the remaster has been on streaming services since they announced this. it sounds pretty good.
― akm, Saturday, 12 October 2019 02:30 (four years ago) link
> nothing will ever replace the original because there are hundreds of copies of it in every retail establishment in the world, enough to last millions of years
Is anyone buying those hundreds of copies? CD stores have closed across the developed world, CD sales have plunged even online, and more and more people today don’t even own a CD player. As the world moves to streaming, it is certainly possible for remastered and reworked versions to obscure the original releases.
― Melomane, Saturday, 12 October 2019 06:20 (four years ago) link
One of the best things around the original Let Me In mix was the extent to which Stipe's vocal sounded like it was drowning in the guitars. That and the organ line at the end. Obviously the remix dispenses with both those elements.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 12 October 2019 07:53 (four years ago) link
smdh
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Saturday, 12 October 2019 13:05 (four years ago) link
in the future all home will be insulated with copies of Monster
― akm, Saturday, 12 October 2019 14:42 (four years ago) link
xpost exactly what I said before. everything good about the song got ditched in this! well not everything, the song itself is actually a good song. but everything good about the production. this just sounds like an unmixed version. it's stupid.
― akm, Saturday, 12 October 2019 14:43 (four years ago) link
I like hearing Stipe's performance on it clearer. It's kind of like a Husker Du song. Very sad song.
― timellison, Saturday, 12 October 2019 18:56 (four years ago) link
Also: maybe it's just that one guitar on the original, just more processed.
― timellison, Saturday, 12 October 2019 19:01 (four years ago) link
Mills on guitar iirc
Buck on Farfisa
― timellison, Saturday, 12 October 2019 19:02 (four years ago) link
Berry on Heineken
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Saturday, 12 October 2019 19:04 (four years ago) link
Tambourine!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19hhctlleNo
― timellison, Saturday, 12 October 2019 19:06 (four years ago) link
Haha, I thought so (but couldn’t resist the joke)
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Saturday, 12 October 2019 19:12 (four years ago) link
Stipe’s comments about the song at the time have always stuck with me, that he felt that if he too had become super-famous at a younger age, that he wouldn’t have survived it. R.E.M. were nice guys.
― timellison, Saturday, 12 October 2019 21:48 (four years ago) link
I'd like to hear Document with a little less of the eighties production, that's for sure.
― Maresn3st, Saturday, 12 October 2019 22:28 (four years ago) link
xp xref “How to Disappear Completely”
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Sunday, 13 October 2019 00:13 (four years ago) link
lmao wait til y'all hear the "king of comedy" remix
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 20 October 2019 22:11 (four years ago) link
make your money
― billstevejim, Wednesday, 23 October 2019 03:28 (four years ago) link
nothing will ever replace the original because there are hundreds of copies of it in every retail establishment in the world, enough to last millions of years― akm, Friday, October 11, 2019 10:04 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
― akm, Friday, October 11, 2019 10:04 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
lol seriously. there were always 3-4 copies of this album and new order's republic in every used CD bin in the late 90s.
― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, 23 October 2019 16:07 (four years ago) link
And it's in 50% of the charity shops in Britain right now, alongside Free Peace Sweet, Onka's Big Moka and every Robbie Williams record.
― Maresn3st, Wednesday, 23 October 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
SPICEWORLD
― kinder, Wednesday, 23 October 2019 20:43 (four years ago) link
the Best Of Bread of the digital era
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 23 October 2019 21:52 (four years ago) link
New interview, some good lines: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/entertainment-arts-50206491
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 03:50 (four years ago) link
I like how they’re basically — “Scott’s new remix is whatever, we had nothing to do with it....”
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 03:55 (four years ago) link
The band built an app so you can A/B the two versions: https://www.engadget.com/amp/2019/10/29/rem-monster-25th-anniversary-remix-compare-web-app/
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 14:51 (four years ago) link
All these years later, I'm finding that "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" not a highlight for me at the time, has totally held up for me. I want to sing along with it at the top of my lungs whenever I hear it.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 14:56 (four years ago) link
In the vernacular of the era: "Could the vocal BE any drier and more upfront?"
https://66.media.tumblr.com/1ab7daff8828955c68405b62752224d5/tumblr_p4trcpBLJD1x4bi9zo6_250.png
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 16:37 (four years ago) link
I'll admit it's interesting to actually hear (parse) the lyrics of "Star 69" for the first time.
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link
It sounds like they purposefully used the murkiest, lowest-quality dub of the original album they could find for purposes of that A/B listening page
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Tuesday, 29 October 2019 16:48 (four years ago) link
Remastered 'Crush With Eyeliner' sounds tremendous.
― Matt DC, Friday, 1 November 2019 14:02 (four years ago) link
That's the one that hit me too.
Wavered between "Ehh?" and "OK?" to "I guess?" on most of these, but Litt did a pretty good number on "Crush".
Still like the original tho'.
― pplains, Friday, 1 November 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
You guys talkin bout the REMastered or REMixed tracks?
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Friday, 1 November 2019 14:41 (four years ago) link
the surf guitar touches on the remix of “crush with eyeliner” are interesting but distracting imo
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 14:54 (four years ago) link
“crush with eyeliner” remix is actively unlistenable
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 14:55 (four years ago) link
er i meant “king of comedy”*
Oh I'm not bothering with the remix, I'm only talking about the remaster here, which is much the same as the original but really pops in all the right places.
― Matt DC, Friday, 1 November 2019 14:59 (four years ago) link
yes the remastering job is sweet, i was reminded of the mirage and tango in the night remasters in that a lot of subtle detail gets raised up very tastefully
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 15:09 (four years ago) link
I’m actually kind of enjoying the remix(!), now that I’m listening to it straight through. It definitely makes a... different impression.
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Friday, 1 November 2019 16:27 (four years ago) link
I went thru the rough/unfinished demos on my drive... a few of them sound like they could have made good songs, but most sound like super-generic R.E.M. jams.
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Friday, 1 November 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link
I really like the remix! "I Don't Sleep, I Dream" is fabulous: Litt draws consistently on the doomy side of the album, in emphasizing the bass, and it lifts this song into something new (rather than just subtracting something old, like on WTFK).
― L'assie (Euler), Friday, 1 November 2019 17:21 (four years ago) link
i find the extremely audible amp hiss on "i don't sleep i dream" p much ruins it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 17:22 (four years ago) link
listening to the remix r/n and finding it totally hapless for my own ears --- there's definitely neat "revealed details" but it's sorta missing the whole reason i wanna listen to Monster. pulling stipe's voice out and pushing the band back... it sounds like a solo album demo tape, or a late-period REM album maybe. and some of the lyrics that are going for camp menace end up sounding just goofy, idk. like idk, "star 69" and "bang and blame" and "tongue" come through okay, but "circus envy" without everything brickwalled and fuzzed out sounds a lot like "ignoreland" in the "squares trying to be a heavy caveman riff band" kinda way.
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
it does sound like a demo tape! i hate it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:08 (four years ago) link
the only smart choice i can point to is subtracting the drums from the first verse/chorus of "you," that sounds pretty cool
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:09 (four years ago) link
I thought "Tongue" came out well. None of these are going to replace for me the original versions (well, maybe "Strange Currencies", the only song on this I've never liked).
I thought it was weird that Mike Mills' voice is mostly cut, but there are other female vocals I never noticed before brought to the forefront. Who are they? Is Stipe's sister on this?
― L'assie (Euler), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:09 (four years ago) link
Ané Diaz – backing vocals on "Bang and Blame"Sally Dworsky – backing vocals on "King of Comedy" and "Bang and Blame"Lynda Stipe – backing vocals on "Bang and Blame"
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
sally dworsky's and stipe's gang vocals at the end of "king of comedy" are prob my favorite moment on the whole record
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:14 (four years ago) link
I only discovered today that she's also on the Lion King soundtrack. That's quite the early 90s CV.
― Matt DC, Friday, 1 November 2019 18:41 (four years ago) link
huh, cool! the end of "King of Comedy" is really fun now in the remix, in a way I'd never noted before
― L'assie (Euler), Friday, 1 November 2019 18:51 (four years ago) link
I think part of the deal for me with the remix is that I’ve listen to this album so many times, it’s kind of become “ossified,” so it’s nice to be able to hear the songs with fresh ears... even if the remixed version is definitely not the one I would recommend to someone coming in new!
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Saturday, 2 November 2019 05:07 (four years ago) link