R.E.M.
19 January 1995
Entertainment Centre
Sydney, NSW
Australia
slipkid68 master recording + 2021 mjk5510 transfer and JEMS mastering
Recording Gear: Sony TCD-D8 DAT Recorder > Sonic Studios DSM-6 mics
Master DAT > Tascam DA-302 > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 > iZotope RX and Ozone > .wav > FLAC > tracking and finishing via Audacity 2.4.2 and TLH
R.E.M. is:
Bill Berry (drums, vocals)
Peter Buck (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, Farfisa organ)
Mike Mills (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals)
Michael Stipe (vocals)
With musicians Nathan December and Scott McCaughey (bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals)
* Features guest Amanda Brown on violin
1. Intro.
2. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
3. Circus Envy
4. I Took Your Name
5. Turn You Inside-Out
6. You
7. Drive
8. King of Comedy
9. I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
10. Revolution
11. Try Not To Breathe
12. Tongue
13. Man on the Moon
14. Monty Got a Raw Deal *
15. Country Feedback *
16. Losing My Religion *
17. Star Me Kitten
18. Begin the Begin
19. Star 69
20. Get Up
21. Finest Worksong
22. encore break
23. Let Me In
24. Everybody Hurts *
25. Crush With Eyeliner
26. Bang and Blame
27. It’s The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
This master recording features R.E.M. on January 19 in Sydney, Australia, the fifth date of Monster ’95. It sounds similar to the one I made the following night, and maybe like the previous night’s tape, too — more about that in a moment.
For its 1995 tour, R.E.M. designed a stage show around music from its three most-recent LPs, “Out of Time,” “Automatic For The People,” and “Monster” (11 of its 12 tracks make the evening's setlist). The I.R.S. era, represented here by three numbers from Lifes Rich Pageant and Document, assumed a supporting role.
Michael Stipe made a shift, too, interacting with the audience far less than he had on previous tours. Now content to sing and shimmy, he was a polite and effective front man. “Thank you,” he’d say. “Here’s another song.” And how: by the end of the tour, the band had written or debuted much of what they’d release in 1996 on “New Adventures in Hi-Fi.”
From January to October that year, I saw R.E.M. 11 times. This one, the second of three in Sydney, I'd recollected as something akin to a really good dress rehearsal. But it plays back with verve. Sure, the guys hit some bum notes (“Tongue,” whoops), the odd miscue, and instances where a song’s elements hadn’t entirely come together. In other places, the band sounds almost as good as it did any time that year, and maybe others, too (e.g., “Turn You Inside-Out,” “Man on the Moon”).
As the band got accustomed to its new act, they still experimented, changing setlists and keeping the flow somewhat ecclectic. Though the show was noisy and glam, it still made room for “Monty Got a Raw Deal” and “Star Me Kitten,” songs that didn’t seem like obvious choices, but worked in the overall scheme of things. By contrast, “Drive” and “Try Not To Breathe,” from the same moody LP, got revved up.
Now, about that recording from the night before: four songs in, I got busted. The R.E.M. crew chief emerged from backstage to lower the boom. He confiscated my tape and offered a frank, unvarnished opinion on what he characterized as the band’s stance on taping. (Not long after, a friend remarked, “maybe the band was fine with taping — it’s the getting caught part that’s the problem.” He could be right.)
As everyone back home was understandably eager to hear a report from the first R.E.M. tour in six years, I ’phoned Jared. Our conversation set me straight: I changed the batteries, unwrapped a fresh DAT, and walked in on January 19 determined to make this capture. So here’s to my fellow tapers who’ve gotten the dreaded tap on the shoulder — and gone back the next night.
Truly a team effort on this one: I taped, mjk5510 made the transfer, BK mastered. And Jared made sure it all happened. “A tape,” he always said, “is better than no tape.” Turn it up for him and Stan, our dear friends who've passed on.
Share it freely, and for free!
- slipkid68
***********end original text***********
Timeline notes:
notes: Amanda Brown plays violin on 'Monty Got A Raw Deal', 'Country Feedback', 'Losing My Religion' & 'Everybody Hurts'.
Notes:
-PB hits a sour note during Circus Envy
-Drum intro to Inside Out is rough
-Small skip in Tongue intro
-MS before MOTM "We didn't really get a proper sound check today because we got stuck in traffic. And why did we get stuck in traffic?" Someone in the crowd provides the answer "The Pope! The fucking Pope!"
-PB gives up most of his Country Feedback solo to Amanda Brown but joins in for the last 40 seconds of the song to make a nice duet.
-BB starts drum intro to ITOTWAWKI when he is supposed to be starting Finest Worksong. Twice. At the end of the set where the ITEOTWAWKI is actually being played, MS gives BB a good teasing. Is this where the "Hey Bill" thing present throughout 1995 starts?
Grade: A
-Has a little boominess from the venue