The Reivers (Zeitgeist) - KUT Radio, Austin 11/11/85

A lot of you have gotten a charge out of my Reivers postings over the years, specifically their debut Translate Slowly, and demos for subsequent albums Saturday and End of the Day, so I thought I'd share this companion piece of sorts.  Tracked in late 1985 at Austin's publicly funded left-of-the-dial outlet KUT FM, this in-studio session isn't some mere four or five song pittance, rather a bona fide full length concert.  It followed on the heels of Translate Slowly, when the band was still going by their original moniker of Zeitgeist (which is how they're referred to by the DJ during this taping.  Part of Austin's so-called "new sincerity" movement, the co-ed Reivers hinted at the-then burgeoning indie-rock aplomb of combos like REM and Let's Active while incorporating a rootsy tenor that never went unnoticed.

Given the era of the performance, the better part of the aforementioned debut makes the setlist, including many a crucial selection like "Sound and the Fury," "Freight Train Rain" and "Araby" a;; wonderfully present and accounted for.  But Reivers aficionados were in for an even sweeter treat with the preview of tunes that would populate the quartet's second album, Saturday, by way of that record's title track, "Ragamuffin Man," and "Secretariat."  And what would an in-studio gig by a hipster contingent like these folks be without a tasteful cover or two (or three)?  Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" makes the cut, alongside the band's penultimate number for the evening, a fairly reverent traipse through "The Cowboy Song."  Not unsurprisingly there's abundance of friendly and even cheeky banter throughout.  Enjoy in your choice of MP3 or FLAC (though the FLAC bitrate isn't particularly high.  I didn't rip it, I swear!).

01. intro
02. Without my Sight
03. What Am I Doing
04. Saturday
05. Peanuts theme
06. Ragamuffin Man
07. Once in a While
08. In Your Eyes
09. Sound and the Fury
10. band intros
11. Freight Train Rain
12. Hill Country theme
13. Cowboys
14. She Digs Ornate
15. Fire
16. Secretariat
17. chat/Things Don't Change
18. Cowboy Song
19. Araby

MP3  or  FLAC