
01 Feeling Gravity's Pull
02 Harborcoat
03 Green Grow The Rushes
04 Maps And Legends
05 Hyena
06 Barney Miller Theme
07 Good Advices
08 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) (abandoned)
09 Blue Moon
10 Laughing
11 Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
12 7 Chinese Brothers
13 West Of The Fields
14 Driver 8
15 Can't Get There From Here
16 Auctioneer (Another Engine)
17 Old Man Kensey
18 Pretty Persuasion
19 Moral Kisok
20 Life And How To Live It
21 Behind Closed Doors
22 (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
23 Second Guessing
24 See No Evil
25 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)
26 Theme From Two Steps Onward
27 Gardening At Night
28 9-9 > Hey Diddle Diddle > Frogmore Moon
29 Windout
30 Moon River
31 Wild Thing
32 1,000,000
JEMS is pleased to extend a series of historic recordings made by our longtime friend and diehard music collector RG. He was on the scene in LA as a teenager, began recording shows in 1977 and continued on well into the 2000s. Our series will focus on tapes he made between 1977 and 1987.
What sort of music was he into? Well, one simple way to put it is KROQ music, meaning the bands that LA’s “world famous” new wave radio station was playing were the bands he saw and recorded. First wave if you will, with forays into indie and punk(ish) artists. The early years are dominated by UK artists breaking in the US. Over time his work expands to US bands in the second wave. Some of the artists RG taped include:
Siouxsie & the Banshees (Vol. 4)
Madness (Vol. 8)
The Specials (Vol. 6)
OMD (Vol. 10)
The Damned (Vol. 25)
The Stranglers (Vol. 1)
Public Image Limited (Vol. 3)
John Cale (Vol. 9, Vol. 30)
Magazine (Vol. 21)
The Buzzcocks (Vol. 7)
Orange Juice (Vol. 13)
U2 (Vol. 28)
Wreckless Eric (Vol. 27)
The Cramps (Vol. 22)
Johnny Thunders (Vol. 18)
Talking Heads (Vol. 24)
Iggy Pop
XTC (Vol. 2)
The Jam (Vol. 31)
The Only Ones (Vol. 19)
The Undertones (Vol. 17)
Boomtown Rats (Vol. 5)
The Birthday Party (Vol. 15)
Penetration (Vol. 26)
The Bluebells (Vol. 12)
The Plimsouls (Vol. 11)
Athletico Spizz '80 (Vol. 29)
Killing Joke (Vol. 14)
Jonathan Richman (Vol. 16)
The Records (Vol. 20)
Robert Fripp (Vol. 23)
Bram Tchaikovsky (Vol. 32)
Peter Gabriel (Vol. 33)
R.E.M. (Vol. 34)
Later on he caught The Smiths, R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and many more.
RG used good, not Millard-level recording gear, which means his tapes are mostly solid and listenable, with the occasional very good one and also sorta crappy one. What makes his tapes compelling is that RG was recording in a particularly vital window of time. In many instances these were the first or second times these acts played Los Angeles. Some never did proper US tours, only playing select dates in key markets like LA or NYC. Also, for many of these gigs, RG was the only taper. He grabbed a few local radio broadcasts along the way, too.
Because these shows were almost exclusively at clubs like The Whisky and The Roxy, the sets are generally short, 45 to 60 minutes because that's what you did at The Whisky. On occasion, RG would copy his own masters to save tape and we have done our best to distinguish what’s a true master and what’s a first generation copy. If there’s a doubt, we will note it. Regardless, the series will offer the lowest generation copies available of his recordings, digitized directly for the first time from RG’s tapes which had been stored in boxes for the last 15+ years.
We begin the 2021 edition of the New Wave LA series with a leap in time to the mid-80s, when RG was equally prolific recording alternative and college rock bands. He drove to San Diego to catch R.E.M. at the outdoor amphitheater on the campus of SDSU and the band made it worth his while with an excellent, long set that features 32 or more songs depending on how you count them.
R.E.M. was touring in support of their moody third album Fables Of The Reconstruction, tracks from which are featured heavily in this set, which also dips generously into their first two albums and the Chronic Town EP as well as some entertaining cover songs, which range from the sublime ("Have You Ever Seen The Rain?") to the ridiculous ("Barney Miller Theme" and "Behind Closed Doors"). The show also features one of the band's best outtakes, "Theme From Two Steps Onward," considered for both Fables and Life's Rich Pageant but unreleased until a best-of compilation in the 2000s. The San Diego version is great.
The SDSU audience really responds to the band's performance, which may explain why the encore goes on for so long. In fact, the set list here is longer than what's found on the essential R.E.M. live performance history site, remtimeline.com, which means this may be the first time a full recording of the show has circulated. We know of one other taper who recorded that night, so perhaps RG's source will be new to most.
By mid-1985 RG had upgraded his gear somewhat, now using a small clip on stereo microphone (likely a Sony) and a new Walkman-type recorder, model unknown. This results in a nice capture of R.E.M. and even though there is plenty of audience sound, it adds to the excitement of the recording. Samples provided.
We’re so grateful to RG for letting JEMS dig through his tape boxes and pull out the assets for this series. He witnessed amazing SoCal music history. Tip of the hat as well to cpscps who volunteered to handle post-production on our series which is a huge help to us and makes it possible to get more music in your hands. Stay tuned for more New Wave in LA.
BK for JEMS
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Notes:
-Seems a fan joins MS on mic during Driver 8, causing MS to drop out briefly while the shenanigans were dealt with. MS also drops out for a line or two at the end of the song. After the song is over someone near the taper remarks "Dude everyone should get up on stage and (?)".
-Before Auctioneer MS "Once upon a time there was a little boy. He never knew how to fight. Then a oy came into his yard and threatened his sister. He was only years old and didn't know what to do. The boy got him down on the ground, had his hand up to his mouth, shaped in a fist, he was helpless. He was threatened. So he it down on the guy's hand as hard as he possibly could and drew blood and the guy never came back to his yard again and his sister was safe. This is a story about that".
-After L&HTLI BB(?) "Some (?) are available now, take it easy. [PB?] Hope you're enjoying our intimate half house sitting under the stars. (?) your dining and dancing pleasure. Adolf and the Casuals will now do their new hit single".
-Before So. Central MS "In the south there is a lot of rain, unlike here and just about every spring, things will happen and water will come in and fill up everything and people will have to leave their homes. This is a song about that".
-During Wild thing MS "I thought I saw you walking down the street just the other day in another city. So I closed my eyes and rubed them tight. All this yellow stuff came out and it smelled like a coney island hot dog and I just didn't know what to do. And when I opened my eyes up I saw a big pterodactyl in your place that was trying to walk but he was trying to fly at the same time. The sidewalk had a big curve on it and he fell right off. Hurt his left wing and had to get carried off by an ambulance. So I say wild thing I think I want you [resumes singing]. At the end of the song he adds "Hey man let's go home. What do you say?"
Grade: A
-Wild Thing story in the running for most bizzarre