Fables of the Reconstruction (a.k.a. Reconstruction of the Fables), released in 1985 through I.R.S. Records, is the third album by American Alternative Rock band R.E.M.. A noticeable deviation from the abstract styles of both Murmur and Reckoning before it, the album sees the band shake up their approach by incorporating more story-driven songs and American folk instruments with an overarching Southern Gothic atmosphere, acting as a Concept Album about the folk mythology surrounding the southern United States that they hailed from. To further support the change in style, the band decided to work with producer Joe Boyd, previously known for his work with English folk musicians such as Fairport Convention and Nick Drake, rather than their prior Production Posse of Mitch Easter and Don Dixon.
Fitting Boyd's prior oeuvre, recording was done at the Livingstone Studio in London rather than Reflection Sound in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, this turned out to be more of a bane for R.E.M. than a boon, as spending significant amounts of time away from the US during production— and during a harsh English winter, no less— resulted in the band constantly feeling homesick and irritable. What's more, the band were also grappling with the stress of their growing fame, the paranoia and uncertainty caused by the AIDS crisis, which particularly freaked out the queer Michael Stipe (who would only come out in the '90s), and health issues among the band members, leading to a large amount of conflict between each other that threatened to break R.E.M. up before the album was even finished. Such an unpleasant atmosphere was reflected in the more downbeat tone of the album's music.
Commercially, the album fared just slightly below Reckoning in the US, peaking at No. 28 on the Billboard 200, but would outperform its predecessor in the UK, with a No. 35 peak on the UK Albums chart (compared to Reckoning's 91). Like its predecessors, Fables would later be certified gold by the RIAA in 1991.
On a somewhat more dubious note, this was the first R.E.M. album made after I.R.S. Records changed hands from A&M Records (in the US) and CBS Records (in Europe) to MCA. While I.R.S. had always struggled with providing decent distribution, the problem would only worsen under the stricter thumb of MCA, who were far more apprehensive about R.E.M.'s lack of commercial accessibility compared to bigger artists of the era. No synths, booming drums, or face-melting guitar riffs made the band— and most of the I.R.S. roster, for that matter— difficult to market in the mid-80s, and MCA quickly came to view R.E.M. with open contempt, which would reach an ugly head during promotion for their next album, motivating the band's Channel Hop to Warner (Bros.) Records in 1988.
Fables of the Reconstruction was supported by three singles: "Cant Get There from Here", "Driver 8", and "Wendell Gee".
Tracklist
A Side — Fables of the Reconstruction- "Feeling Gravitys Pull" (4:48)
- "Maps and Legends" (3:10)
- "Driver 8" (3:23)
- "Life and How to Live It" (4:06)
- "Old Man Kensey" (4:08)
Another Side — Reconstruction of the Fables
- "Cant Get There from Here" (3:39)
- "Green Grow the Rushes" (3:46)
- "Kouhoutek" (3:18)
- "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" (2:44)
- "Good Advices" (3:30)
- "Wendell Gee" (3:01)
Reason had harnessed the trope:
- Album Closure: "Wendell Gee" wraps up the Southern Gothic themes of the album by acting as a look back on a figure of the Deep South mythos, outright bidding him— and the album— goodbye.
- Alliterative Title: "Green Grow the Rushes"
- Breather Episode: "Cant Get There from Here", an upbeat rock ditty with exuberant horn backing, tucked in the middle of an album that's otherwise pretty bleak-sounding.
- Call-Back: The line "reason had harnessed the tame" at the end of "Feeling Gravitys Pull" recalls a similar line, "reason has harnessed the tame," near the end of "Little America", connecting the overarching Americana themes in both that song and this album.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The music becomes bleaker and more dour on this album, influenced by the mood of the recording sessions in snowy London.
- Chroma Key: Used extensively throughout the video for "Cant Get There from Here", tying into the intentionally cheesy B-Movie aesthetic of the video.
- Color Motif: The album cover and liner notes make extensive use of yellow, green, and blue tones, tying into the band's early association with the latter two colors and their growing association with the former one.
- Concept Album: All of the album's songs revolve around various aspects of southern US folk mythos, from the folksy sound to the storytelling lyrics.
- Cosmic Motifs: "Kouhoutek" uses the comet of the same name as a metaphor for a romantic relationship.
- Credits Gag: The liner notes credit each of the band members both in a comedically formal manner and as if they were members of a film production's staff:
- Michael Stipe is credited as "JM Stipe — Gaffer Interpreter"
- Peter Buck is credited as "PL Buck — Ministry of Music"
- Mike Mills is credited as "ME Mills — Consolate Mediator"
- Bill Berry is credited as "WT Berry — Best Boy"
- Deep South: The more mythological aspects of it serve as the basis for the album's central concept.
- Double-Meaning Title: The Either/Or Title provides two different interpretations of the album's concept: Fables of the Reconstruction draws upon the album's Southern Gothic direction, describing its content as stories from The Gilded Age. The Reconstruction of the Fables title, meanwhile, alludes to the idea of the album reconstructing old American folk tales in the context of the band members' upbringings.
- Driving a Desk: Exploited for comedy in the "Cant Get There from Here" video, which features Peter Buck and Bill Berry goofily pretending to drive among the obvious Chroma Key backdrops.
- Either/Or Title: Similarly to Reckoning, this album has two official names: Fables of the Reconstruction and Reconstruction of the Fables, used interchangeably depending on the source. The LP and cassette release used the two titles to denote the two sides, while CD releases use the Reconstruction title on the spine and the Fables title on the disc, with the liner notes featuring a reversible cover (based on the back cover of the LP release) themed around the two titles.
- Face on the Cover: Headshots of all four band members, illuminated by slide projections, feature on the front cover.
- The Gilded Age: The American Reconstruction is alluded to in the Fables of the Reconstruction title.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: LP and cassette copies divide the album between "A Side — Fables of the Reconstruction" and "Another Side — Reconstruction of the Fables".
- Inherited Illiteracy Title: The missing apostrophes in the titles of "Feeling Gravitys Pull" and "Cant Get There from Here" stem from typos that Michael Stipe made when preparing the album art; the band liked the effect, and ended up running with it.
- Longest Song Goes First: The album starts off with the 4:48 "Feeling Gravitys Pull".
- New Sound Album: The music becomes more folk-influenced and downbeat, influenced by the Southern Gothic genre of fiction.
- Other Common Music Video Concepts: "Cant Get There from Here" is partly a Travelogue Montage, featuring Peter Buck and Bill Berry driving around the US through the power of Driving a Desk through intentionally bad Chroma Key backdrops.
- Production Throwback: The interjection of "gentlemen, testify!" in "Cant Get There from Here" nods back to the band's cover of "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & the Drells (which features several yelps of "testify!" throughout and its own "gentlemen, testify!" at the end), tying in with the former song's soul influences.
- Protest Song: This album sees Michael Stipe start to experiment with political lyricism in his material, with "Green Grow the Rushes" alluding to the plights of both Native Americans and migrant workers in the United States. According to 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant, she and Stipe made a pact to both write songs about the still-ongoing Native American genocide, with "Green Grow the Rushes" being his contribution; Merchant would return the favor with "Among the Americans" off of The Wishing Chair, by coincidence also produced by Joe Boyd.
- Reconstruction: The trope is alluded to as one possible interpretation of the Reconstruction of the Fables album title.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: According to Michael Stipe, the lyrics of "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" were partly inspired by his maternal grandfather's career as a traveling salesman; the lines "Get me to the train on time, here, take this nickel, make a dime/Take this penny and make it into a necklace when I leave" were more specifically based on the guy's tradition of giving his grandkids loose change to put on the train tracks, so that when a train came by, they'd be squished into oblongs for use in necklaces.
- Reverse Cerebus Syndrome: While the sound of the album gets darker, the lyrics themselves lighten up compared to the highly personal ones on Reckoning, owed to the use of story-driven songs based on southern folk tales.
- Shout-Out:
- "Feeling Gravitys Pull" references surrealist photographer Man Ray.
- "Maps and Legends" is a homage to outsider artist Howard Finster, who previously collaborated with Michael Stipe on the cover art for Reckoning. By sheer coincidence, Fables of the Reconstruction released on the exact same day as another album that Finster did artwork for: Little Creatures by Talking Heads.
- "Life and How to Live It" references Life: How to Live, a book written by Brivs Mekis, an eccentric author from the band's hometown of Athens, GA. Mekis had many copies of the book printed, but hardly sold any, and when he died, people clearing out his house found a whole closet full of them. Copies of Life: How to Live are a top collectible, not just for R.E.M. fans but for fans of the culture of Athens, GA.
- Stipe requests "Brother Ray, sing my song" during the soul-infused "Cant Get There from Here", and drops a "Hmm... thank you, Ray" at its end.
- As mentioned above, "Kohoutek" uses the famous comet, first discovered in 1973, as a metaphor for a fleeting relationship.
- Singer Name Drop: The last verse and outro of "Kouhoutek" features the line "Michael built a bridge, Michael tore it down."
- Stylistic Suck: The music video for "Cant Get There from Here" intentionally exploits the campiness of bad Chroma Key effects, with liberal use of Driving a Desk and the band members being too busy goofing off to do anything that ties into any of the framing devices.
- Train Song: Both "Driver 8" and "Auctioneer (Another Engine)". The former describes the Amtrak Crescent passenger train, while the latter uses train imagery in a more metaphorical sense and bases its instrumental on the rhythm of a chugging locomotive.
- The Unintelligible: In 1985, a UK pop magazine reviewing the year's releases commented, in reference to this album, "Michael Stipe's nonsense lyrics continue to puzzle the gullible."
- What You Are in the Dark: "Good Advices":
When there are no lovers, who are you going to call for?
What do you have to change?
- Word Salad Philosophy: "Life and How to Live it" is doubly this. Not only is the advice rather nonsensical, but it was inspired by a resident of Athens who built two apartments in his house (with him changing apartments as his moods changed) and self-published a rather incoherent and bigoted book of advice.
- The X of Y: Fables of the Reconstruction and Reconstruction of the Fables
