14 replies to this topic

[moonsome]

R.E.M.

Life's Rich Pageant And More (demos for the "Life's Rich Pageant" album, + misc live)

Spring 1986, John Keane's Studio, Athens, GA

Source: Silver CD ("Lifes Rich Pageant And More" bootleg CD, WHO AM I WAI022)

The Who Am I bootleg cover art is included. Also included is alternate (and much better) artwork from www.remcoverstudio.com.

Lineage: CD --> CDex --> WAVs --> FLAC

Tracks:

01-14 Demos for Lifes Rich Pageant album

01 Theme From Two Steps Onward
02 Just A Touch
03 Mystery To Me / Wait (no track split on original CD)
04 Begin The Begin
05 Cuyahoga
06 I Believe
07 Interim Medley
08 Rotary Ten
09 These Days
10 PSA (Bad Day)
11 Underneath The Bunker
12 Swan Swan H
13 The Flowers Of Guatemala
14 King Of Birds (called "March" on original CD)

15-24 various live venues

15 Theme From Two Steps Onward
16 California Dreaming
17 Mississippi Queen
18 Whole Lotta Love
19 Funtime
20 After Hours
21 Oddfellows Local 151
22 Born To Run
23 Eight Miles High / Roadrunner (no track split on original CD)
24 When I Was Young

15-16 Stock Pavilion, Madison, WI 4/30/85
17-20 Trask Auditorium, Wilmington, NC 11/16/86 (with Corky Laing "Mountain")
21-22 Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC 11/15/86
23 Ripley's, Philadelphia, PA 4/20/83
24 Busch Student Center, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 4/28/85

Transcription of the somewhat-incorrect liner notes from the bootleg (track numbers given often incorrect):

LIFES RICH PAGEANT
Demos & Outtakes recorded in spring 1986-John Keane's Studios-Athens, GA.
Total Time: 75:00

1. THEME FROM TWO STEPS ONWARDS-outtake
(Originally recorded with full orchestra for "Fables Of The Recon-struction"-this version is stripped down-
one of the great unreleased REM tracks)

2. JUST A TOUCH-demo
(Played live frequently from 1981-1986 before finally being released)

3. IT'S A MYSTERY TO ME-outtake
(Also frequently played live, but only up until 1982)

4. WAIT-outtake [ripper's note: not indexed as track 4 on CD, instead as part of track 3]
(Found frequently on early live vinyl bootlegs-was best not released!)

5. BEGIN THE BEGIN-demo
(Notice the prominent bass and lazy vocals compared to the final product)

6. CUYAHOGA-demo
(Much different inflection in Stip's [sic] voice-last half of song is instrumental)

7. I BELIEVE-demo
(End product of "When I Was Young", a song played live at dates during the 1985 "Preconstruction Tour")

7.a. INTERIM MEDLEY

8. ROTARY TEN-outtake-instrumental-eventual B side
(Named after a fictious movie sountrack)

9. THESE DAYS-demo
(one of the most favorite "Pageant" songs-very different vocals)

10. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (PSA)-outtake
(never meant to be released-a serious release of tension for Stipe-notice his attemt [sic] at the harmonica!)

11. UNDERNEATH THE BUNKER-demo
(added to the album at the last moment-one of fans most loved instrumentals)

12. SWAN SWAN H-demo
(Worked up live during the "Reconstruction" tour in mid-1985-a sad song of the War Between The States)

13. THE FLOWERS OF GUATEMALA-demo-instrumental
(A Story of U.S. intervention in Central America)

14. MARCH-outtake-instrumental
(Eventually released with vocals as "King Of Birds", on the next album-"Document")

All Songs: W.T. Berry, M.E. Mills, P.L. Buck, J.M. Stipe
published By Night Garden Music-Administered by Unichappel Music, Inc.
(BMI)

Rare Live:

15. THEME FROM TWO STEPS ONWARD-Madison, WI-30 April 1985

16. CALIFORNIA DREAMING-Madison, WI-30 April 1985
(Great live version of the "Mamas And The Papas" hit)

17. MISSISSIPPI QUEEN-WHOLE LOTTA LOVE-FUNTIME-AFTER HOURS Jam-Wilmington, NC-16 November 1986
[ripper's note: tracks indexed separately on CD, not as one long track as liner notes indicate]
(With Corky Laing "Mountain")

18. ODDFELLOWS LOCAL 151-BORN TO RUN-Durham, NC 15 November 1986
[ripper's note: tracks indexed separately on CD, not as one long track as liner notes indicate]
(early different live version of the former, and The Boss "classic"!)

19. EIGHT MILES HIGH-ROADRUNNER-Philadelphia, PA 30 Juli 1983
[ripper's note: given date is wrong, actually was 7/20/83]
(The Byrds classic mixed with the cartoon classic!)

20. WHEN I WAS YOUNG Piscataway, NJ 28 April 1985
(An early version of "I Believe"-played live only twice-a true rarity!)

Liner Notes:
We at Who Am I asked the most prominend (sic) R.E.M. collectors what they wanted on disc that has yet to released. The result was the undigging of two sets of gems. LIFES RICH PAGEANT demos and outtakes, and a collection of live classics, both of the band and other artists. The former represents demos of the band in transition, going from the incredibly moody and dark "Fables Of The Reconstruction" to a more powerful product with new producer, Don Gehman. The latter is a bundle of odd covers and early versions that the band soon forgot. So sit back, relax, enjoy the ride, and look for more great titles in the future!
---Professor Jones

------------------------

Sound of the demos is 6/10, maybe 7/10. I'd guess the bootleggers didn't have an early generation tape to master this from. The live tracks are all over the map, some excellent quality, some poor. But that's bootleggers for ya


http://www.thetrader...ead.php?t=16326

[quiet-cats]

Thanks for posting this :) - I love demos - to me it's like looking at pictures of a child when you only know them as adult:)

[sashwap]

i lost these demos a few years back, and they seem to have vanished from torrent sites. can anyone reupload or point me to a place that has them?

thanks!

[Driver Nate]

I'd love to hear the complete show from Durham as it was my first ever R.E.M. concert. I never knew until now that it even got recorded.

[clicli]

Thanks very much.

[thomas08]

Driver Nate said:

I'd love to hear the complete show from Durham as it was my first ever R.E.M. concert. I never knew until now that it even got recorded.

http://zombtracker.t...ls.php?id=23353

[pauloedu]

hi, I´d like this demos too. Can someone please upload it??

thanks..

[sashwap]

anyone have these? they've disappeared from each torrent site. i'd love to replace my lost copy.

[TheMiddleDistance]

pauloedu said:

hi, I´d like this demos too. Can someone please upload it??

thanks..

Yeah, I'd like these too. Are they still around?

[thomas08]

here's the demos that were posted above:

http://www.4shared.c...nstrations.html

also i noticed someone saying the generation on these is pretty bad so here's the same demos as above but taken from different boots with better quality!

http://www.4shared.c...Misc_Demos.html

[TheMiddleDistance]

Thanks. Grabbed um.

[wagtail]

thomas08 said:

here's the demos that were posted above:

http://www.4shared.c...nstrations.html

also i noticed someone saying the generation on these is pretty bad so here's the same demos as above but taken from different boots with better quality!

http://www.4shared.c...Misc_Demos.html

Thanks for this, Thomas.

[Driver Nate]

thomas08 said:

http://zombtracker.t...ls.php?id=23353

That's not the Durham show at Duke I was referring to. It's a link to a download of what is known as We're Having A Heavenly Time from 9.24.84. The concert I'm looking for is from Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke from November 15th, 1986. Does anyone know where I can find that one?

[Driver Nate]

thomas08 said:

here's the demos that were posted above:

http://www.4shared.c...nstrations.html

also i noticed someone saying the generation on these is pretty bad so here's the same demos as above but taken from different boots with better quality!

http://www.4shared.c...Misc_Demos.html

I just downloaded the tunes from the second link but it's not all of the tracks listed in the first post of this thread (or on the artwork at remcoverstudio.com). Does anyone know where I can find the rest of the recordings?

* Edited to add: the first link doesn't appear to have all of the tracks either.

Edited by Driver Nate, 06 October 2009 - 12:37 PM.

[sashwap]

still looking for flacs of this. one of my very favorite bootlegs! help me out :)