Adding stuff wouldn't screw with the original 5 songs at all. I'd love to hear anything from the pre-Murmur era.
Pageant 25 featured more demos as the bonus material. There’s never been an officially released 1986 concert.
Okay, thanks. Am going to revisit that one. I liked what Gehman did with the sound of the band on the record in studio - I liked the Mellencamp stuff, so. Anyway, thanks for the reminder. I kinda got lost with some of the REM bonus content releases as even the dualdisc 5.1 releases took up my brainspace let alone more bonus content releases.
Fwiw I respect the fact that he's not telling but also was able to divulge a lot of pertinent info for fans of the band per this release. I don't care who nixed it, but for some reason, I think the de facto assumption is 'it must be Stipe' so its kinda cool, to me, it wasn't.
Aside from the 1980 Bombay Studio session, which was not mined for Dead Letter Office and has never been bootlegged, and the 1982 RCA demos, which have been bootlegged, albeit in wretched sound quality, the band have Pat Biddle’s reel to reel soundboard masters of several 1981 Tyrone’s shows in their vault. That live material, among the best-recorded, most interesting, and historically important live recordings of R.E.M. that exist, was vetoed from this set. It’s out there for those who know where to look, and you don’t have to look too hard, but it would be interesting to hear in the best possible sound quality.
For sure, I appreciate his insight and info. But aren't all the complaints in this thread about withholding? I guess this info will "stay in the vault."
Will likely never happen, or at least not happen for quite some time, as the only surviving soundboards and audience recordings of the 1986 tour are on cassette. Unlike the 1984 tour, for which they brought in the Reflection Studios mobile truck to record shows in Durham and Charlotte for an official I.R.S. live album that almost, but never quite happened, or the 1988 tour, at the end of which Scott Litt professionally recorded several shows for what later became Live in Greensboro, there are no reel-to-reel soundboards of Pageantry. Nor is there a surviving FM radio broadcast tape like they have used for the 1983, 1984, and 1987 live shows they have featured as bonus material on the deluxe editions of Murmur, Reckoning, and Pageant. People in their camp who make these decisions don’t value the I.R.S. era live material and don’t think the fans want to hear shows sourced from cassette, although the Bingo Hand Job Record Store Day release was ironically enough in cassette sound quality. But there’s no rhyme or reason to how the bonus material for new anniversary editions gets selected, no one archivist fully authorized with the power to make decisions regarding these releases, and, as has been well established, at the drop of a hat, any one band member can always use his veto power to blow up anything, which is why first New Adventures 25 and now Chronic Town 40 have turned out the way they have.
I didn't mean to in any way single you or your post out in that way. Sorry if that's what it seemed like. Ha, clever line about the vault
Dreadful. Completely destroys all mystique, like you said. And that mystique was something that was so key to early R.E.M. Felt lost on Warners post-Out Of Time, but this is revisionist history and not in a good way. I have absolutely no problem with not getting left over tracks though. Some things stay in the vault for a reason.
Again, whatever one’s opinion of studio outtakes, there is professionally recorded live material of the highest quality from this era in the band’s vault, and they have already officially released live shows from 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2005, and 2008.
There was lots of speculation a year ago about early material getting official release, so this as an excuse to talk (whine) about the strange unwillingness to officially document the early live "Michael Stipe rockabilly voice" era even though the shows are great and have been unofficially available for decades.
The Who released what was essentially a cassette live recording from 1969 Ottawa show on the Super Tommy deluxe and it sounds really good. We can always hope
All things considered, the Pageantry tour was their best tour, in my opinion, and I’d love to see a Pageantry show officially released from a cassette/audience recording source. There are some out there that are more than listenable. The band never played better live than they did in 1986, they were at the perfect balance between their youthful naïveté and their mature professionalism. However, for the reasons I outlined above, I wouldn’t get my hopes up for an official release of a Pageantry show any time soon. The idea of a “bootleg series” of I.R.S. era live shows has been raised and shot down. Perhaps that will change in the future, but it’s not likely to change right away.
Mike Mills’s ability to follow the Georgia Bulldogs football team around the country for many seasons yet to come is in your hands, Felix.
A bit off topic but I'm wondering if anyone else here has the 2 digital download only "rarities" sets.....I purchased both and I enjoy the I.R.S Set quite abit......wish both were issued in physical c.d. form.
I got the Warner one from iTunes. The I.R.S. one was not interesting for me, because I basically already have all the tracks scattered across various reissue albums and best ofs.
I downloaded both back when they were released. They never did correct the issues with the WB rarities set, did they?
I wouldn't mind a release of the 1985 show I saw them do at Radio City. Feeling Gravitys Pull Harborcoat Green Grow the Rushes Skip a Rope (Henson Cargill cover) Hyena Maps and Legends Fall on Me Driver 8 So. Central Rain Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover) Pills (Bo Diddley cover) Can't Get There From Here 7 Chinese Bros. Auctioneer (Another Engine) Old Man Kensey Little America The Star-Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith & Francis Scott Key cover) Home on the Range (Daniel Kelley cover) Pretty Persuasion Life and How to Live It Encore: Second Guessing (Don't Go Back to) Rockville Behind Closed Doors (Charlie Rich cover) See No Evil (Television cover) Encore 2: Singing Cage Theme From Two Steps Onward Sitting Still Time After Time (AnnElise) Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) Moon River (Henry Mancini cover) Hey Diddle Diddle (James Elliot cover) Frogmore (James Elliot cover) Windout
It's a shame that there's no bonus live material from this time period. The Toronto show on the Murmur deluxe is excellent.
