I wonder if a (not-so-)secret reason they stuck all those weaksauce demos on this reissue was to make a point — “Look how hard we worked to avoid repeating ourselves... We threw out all this stuff!”
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 03:31 (four years ago) link
Yeah it opened them up creatively for sure - it was clear from the Document -> Green -> OOT -> Automatic trajectory that they were self-defining as "folk rock" pretty much, but Monster said you know what? not doing that shit any more, here's something else.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 03:34 (four years ago) link
http://exclaim.ca/music/article/torontos_sonic_boom_used_400_copies_of_r_e_m_monster_to_create_one_hell_of_a_window_display
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 06:27 (four years ago) link
giving some thought to the notion that the new mix is a troll - this is what you wanted, right? there ya go.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 08:50 (four years ago) link
What a joy of a review, Brad. Beautiful writing, colorful and passionate.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 13:10 (four years ago) link
^^^^^
― Tim F, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 13:34 (four years ago) link
^^^^
― Brad C., Tuesday, 5 November 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
^^^
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
thanks y'all <3
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 13:57 (four years ago) link
i become someoneon command
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 19:26 (four years ago) link
'Monster' is so fucking sexy. It's the sexiest REM album ever, and I have great trouble understanding people who categorically deny this!
The new mix - listened to it tonight - is shit though. Properly shit. Like Brad wrote, it removes or pushes back everything that makes Monster Monster. It smooths over all the rough and ugly and daring edges that made Monster what Monster is. I can't understand Litt doing this again and this being the result; even if it was in his free-ish time, come the fuck on...
It's a mystery to me how thousands of Monster cd's ended up in the $1 bins in the US. Perhaps here in Europe ppl were too ashamed to return their cd, idk? I'm not saying Monster wasn't rejected by some, but nowhere near on the scale like it was in the US. Regardless, this album still steams and rocks. One of those rare albums that will only gain praise and climb higher as time passes.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 22:49 (four years ago) link
I watched this interview y'day; Michael & Mike say that the producers of Friends (the sitcom) wanted to use "Shiny Happy People" as the theme song, and the band said no, so NBC hired another band to do an "R.E.M.-style" song. (This has nothing to do with Monster, other than the time period, but I thought it was funny.)
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 22:53 (four years ago) link
Pretty good interview and track by track commentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJje9gA9jsI
― brotherlovesdub, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 22:56 (four years ago) link
wait where is brad's review??
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 00:40 (four years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/rem-monster-25th-anniversary-edition/
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 00:44 (four years ago) link
thank you!
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 00:48 (four years ago) link
yes, terrific.
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 00:57 (four years ago) link
It's a mystery to me how thousands of Monster cd's ended up in the $1 bins in the US...
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 05:08 (four years ago) link
The packaging and inserts and stuff in this box are really nicely done.
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 05:27 (four years ago) link
Wow — in these liner notes, Stipe is really effusive about Michael Hutchence, and what a great friend and influence he was.
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 05:43 (four years ago) link
Why do the credits for the Scott Litt Remix™ say “Mixed by Clif Norrell”?
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 05:47 (four years ago) link
The two of them work together, Litt producer and Norrell engineer - so I'd presume the aesthetic decisions were made by Litt and Norrell created the corresponding mixes.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 05:53 (four years ago) link
That’s funny, he’s like — “Clif, turn that knob a little... a little more.... wait, too much”
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 06:07 (four years ago) link
My guess is Litt would handle the "why" and Norrell the "how" - there are lots of nuances in mixing beyond turning things up and down and panning them left or right, not that I am any kind of expert.I still think the new mixes are a troll and am disappointed I wasn't lauded for my penetrating insight.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 07:07 (four years ago) link
The new mix of "Bang and Blame" somehow brings into focus how much that song is a revisit of "Orange Crush" (but I like "Orange Crush" a lot better)
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 14:50 (four years ago) link
xp I like yr troll theory, but it sounds like Litt really wasn’t happy with the OG mix
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 14:53 (four years ago) link
The fact that the band is doing press for this, or that Stipe neatened his retirement beard and apparently took out the septum piercing, are further indicators that a reunion could be in the works.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 15:22 (four years ago) link
But it’s only Michael & Mike doing all the things!
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
It is interesting how heavily this one’s been promoted, though. I’m surprised myself at how much I’ve enjoyed getting back into it
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
Did they promote all those other reissues? Did Stipe participate? I can't remember.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 15:51 (four years ago) link
I don’t know, but Peter & Bill didn’t even show up for the liner-notes booklet interview.
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
I’m surprised myself at how much I’ve enjoyed getting back into it
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 6 November 2019 15:55 (four years ago) link
Yep, same here!
― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 16:09 (four years ago) link
The album has imo always been exceptionally good and the odd production is both the point of the exercise and one advantage it has over a lot of other ‘90s stabs at making some kind of future rock (vs modern rock).
― omar little, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 20:54 (four years ago) link
I’ve really grown to like the remix... with the alternate takes, etc., it makes for a looser, scrappier album; maybe more “musical,” in some ways (insofar as it brings out some of the individual parts). As a complement (not a replacement!), I think it’s a success.
― jeanie bueller energy (morrisp), Thursday, 7 November 2019 01:25 (four years ago) link
The live "What's the Frequency" on this is really fun; I think Mills's goofy harmonies on it probably don't belong on the record but they sound great live, just remind me of REM's history as a band blowing away college parties with dynamite ramshackle classic rock covers
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 7 November 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
re:the promotion, I remember a bunch of interviews & things for the Automatic reissue a couple years ago similarly just with Mills & Stipe, but it definitely seems like theyre doing more promo for this for whatever reason.
I really like the "doddering old married couple" dynamic that the two of them seem to have developed. Theres a really funny unboxing video with the two of them going through the monster set and showing almost none of it to the camera, just leafing through the pages and muttering "oh that looks cool, oh look at that, how neat" to each other.
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Thursday, 7 November 2019 17:33 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I find myself liking these guys all over again.
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Thursday, 7 November 2019 17:41 (four years ago) link
Btw- it hit me today that pieces of the vocal melody of "You" are sort of tweaked/recycled from "Fretless" (another great song)
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Thursday, 7 November 2019 17:53 (four years ago) link
I’ve mentioned this release to a few friends (R.E.M. fans) irl... they haven’t heard/bought it yet, but both mentioned that it’s covered in a recent episode of that Scott Aukerman/Adam Scott podcast. Sounds like those guys like the remix, fwiw.
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Sunday, 10 November 2019 03:10 (four years ago) link
Haha, that unboxing video is rather amusing.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 10 November 2019 03:34 (four years ago) link
Elsewhere on the Artist 100, R.E.M. debuts at No. 91, thanks to a 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of the band's classic album Monster. The set, which generated the Alternative Songs No. 1s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Bang and Blame," originally spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 beginning upon its debut on Oct. 15, 1994, and re-enters the latest ranking at No. 115 with 7,000 units earned, up 1,237%. The set also starts at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart.Monster became R.E.M.'s second of two Billboard 200 No. 1s, following 1991's Out of Time. The group disbanded in 2011.
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 04:12 (four years ago) link
Interesting that Automatic stalled around #2 (and sold 3,520,000); while Monster hit #1 (but only sold 2,900,000).
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 04:19 (four years ago) link
Or maybe not that interesting, I dunno. Automatic was probably kept out of the top spot by some huge album.
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 04:21 (four years ago) link
my guess was it was released in the middle of a Garth Brooks run of chart dominance and i was half right; it was released smack-dab around the moment Billy Ray Cyrus' album Some Gave All ended its 17(!) weeks at #1 and gave way to Brooks' The Chase six-week run at the top.
― omar little, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 04:33 (four years ago) link
Ha ha, Garth Brooks was also my stab-in-the-dark guess
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 04:51 (four years ago) link
Monster hit #1 (but only sold 2,900,000)
― dorsalstop, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 10:09 (four years ago) link
― Le Bateau Ivre, Tuesday, November 5, 2019 10:49 PM (one week ago)
I come across "Monster" in a lot of bargain bins here too. I think the bad reviews turned a lot of people against it. I never bought the album at the time but I heard some of it on the radio and I thought it sucked and REM were doing a big dumb rock move. I did like "Tongue" and "Whats the Frequency" at the time though. I love the album now though (after picking up a copy of it up in a bargain bin a few years ago!)
― The World According To.... (Michael B), Wednesday, 13 November 2019 10:23 (four years ago) link
Didn't like it much then (and god knows I tried). Given the tenor of most recent posts here, I was surprised to find how strongly I still dislike it today.
― dorsalstop, Wednesday, 13 November 2019 10:33 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbI0ry9bebE
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 20 October 2021 00:53 (two years ago) link