Fables of the Reconstruction

History

Despite the growing audience and critical acclaim experienced by the band after its first two albums, Murmur and Reckoning, R.E.M. decided to make noticeable changes to its style of music and recording habits, including a change in producer to Joe Boyd and in recording location to London, England. Boyd was best known for his work with modern English folk musicians, including such acts such as Fairport Convention and Nick Drake.

It was still a conceptual record by R.E.M. standards: lyrically, the album explores the mythology and landscape of the South, and the title and chorus of "Cant Get There from Here", the album's first single (intentionally misspelled, like most contractions and possessives in R.E.M. titles), is a rural American colloquialism sometimes used in response to a request by travelers for difficult directions (the video for the song received airplay on MTV).

Music and lyrical themes

The opening song, "Feeling Gravitys Pull" (sic), describes falling asleep while reading; Michael Stipe's lyrics also reference surrealist photographer Man Ray, setting the tone for the album. The song was a musical departure for the band, making use of a dark, chromatic guitar figure by Peter Buck, and a string quartet, while R.E.M.'s previous albums had opened with rhythmic, "jangly" rock songs.

"Maps and Legends" fits the earlier sound and features distinct harmony vocals by bassist Mike Mills, singing different lyrics from Stipe. The song is dedicated to the Reverend Howard Finster, a noted outsider artist whom the band considered to be "a man of vision and feeling—a fine example to all" (Finster created the album sleeve for R.E.M.'s Reckoning the previous year).

"Driver 8" describes the scenery surrounding railroad tracks in somewhat abstract terms. Trains are a frequent motif in rural American music, suggesting the freedom and promise of an escape from one's home environment. Driven by a distinctive guitar riff, "Driver 8" was one of the songs on the album to receive college radio play, and the record company also authorized a music video.

Beginning with a soft introduction, "Life and How to Live It" charged through another atmospheric, folk rock arrangement and referenced storytelling. Without mentioning him by name, the song was about Athens, Georgia, author Brivs Mekis, as alluded to in the live performance on the And I Feel Fine... bonus disc. (Mekis wrote a book titled Life: How to Live, and had it printed, only to have all existing copies of it stacked in his closet.)

Much of the band's songwriting material in this era also came from the members' own experiences traveling through the country in near-constant tours over the previous several years, as well as an increasing sense of political activism which would find expression on subsequent albums Lifes Rich Pageant and Document. Stipe later said that his previous lyrics never really had any literal meanings, and that by this time he had begun to write lyrics that told stories.

The song "Green Grow the Rushes" is a prime example, which contains the line "the amber waves of gain", is thought (by biographer Marcus Gray) to be about migrant farm laborers and also alludes to the folk song "Green Grow the Rushes, O". Natalie Merchant has stated that this song was written as part of a pact she made with Stipe to write songs about the genocide of Native Americans; her song, "Among the Americans," appeared on the 1985 10,000 Maniacs album, The Wishing Chair.

"Kohoutek" (misspelled as "Kahoetek" in the album's liner notes) referenced the comet Kohoutek, and is perhaps one of the earliest R.E.M. songs about a romantic relationship, using the comet as a simile for a lover who, "like Kohoutek, you were gone."

The song "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" deviated from the typical R.E.M. sound of the time, with jagged guitar riffs and more references to old rural ways of life.

The plaintive "Good Advices" contains the following Stipe lyric that has been quoted in musical and literary contexts: "When you meet a stranger, look at his shoes / keep your money in your shoes."

A celebration of an eccentric individual is the subject of "Old Man Kensey" (which has lyrics by Stipe's friend Jerry Ayers) and closing track "Wendell Gee." The latter, a ballad with piano and more harmonies from Berry and Mills, was the album's third and final single in the UK only, although it made no commercial impression there.

Release

Upon release, Fables of the Reconstruction reached #28 in the United States (going gold in 1991) and was the band's best showing yet in the UK, peaking at #35. Recorded during a period of internal strife—largely due to the R.E.M. members' homesickness and an unpleasant London winter—the band's unenthusiastic view of the album has been public for years, and is often reflected among fans and the press. Drummer Bill Berry was quoted in the early 1990s as saying that Fables of the Reconstruction "sucked"; frontman Michael Stipe once shared the opinion but lately has said he considers it home to some of their more notable songs, telling producer Joe Boyd that he had grown to love the album.

Peter Buck, in the liner notes of the 25th Anniversary Deluxe edition, said, "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."

Fables was often characterized by a slow tempo and an intentionally murky sound, in contrast with the more upbeat and jangly (if equally abstract) sound of earlier R.E.M. material. Nevertheless, the focus on American folk instruments such as the banjo in "Wendell Gee" and a few additional orchestrations (string instruments in "Feeling Gravitys Pull" and honking brass in "Cant Get There from Here") began the band's route toward the layered, acoustic-based sound they adopted for their popular breakthrough in the late '80s and early '90s with albums such as Green, Out of Time, and Automatic for the People.

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe except where noted.

Side one – "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" (Jerry Ayers, Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 4:08

Side two – "Another Side"

6. "Cant Get There from Here" – 3:39
7. "Green Grow the Rushes" – 3:46
8. "Kohoutek" – 3:18
9. "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" – 2:44
10. "Good Advices" – 3:30
11. "Wendell Gee" – 3:01

1992 IRS Vintage Years reissue bonus tracks

12. "Crazy" (Randy Bewley, Vanessa Briscoe, Curtis Crowe, Michael Lachowski)
13. B-side of "Driver 8" 7" single
14. "Burning Hell"
15. B-side of "Can't Get There From Here" 12" single
16. "Bandwagon" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Lynda Stipe, Stipe)
17. B-side of "Can't Get There From Here" 7" and 12" single
18. "Driver 8" (Live)
19. B-side of "Wendell Gee" 12" single
20. "Maps and Legends" (Live)
21. B-side of "The One I Love" 7" single

2010 25th Anniversary Edition reissue bonus tracks (The Athens Demos)

1. "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" – 2:52
2. "Bandwagon" (Berry, Buck, Mills, Lynda Stipe, and Michael Stipe) – 2:24
3. "Cant Get There from Here" – 3:41
4. "Driver 8" – 3:31
5. "Feeling Gravitys Pull" – 4:36
6. "Good Advices" – 3:31
7. "Green Grow the Rushes" – 3:47
8. "Hyena" – 2:53
9. "Kohoutek" – 3:26
10. "Life and How to Live It" – 4:10
11. "Maps and Legends" – 3:12
12. "Old Man Kensey" (Ayers, Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe) – 4:07
13. "Throw Those Trolls Away" – 3:10
14. "Wendell Gee" – 3:07

On the vinyl and cassette releases, side one was labeled the "A side" and side two "Another side." The "A side" label bore the title Fables of the Reconstruction, while "Another side" bore the title Reconstruction of the Fables. The front cover of all releases shows the words "Fables of the", while the back cover reads "Reconstruction of the". The CD label has the title simply as "Fables of the Reconstruction", while both spines are labeled "Reconstruction of the Fables". The ambiguous title makes possible reference to both the Reconstruction era of the United States and the literary process of deconstruction.

Also, the liner notes list a song titled "When I Was Young" as among the track listing, but it does not appear on the album. The song was played live several times during the 1985 "Preconstruction" US college tour (a tour that took place before the release of the album), but it was quickly dropped. However, the song was reworked into "I Believe", released on the following album Lifes Rich Pageant.

A demo version of "When I Was Young" appears as "Throw Those Trolls Away" on the 25th Anniversary Edition of Fables, released July 13, 2010; the CD-Text information on the disc, however, still identifies the song's title as "When I Was Young".

Personnel

R.E.M.

Additional musicians

Production

Chart performance

Album

Singles

Release history

Notes