A/B the original and 25th anniversary mixes of REM's Monster

In what is a nice little taste test for REM fans in advance of Craft Recordings deluxe 25th anniversary reissue of Monster, the original and 2019 remixes of the album can be compared side by side.

Just point your cursor here and you will find an interactive player that lets you A/B producer Scott Litt's original and 2019 mixes of the album. As Litt explains above, he was never quite happy with his original mix, and given a second chance he has quite dramatically changed the record's audio profile.

The 25th Anniversary reissue of Monster has also been remastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, and will be released on Friday 1 November on all the usual formats, digitally and on streaming services. 

You can order it through the link on the interactive player, which requires you to log in with your Apple Music or Spotify account to access the full tracks – alternatively you can preview them as 30-second snippets.

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.