R.E.M. 18 Oct 1987
The Centrum
Worcester, MA
Taper: Mike Leblanc
Source: Sony ECM 976>Sony D3
Lineage: Master>CDR (received in trade)>Audition 1.5 rebalance L-R channels>wav>flacfrontend 1.7.1
01. Finest Worksong
02. These Days
03. Welcome To The Occupation
04. Disturbance At The Heron House
05. Exhuming McCarthy
06. Orange Crush
07. Feeling Gravitys Pull
08. King Of Birds
09. Maps And Legends
10. I Believe
11. Title
12. White Tornado
13. Driver 8
14. Cuyahoga
15. Superman
16. Auctioneer (Another Engine)
17. Oddfellows Local 151
18. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
19. Begin The Begin
Encore 1
20. Strange
21. Fall On Me
22. See No Evil
Encore 2
23. Harpers - The One I Love
24. Crazy
25. Just A Touch
Here’s a pretty decent B grade recording from the 1987 to add to those already shared as part of this 20th anniversary series.
The bigger venues, and the all-seated policy on the 87 tour seemed to present a problem to many tapers. Often the sound in these big 7000-10,000 seater basketball arenas and fieldhouses was pretty poor, downright sludgy in some cases. The tapers we’re not able to position themselves more strategically. Against the odds, this experienced taper made a pretty good recording here.
I’ve played it back on a couple of systems and it sounds treble-heavy on some, like my iPod, particularly as you increase the volume - so I’ll leave up to the individual to adjust the eq settings to match their audio equipment.
I received this in a trade in 2003 from someone (I failed to make a note of who) who traded with the taper for a copy from his master. For a long time this was the best audience recording I had from 1987. But thanks to the help of various individuals searching in their closets, attics and beyond for tapes there are a couple of much better recordings which we will be bringing you in due course.
This show features a good example of Stipe’s Earthquake/Parrot “Bob” story, but no massive surprises aside from that. Fireplace is already gone from the setlist after less than 10 performances, never to be performed again. The unreleased song Title remains in the set and lasts another 12 days after this before being permanently shelved. Natalie Merchant stays locked in her singing cage and Stipe resists the urge to sing Ain’t No Sunshine.
Next up… 22 October 1987, Rutgers U as recorded by Dave Thomas. I will also revisit 6th October 1987 as I have found a different source to share with y’all.
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added text: version 1 above (audio cdr), vesion 2 (SHN) below in their original forms
Notes:
-MM asks people to stop throwing coins and makes a connection with the post office I didn't understand, MS agrees
-PB lets rip a nice lengthy solo during Firehouse
-Eathquake story at the expense of Bon Jovi, Ann & Nancy Wilson, Whitesnake, Michael Jackson & U2
-They may be the same, but somehow the mic info was botched
Grade: Both A
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R.E.M.
18 October 1987
The Centrum, Worcester, MA
Source: Sony ECM-111 mics > Sony D3 > ANA(1) > CDR(1) > EAC > mkwACT v0.97 beta 1 (SHN) [seek tables appended to end of file]
Disc One:
01. Finest Worksong
02. These Days
03. Welcome To the Occupation
04. Disturbance At the Heron House
05. Exhuming McCarthy
06. Orange Crush
07. Feeling Gravitys Pull
08. King Of Birds
09. Maps and Legends
10. I Believe
11. Title
12. White Tornado
13. Driver 8
14. Cuyahoga
15. Superman
Disc Two:
01. Auctioneer (Another Engine)
02. Oddfellows Local 151
03. It's the End Of the World As We Know It (skips)
04. Begin the Begin
05. Strange
06. Fall On Me
07. See No Evil
08. The One I Love
09. Crazy
10. Just A Touch