R.E.M.
Civic Auditorium
Portland, OR
October 3, 1986
JEMS Master
Includes soundcheck recorded by unknown, remastered by JEMS
Recording Gear: Sony ECM-939LT Stereo Microphone > Sony Walkman D6C
JEMS 2020 Transfer: master cassettes > Nakamichi RX-505 azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 > iZotope RX6 and Ozone 8 mastering > flac
Clumisloe (uploader) Audition 1.5 (add track IDs) > flac > you.
01 These Days
02 Hyena
03 West Of The Fields
04 Time After Time (Annelise)
05 The One I Love
06 Shaking Through
07 Maps And Legends
08 Driver 8
09 The Flowers Of Guatemala
10 I Believe
11 Swan Swan H
12 Superman
13 Can’t Get There From Here
14 Pretty Persuasion
15 Windout
16 Auctioneer (Another Engine)
17 Life And How To Live It
18 Encore Break
19 Stipe Speaks
20 Fall On Me
21 Cuyahoga
22 1,000,000
23 I Can Only Give You Everything
24 Strange
25 Home On The Range > Little America
26 Harpers
27 Begin The Begin
28 Just A Touch
Soundcheck (recording gear and taper unknown)
CD-R Ripped via xACT > iZotope RX and Ozone clean up and mastering
29 Talking
30 Shakin’ All Over
31 I Can Only Give You Everything
32 jam
33 Green Grow The Rushes
34 Oddfellows Local 151
35 Oddfellows Local 151
36 Oddfellows Local 151
37 Windout
38 Time After Time (Annelise)
39 Time After Time (Annelise) > Classical Gas
One of my all-time favorite R.E.M. periods was the run of shows we recorded on the Life’s Rich Pageant tour when the band made four Northwest stops in Eugene, Seattle, Vancouver and this show in Portland.
We had very good seats, fourth row center, which helps account for the nice up-close sound on this one. The mix was good, the Civic Auditorium acoustics were in our favor and even the loud frat guys behind us were somehow kept at bay by the microphone positioning yielding one of the best R.E.M. masters I ever made.
I had become a big fan late 1984-early 1985, and when Pageant came out in 1986 I adored it. This was the first show I saw on the tour (slipkid68 and AMorg made it to Eugene) and it didn’t disappoint. You can hear our gasps of joy at the top of the show to “Hyena” (at the end of which I extort, “We got it!” as we had hoped it would make the setlist) and “West of the Fields.”
There’s one great version after another this night including “Time After Time (Annelise),” “The Flowers of Guatemala,” “Life And How To Live It,” “Cuyahoga” and “Begin The Begin.” Honestly, the whole show is all killer, no filler.
Portland ’86 has been transferred from our masters before but via CD-R. When recently asked for those files, I thought it might be a good time for a new transfer and new mastering. I think the show has never sounded better. Samples provided.
A new release also provided the opportunity to unite JEMS’ recording of the show with an unknown taper’s excellent recording of the soundcheck, which we have had on CD-R for 15 years or so. It is an entertaining listen as soundchecks go, most notably when the band is working on the then unreleased “Oddfellows Local 151” which would come out on Document a year later.
While the quality of the soundcheck was always pretty good, we did a bit of clean-up and mastering work to make it that much better.
Special thanks to clumsiloe for keeping the R.E.M. live recording flag flying. It was his request that motivated me to pull out the masters. Also to slipkid68, my brother in all things R.E.M. who was there then and is still a partner now.
BK for JEMS
Uploader notes: We don't currently have lineage for the soundcheck, there may at a later date be a version of the soundcheck from the master. I understand that there are potentially a couple of alternative recordings of this show, so feel free to compare and contrast!
It's a cracking show, and a pretty boisterous crowd from the very start. Sounds like it was a fun one for band and crowd alike.
Nerdy trainspotter notes, the first encore is preceded by an environmental message, followed by two obvious tracks connected that theme.
Stipe promises a third such tune before "schools over" for the patient crowd, and they launch into 1,000,000 with its usual "don't drink the water" intro. Personally, I hadn't previously given any consideration to what 1,000,000 might be about... not only deadlier but smarter too.
Finally to Harpers, the Hugo Largo cover which was a fairly frequent visitor on the three late 80s tours. Here, Stipe opens the final encore with the final verse of the song, before going back to the beginning. He normally starts at the beginning but doesn't get all the way to the final verse.
There is of course no actual significance to this at all. Enjoy the show! - Clums
**********end original text**************
********Also have CH remaster of JEMS remaster on HD************
UDG CDR:
Disc One: 73:32
01. These Days
02. Hyena
03. West Of The Fields
04. Time After Time (Annelise)
05. The One I Love
06. Shaking Through
07. Maps And Legends
08. Driver 8
09. The Flowers Of Guatemala
10. I Believe
11. Swan Swan H
12. Superman
13. Can’t Get There From Here
14. Pretty Persuasion
15. Windout
16. Auctioneer (Another Engine)
17. Life And How To Live It
encore 1:
18. Fall On Me
Disc Two: 29:40
01. Cuyahoga
02. 1,000,000
encore 2:
03. I Can Only Give You Everything
04. Strange
05. Home On The Range – Little America
encore 3:
06. Harpers
07. Begin The Begin
08. Just A Touch
Notes:
-After Maps & Legends, MS tells tha someone told him his clothers were too (?) and his makeup would scare people, so he and Peggy went shopping and he bought a pelt(?). He goes on to thank Guadacanal Diary for the suspenders last night.
-Before Superman, MS "A wise man once said, 'think of others, the others think of you'. This applies to the people in the front tonight".
-MS riffs before, what is by my count, the second to last time Windout is played live.
-MS gives an entertaining read of a Trojan Nuclear Power Plant brochure he acquired before Fall On Me. Before Cuyahoga, "Along the same lines...", and before 1,000,000 "Along the same lines...one more then school's out. DON'T DRINK THE WATER!".
Grade: A