Fables of the Reconstruction

Fables of the Reconstruction (or Reconstruction of the Fables) is the third studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released on June 10, 1985, through I.R.S. Records. It was the band's first album recorded outside of the U.S., with sessions taking place at Livingston Studios in London with producer Joe Boyd. The record displays a darker, murkier sound and lyrics drawing from Southern Gothic themes and characters. Additionally, more varied instrumentation is utilized, including string and brass arrangements and banjo.

Critical reception to Fables of the Reconstruction was positive, with many reviews noting its folk elements and murky tone. Retrospectively, it has also been viewed as a transitional album, retaining the sound and obscure themes of the band's early work while hinting at the experimentation with acoustic instrumentation that would be present on their later albums. The album's sales reflected R.E.M.'s growing popularity, with it becoming their second album to reach the top 30 in the US and first to make the top 40 in the UK. It was later certified Gold by the RIAA in 1991. While none of its singles achieved mainstream chart success, "Driver 8" has since become one of R.E.M.'s best-known and most-covered songs from their early period.

Production


After working with Don Dixon and Mitch Easter on their first two albums, Murmur (1983) and Reckoning (1984), R.E.M. decided to work with a different producer for their next album. Those considered to produce the album included Van Dyke Parks, Hugh Padgham (who had been achieving great success with his work with acts such as The Police and Genesis), Elliot Mazer (known for working with Neil Young) and Elvis Costello. Parks was lead vocalist Michael Stipe's first choice, as he had just recently released the album Jump! (1984), which was based on Uncle Remus folk tales which had been popular in the American south during the post-Reconstruction era. Because of this, Stipe felt Parks would be the right fit for the material he had written which similarly had a heavy focus on Southern themes and storytelling traditions.

After a period of consideration, the band chose to work with London-based producer Joe Boyd. The band's guitarist, Peter Buck, particularly wanted to work with Boyd, known for his work with folk rock acts such as Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and Richard and Linda Thompson. After having recorded their first two albums in North Carolina, the band instead flew to London to record the album at Livingston Studios. Conditions were less than ideal: the band had a long commute from their Mayfair residency to the studio, while London was at the tail end of a rough winter, with Buck later recalling, "It rained every day it wasn't snowing". Boyd's work ethic reportedly caused tensions with the band, as his precise attention to detail contrasted with the more spontaneous approach utilized on the previous two albums. Dixon and Easter had worked quickly while at the same time encouraging the band to experiment, as opposed to Boyd who instead spent hours mixing and remixing songs, which the band felt removed some of the energy and spontaneity of the performances.

Boyd would later describe the recording period as "not the best time in my life", while also pointing out that despite turmoil within the band at the time, "they seemed to get along better than most groups I’ve worked with". He felt that R.E.M.'s approach to mixing was unique in comparison to other acts: "When you mix a record, traditionally the singer wants his voice louder, and the guitar player says, 'Turn up the guitar,' and the bass player says, 'Can’t you make the bass parts punchier?' With R.E.M., everyone wanted themselves turned down".

Music and lyrics
Fables of the Reconstruction mixes the band's established style with folk elements and a darker sound. Described by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as "creepy, rustic psychedelic folk", the album introduced new instrumentation for the band including strings, brass, and banjo. Prior to the recording of the album, Stipe listened to Appalachian folk music and took an interest in the tradition of legends and stories passed through generations, both of which played an influence on the material. The combination of the album's sound and its lyrical content's elements of Southern folklore and iconography has led many critics to declare Fables to be R.E.M.'s most "Southern" album. Many of the song's lyrics describe eccentric, unusual characters; Matthew Perpetua of Pitchfork described the album's aesthetic as "evok[ing] images of railroads, small towns, eccentric locals, oppressive humidity, and a vague sense of time slowing to a crawl."

The album opener, "Feeling Gravitys Pull", starts with a dark, chromatic guitar riff played by Buck. The song's lyrics reference Dadaist/surrealist artist Man Ray, and include imagery relating to the experience of having a dream. The dreary tone of the song is augmented by the use of a string quartet; in a review for Rolling Stone, Parke Puterbaugh described the cello as "seem[ing] to drag down and halt time" and adding to the "unnerving" and "dirgelike" feel of the song. Like many of R.E.M.'s songs, "Maps and Legends" uses bassist Mike Mills' backing vocals as a counterpoint to Stipe's lead during the chorus. Its lyrics were inspired by Howard Finster, a Baptist minister and outsider artist who had created the album art for Reckoning the previous year. Tyler Golsen of Far Out describes "Driver 8" as a "classic railroad song". He considers it a showcase for Buck's playing as both an "intricate picker" and a "folky rock star".

"Life and How to Live It" takes inspiration from a book entitled Life: How to Live by eccentric Athens–based author Brivs Mekis. Mekis infamously split his house into two halves and alternated living between the two when he died. After his death, copies of the book were found; despite these copies being made none had ever been sold or given away. "Old Man Kensey" is another song which "celebrate[s] an eccentric individual living in the Deep South." Writing for Drowned in Sound, Andrezj Lukowski describes the song as "a nightmarish tale of a crazed old guy." Lead single "Cant Get There from Here" sees the band integrate elements of soul and funk into their sound as shown by the use of a horn section. Perpetua describes the song as "approximated Southern funk", while Puterbaugh feels it "sets a tone of dislocation that pervades the entire record". "Green Grow the Rushes" was written as part of a pact between Stipe and 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant; both agreed to write a song about the genocide of Native Americans, with Merchant writing "Among the Americans" for her band's 1985 album The Wishing Chair.

"Kohoutek" features Stipe's use of falsetto. Lukowski feels that Stipe's lyrics on this song are more personal, and that he associates himself with the other outcast characters on the record. In a retrospective for uDiscoverMusic, Tim Peacock describes "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" as "atypically jagged and aggressive" for the band. He goes on to state that its "urgent, anthemic sound" hints at the direction the band would take with their follow-up album, Lifes Rich Pageant (1986). Parke has described "Good Advices" (as well as "Green Grow the Rushes") as "Byrds-like balladry." Lukowski refers to its lyrics as "paranoid but strangely reassuring old time wisdom." "Wendell Gee" closes the album and features Buck playing the banjo. Continuing on the album's theme of eccentric characters, Puterbaugh considers its lyrics to be a "surreal, lachrymose fable about some back-country oddball."

Release
Work on Fables of the Reconstruction finished in early April, and the album was released on June 10, 1985. The album's packaging leaves it unclear as to whether its true title is Fables of the Reconstruction or Reconstruction of the Fables, with the sleeve featuring two "front covers" rather than traditional front and back covers; each one displays one of the two potential album titles. This extends to the record label, where side one is referred to as "a side" and displays the album name as Fables of the Reconstruction, whilst side two is labeled "another side" and displays the title as Reconstruction of the Fables. In the US, Fables reached number 28, becoming their second straight top 30 album but charting one spot lower than Reckoning. The record would eventually be certified Gold by the RIAA for sales in excess of 500,000 copies on June 24, 1991. In the UK, the album reached number 35, giving R.E.M. their first top 40 album there. It was also the band's first record to chart in Canada, reaching number 40, while in New Zealand it peaked at number 29.

"Cant Get There from Here" was released as the album's lead single. While it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, it did reach number 10 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, equivalent to a Hot 100 placement of 110. The song achieved more success on the US Mainstream Rock Airplay (then named Top Rock Tracks) chart, peaking at number 14, their highest placement on that chart up to that point. Upon its release, Cash Box described the single as having "a fully rocking chorus and a typically steady and murky verse [which gives] this cut superior pop character as well as giving mainstream listeners a taste of what college radio has known about for years." Both 7" and 12" versions of the single were released; the 7" was backed with the non-album track "Bandwagon", while the 12" version included both "Bandwagon" and another previously unreleased song, "Burning Hell", on its B-side.

"Driver 8", the album's second single, also charted on the Top Rock Tracks chart, reaching a peak of number 22. The B-side of the single included a cover of "Crazy" by fellow Athens band Pylon. It has gone on to become one of R.E.M.'s most-covered songs, with versions being recorded by acts including Hootie & the Blowfish and Jason Isbell. "Wendell Gee" was chosen for the album's third and final single (released in Europe only) and became their first song to chart in the UK, reaching a peak of number 91.

Critical reception
Reception to Fables of the Reconstruction was generally positive. In a review for Rolling Stone, Parke Puterbaugh awarded the album four stars out of five, referring to it as "unretouched R.E.M. in all their rough-cut glory", and felt the band sounded "surer than they did on Reckoning". He went on to liken Fables songs to the "insular mood weaving" of Murmur. Robert Christgau declared that Boyd's production confirmed that the band's "formal frame of reference is folk rock". However, he also felt the band was able to "defeat folk rock's crippling stasis: they have a good beat, and you can boogie to them".

Retrospective reviews have also been positive. In a review for AllMusic, Erlewine states that despite finding the album to be less consistent than the band's first two, it does "demonstrate musical growth, particularly in how perfectly it evokes the strange rural legends of the South." He goes on to list "Feeling Gravitys Pull", "Maps and Legends", "Green Grow the Rushes", "Auctioneer (Another Engine)", and the first two singles as "among the group's best" songs. Scott Gordon of The A.V. Club feels that Fables is the record where R.E.M. "mastered the art of effortlessly mismatching itself from album to album, and even song to song." He also highlights the eerie atmosphere of the album, stating that songs such as "Green Grow the Rushes" and "Good Advices" "might have otherwise fit beautifully" on the band's first two records, but instead, in the context of Fables, "trade some of the band's early understatement for suspense."

Matthew Perpetua's review for Pitchfork describes the album as "overlooked and transitional", and considers it to be a "dark and murky set with a textural palette close to the muted earth tones of its packaging." Like Erlewine, he finds the album to be less consistent than its two predecessors, but still praises it as "great" and "inspired". In a review for Drowned in Sound, Lukowski refers to Fables as a "Southern Gothic masterpiece". She considers it an "infinitely detailed" album which "rewards patience", while describing it as a "dark, dissonant record". Jonathan Keefe of Slant feels that Fables is R.E.M.'s most thematically cohesive album. He considers its lyrics to not be "simply a retelling of [its] myths or a hagiography for these men", referring to the characters featured throughout the album's songs. Rather, he feels they display "pointed, thoughtful consideration of what these stories mean and, specifically, of how Stipe perceives them."

Band opinions
The members of R.E.M. have expressed varying opinions on Fables since its release. In 1987, drummer Bill Berry bluntly stated that Fables "sucked". In a Rolling Stone interview from 1991, Buck was dismissive of "Driver 8", saying, "I can write that kind of stuff in my sleep. We all can." However, Stipe, who once infamously compared the album's sound to "two oranges being nailed together", stated in the same 1991 interview that he believed Fables contained the band's strongest set of songs up to that point. Buck has since spoken positively about Fables, stating in the liner notes of the album's 25th anniversary reissue: "Over the years, a certain misapprehension about Fables of the Reconstruction has built up. For some reason, people have the impression that the members of R.E.M. don't like the record. Nothing could be further from the truth. [...] It's a personal favorite, and I'm really proud of how strange it is. Nobody but R.E.M. could have made that record."

Track listing
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe" except "Old Man Kensey", co-written by Jeremy Ayers.

A side


 * 1) "Feeling Gravitys Pull" – 4:48
 * 2) "Maps and Legends" – 3:10
 * 3) "Driver 8" – 3:23
 * 4) "Life and How to Live It" – 4:06
 * 5) "Old Man Kensey" – 4:08

Another side


 * 1) "Cant Get There from Here" – 3:39
 * 2) "Green Grow the Rushes" – 3:46
 * 3) "Kohoutek" – 3:18
 * 4) "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" – 2:44
 * 5) "Good Advices" – 3:30
 * 6) "Wendell Gee" – 3:01

R.E.M.

 * Bill Berry (credited as "WT Berry – Best Boy") – drums, backing vocals
 * Peter Buck (credited as "PL Buck – Ministry of Music") – guitar, banjo, harmonica
 * Mike Mills (credited as "ME Mills – Consolate Mediator") – bass guitar, backing vocals, piano
 * Michael Stipe (credited as "JM Stipe – Gaffer Interpretor") – lead vocals

Additional musicians

 * Camilla Brunt – violin (1)
 * Philippa Ibbotson – violin (1)
 * David Newby – cello (1)
 * Pete Thomas – tenor saxophone (6)
 * David Bitelli – tenor and baritone saxophone (6)
 * Jim Dvorak – trumpet (6)

Production

 * Joe Boyd – production
 * Berry Clempson – audio engineering
 * Tony Harris – engineering
 * M. K. Johnston – photography and art

Release history
Notes
 * † I.R.S. Vintage Years edition, with bonus tracks
 * †† 25th Anniversary edition, with bonus disc