Fables Of The Reconstruction

Performer: R.E.M.
Producer: Joe Boyd
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: R.E.M.: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar); Mike Mills (bass, vocals); Bill Berry (drums). Additional personnel: Camilla Brunt, Phillipa Ibbotson (violin); David Newby (cello); Pete Thomas (tenor saxophone); David Bitelli (tenor & baritone saxophones); Jim Dvorak (trumpet). Engineers: Jerry Boys, Tony Harris, Barry Clempson. Recorded at Livingston Studios, London, England in March 1985. Personnel: Michael Stipe (vocals); Peter Buck (guitar); Camilla Brunt, Philippa Ibbotson (violin); David Newby (cello); David Bitelli (saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Pete Thomas (tenor saxophone); Jim Dvorak (trumpet); Bill Berry (drums). Recording information: Livingston Studios, London, England. FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION finds R.E.M.'s star rising fast. With major label world domination still comfortably off in the future, the band was still experimenting; their jangly frenetic sound was deepening by fathoms, and Michael Stipe's formless rants were solidifying (his diction was improving, too, which only served to clarify his prodigious poetic gift). The album featured some of the group's most solid pop songcraft to date, as well as some pretty heady meandering ("Feeling Gravity's Pull"). FABLES produced some important hits for the group at this crucial juncture of its career. Radio staples like "Driver 8" kept them popular with the increasingly important college crowd (heretofore their bread and butter), while the crisp, jumpy and irresistibly catchy "Can't Get There From Here" brought them to a new level on the now-essential music video playlists. Diehard fans, however, were drawn to some quintessential R.E.M. moments--the overlapping vocals of "Maps And Legends" and the wistful, soaring "Wendel Gee," the album's real gem, a disarming, dreamy, instant classic.

Alternative Press (7/95, p.88) - Ranked #88 in AP's list of the `Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION follow[s] the also moody and sublime RECKONING with its dark, backwoods wanderlust and a labyrinth of lyrics woven through banjo, cello and violin....FABLES [is] like a dark cloud in the band's discography: Full of stormy rhythm, trademark guitar jangling and box-car philosophy..." CMJ (1/5/04, p.16) - Ranked #4 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1985" NME (Magazine) (9/6/97, p.53) - "...FABLES... is both REM's most impenetrable and fulfilling release to date....FABLES... is...etched with paranoia, slooooowly-strangled guitars and...the sound of four young Athenians who were neither shiny nor happy.

This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into the money-making "alternative rock" sound, the group refused to stand still, constantly changing and developing without ever abandoning their underground principles. Somehow they became superstars along the way, but it's never affected their commitment to their music. In 1997, drummer Bill Berry left the band, but Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills soldiered on in his absence.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25