R.E.M. - 1982-11-16 - Lawrence, KS (SBD/FLAC)

(Soundboard FLAC)

Opera House, Lawrence KS 

lineage: 
SBD recording -> ? -> Listen Harder (silver disc bootleg CD) -> secure EAC rip -> FLAC

01. Gardening At Night 
02. 9-9 
03. Moral Kiosk 
04. Pilgrimage 
05. Shaking Through 
06. 7 Chinese Brothers 
07. Wolves, Lower 
08. Romance 
09. Sitting Still 
10. Pretty Persuasion 
11. Catapult 
12. 1,000,000 
13. Radio Free Europe 

This is a fantastically clean and clear soundboard recording of a young R.E.M., right before they were going into the studio to lay down the tracks on "Murmur". The audience was treated to seven of the tracks that would end up on the album, along with both sides of the first single, three tracks off "Chronic Town", two songs that would end up on Reckoning (!) and one that was a perennial live favourite of the band but was still a few years away from its final studio version (yes, I know, that adds up to 15 tracks. You do the math!). What's extra special about this recording is that the guitar and bass are mixed hard left, and all vocals and the drums hard right. That may not be ideal, but it's very revealing when listening through headphones.