29 replies to this topic

[Stoffel]

http://www.slicingup...981-rare-video/

In February 1981, a full 18 months before releasing their debut Chronic Town EP, R.E.M. played three known concerts, including a pair in Atlanta opening for Joe “King” Carrasco at the 688 Club. Little of this period has been seen on video all these years later, but Slicing Up Eyeballs is thrilled to be able to premiere — courtesy of Wuxtry Records in Athens, Ga. — this 40-minute set filmed at one of those Atlanta dates.
The management of Wuxtry — where Peter Buck famously worked and met Michael Stipe — is putting some of the store’s long-held and uncirculated early-’80s video of R.E.M. and other classic Athens bands such as Pylon onto YouTube, beginning with this 13-song set that was recorded on videotape either on Feb. 20 or 21, 1981 (it’s difficult to tell which because, without bootlegs circulating, those shows’ setlists hadn’t been preserved).
As you can see, this footage — some of which was screened by Wuxtry’s owners at an Athens Historical Society event five years ago — shows the nascent band tearing through future classics (“Radio Free Europe,” “Gardening at Night”), covers (“Rave On”) and songs that ultimately would fall by the wayside (“Narrator,” “Dangerous Times”). It’s a thrilling snapshot of the band’s earliest era, and Stipe, in particular, is a dervish onstage.
Check out the full 40-minute set above; the 13-song setlist is reproduced below.

Setlist: R.E.M., 688 Club, Atlanta, GA; Feb. 20 or 21, 1981 *
1. “Rave On” (Partial)
2. “Burning Down”
3. “Dangerous Times”
4. “I Don’t Want You Anymore”
5. “Get on Their Way”
6. “Different Girl”
7. “Permanent Vacation”
8. “White Tornado”
9. “Narrator”
10. “Wind Out”
11. “Gardening at Night”
12. “Mystery to Me”
13. “Radio Free Europe”
* Opening for Joe “King” Carrasco

[pauloedu]

OMG... I can´t believe!!!!!!!! It happened today!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gravity113]

very nice.

[THE UNAFRAID]

A great way to end November!

[luc]

Great show!!!! Thank you!

[vplus]

is this the oldest performance footage we've ever seen?

[Limnophilia]

What a pleasure that was! So tight and songs like, say, Radio Free Europe haven't aged a day...can't wait for the whole lot of Wuxtry releases.

[Sweden]

vplus, on 30 November 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

is this the oldest performance footage we've ever seen?

The earliest known footage that has surfaced widely at least. There is footage from the 6 June 1980 rehearshal session at Wuxtry's in Atlanta, but it has never been circulated widely, and the 6 May 1980 show was filmed without sound.

[Lori]

Thanks so much!  This is real exciting to watch and at the same time makes me nostalgic (and a llitte sad).. what a great band, R.E.M.

[mirk]

vplus, on 30 November 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

is this the oldest performance footage we've ever seen?

Some of the June 6, 1980 video was shown at the Historical Society event mentioned in the link. Not circulated, but seen by some.

[snoorkelekroons]

That was great fun to watch! Finally footage of the band playing Narrator! ;-)
I hope it gets seeded somewhere and not just left on youtube.

[Driver Nate]

snoorkelekroons, on 01 December 2012 - 08:02 AM, said:

I hope it gets seeded somewhere and not just left on youtube.

The footage screened by the Athens Historical Society back in 2007 as part of their R.E.M. retrospective was originally supposed to be released on DVD but I'm not sure whatever became of that. I know I contacted them a couple of times and they assured me that it was still coming out but it never did. I'm not sure what happened there.

By the way, for those that may have missed it the first time this is a link to former Murmursian Eric Zimmerman's report on R.E.M. In Retrospective: An Athens History from his remring site.

Even though this story has been picked up by sites like Slicing Up Eyeballs (I believe they were the first to break it), I don't think the general public realizes just how important it is. It really captures R.E.M. in a moment in time that is largely unrepresented by any sort of video footage. There's lots of audio out there from this period but very little to no video, at least that I'm aware of.

By the way, the poster for this concert was posted on the R.E.M. Timeline page on Facebook earlier today.

[Reverend Bill Funderburk]

Wow. This is priceless. If only I'd been a few years older and born & raised in or around Athens or Atlanta.

[Driver Nate]

Reverend Bill Funderburk, on 01 December 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

Wow. This is priceless. If only I'd been a few years older and born & raised in or around Athens or Atlanta.

I feel fortunate to have grown up around such a vibrant music scene here in North Carolina but even still, I didn't see R.E.M. in concert until 1986. I had ample opportunity to see them prior to that but I was weary of traveling to concerts on my own. Even then I probably would have missed out on seeing them at the Pier but less likely that I would have missed them at Memorial Auditorium and Meredith College in Raleigh. Thankfully someone was filming a lot of those shows. I've been tickled shitless to learn that at least one of their shows at Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke in '87 was filmed. I'm also thankful to the fans (such as those behind the R.E.M. Timeline and Dan Wall from Wuxtry) that are taking the time and effort to make this sort of thing available to the public. If it were up to R.E.M. themselves, I have a feeling none of this stuff would ever see the light of day. On the other hand they've made it clear in recent years in regards to issues such as the trestle that they don't want to get too involved in preserving their own history. The Grateful Dead had their own archivists in folks like Dick Latvala and Dave Lemieux so I'm very thankful that R.E.M. also has their own archivists to preserve these precious and timeless recordings.

[jumping151]

Driver Nate-  do you know the status of the Cameron 1987 footage?  Will it be available for us to see?  Sounds pretty thrilling...

[Driver Nate]

jumping151, on 01 December 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

Driver Nate-  do you know the status of the Cameron 1987 footage?  Will it be available for us to see?  Sounds pretty thrilling...

I have no idea. My guess is, it'll be uploaded to YouTube at some point but I honestly don't know for sure. I'm also gathering that some of this stuff is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what's out there that's never been seen by R.E.M. fans at large.

[snoorkelekroons]

Driver Nate, on 01 December 2012 - 03:38 PM, said:

I'm also gathering that some of this stuff is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what's out there that's never been seen by R.E.M. fans at large.

big smile after reading that! Cheers!

[JohnnyJLawless]

Driver Nate, on 01 December 2012 - 03:38 PM, said:

I have no idea. My guess is, it'll be uploaded to YouTube at some point but I honestly don't know for sure. I'm also gathering that some of this stuff is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what's out there that's never been seen by R.E.M. fans at large.

I find the recent appearance of a lot more of the album mixes/demos fascinating. Same with this tape. What really interests me is why a lot of this is only appearing now. I can remember what it was like being a fan before the internet, when bootlegs or archive appearances of the band  on TV was about the only place you could get rare stuff. Why didn't things like this video appear when youtube first came around?

I'm not complaining, I just find it really interesting. Are they recent discoveries found in a box, or did the Wuxtry guys always know that they had them?  With the mixes, is it engineers waiting until the band broke up before releasing what they had?  For example, if I have a film recording of REM at Duke University, would I not have realized by now that I have something rare on my hands? Or is it really that simple as someone who recorded it forgot that they had it? It's exciting to think that we may be having discoveries like this for some time to come and i'd love to hear any stories that people have behind new REM material popping up. Mike Peters finding all that Fables stuff in the IRS vault was great.

The mixes, for example, anyone want to tell me about how they came about, and why it only happened recently? They suggested that there were more to come... Have there ever been any cases where the masters have leaked out? I thought I was on top of all the bootleg stuff but recent events have shown me that i'm far from in the know! That would be the motherlode. I'd give anything to hear some of the more buried channels of pretty much any REM album. I finally want to find out what some of the Heron House backing vocals were...

[Driver Nate]

I don't really have any answers, I can only guess that a lot of this stuff remained unreleased out of respect to R.E.M. As for what Dan Wall of Wuxtry has in his possession, it isn't exactly secret since he screened some it during that R.E.M. retrospective that was hosted by the Athens Historical Society in 2007. According to the R.E.M. Timeline folks some of the concert footage was shot either by the venue or the band themselves. Again, I can't think of any explanation as to why it's only surfacing now, I can just be thankful that it is.

[cjr67]

JohnnyJLawless, on 02 December 2012 - 07:15 AM, said:

It's exciting to think that we may be having discoveries like this for some time to come and i'd love to hear any stories that people have behind new REM material popping up. Mike Peters finding all that Fables stuff in the IRS vault was great.

Yeah, all this stuff surfacing has been great.  As far as I know we've never really gotten any definitive information about what exactly was on the tapes that Peters found in the IRS vault but between that, the Bomby sessions, and various remaining outtakes, demos and live tracks it seems like R.E.M. could pull together a pretty compelling box set if they stil had the desire.  It'll probably be a while though (although hopefully before physical media like CDs disappear altogether).  In the meantime, I look forward to more fan stuff making its way into the world.