R.E.M.
20 January 1995
Entertainment Centre
Sydney, NSW
Australia
slipkid68 master recording + 2020 JEMS transfer
Recording Gear: Sony TCD-D8 DAT Recorder > Sonic Studios DSM-6 mics
JEMS 2020 Transfer: 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
Bill Berry (drums, vocals)
Peter Buck (guitar, 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 (violin on tracks 14-15; 22, 24)
1. Circus Envy
2. Crush With Eyeliner
3. Me In Honey
4. Disturbance at the Heron House
5. You
6. Fall on Me
7. King of Comedy ("For the Love of Money" tag)
8. I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
9. I Took Your Name
10. Revolution
11. Try Not to Breathe
12. Tongue
13. Man on the Moon
14. Country Feedback *
15. Losing My Religion *
16. Bang and Blame
17. Orange Crush
18. Star 69
19. Get Up
20. Finest Worksong
21. Encore break
22. Nightswimming *
23. Let Me In
24. Everybody Hurts *
25. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
26. It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Welcome to Monster ’95, the first R.E.M. tour after the band’s five-year absence from the road. Like the year-long trek behind Green in 1989, this one began in Oceania and Asia, a move some would characterize as a warm-up.
In this instance, they may have a point. January 20 was only the sixth date of the tour: vocals still needed to gel, and pacing was a work in progress, too. By and large though, the band was firing and the new music was happening; this show features 11 of the Monster LP's 12 tracks.
Using a portable DAT recorder and Sonic Studios mics, I recorded three shows in Sydney and two in Melbourne. (I got busted on the first night in Sydney, and after delivering a somewhat stern dressing down, R.E.M.’s tour manager confiscated the tape.)
There’s no mistaking the creative hard line R.E.M. laid down on this tour: it was a ’90s band now. Like U2’s Zoo TV, the show had little regard for any triumph of the previous decade. By my count, nine songs from the I.R.S. catalog and four from Green made it on to a set list that year.
Everything else was new; by the time I saw them in November in New Jersey, the set included four freshly-composed and unreleased numbers (each of which appeared on the 1996 LP New Adventures in Hi-Fi ).
It was a delight to hear a new show that featured “You,” “Try Not to Breathe,” and “Country Feedback” (graced here with violin by Amanda Brown of the Go-Betweens, who guests on three other songs, including a towering “Everybody Hurts”). Neither “Man on the Moon” nor “Losing My Religion” felt like an obligation (both eventually became cemented to R.E.M. setlists). “Nightswimming” (with a slightly rearranged vocal) appears, and wouldn’t again until the end of the tour, some ten months later.
I lucked out: faint chatter at the outset dissipates, and the sound was excellent. Plus, I walked out with a tape! Thanks to my old pal BK, who headed up the fresh transfer and soundscape. He reminded me that the original levels were low; now, with those raised and a judicious mastering applied, we hear a really great Monster tour recording like never before.
Raise a glass for Jared and Stan, whose spirits are never far from the music.
Share it freely, and for free!
- slipkid68