Fables of the Reconstruction

by

R.E.M.

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I remember the day I bought Fables. Late spring '85, a gray sky overhead with intermittent sprinkles falling, a downpour could have come at any moment, it seemed. I was outdoors, riding a ten speed five miles to the record store on release day to buy the new album by R.E.M., which had become my new favorite band after a college friend of mine introduced me to their music the summer before... Reckoning, which I loved immediately, purchased, and promptly wore the cassette out. Murmur, just the same... bought it on vinyl, made two cassette copies for myself just in case the vinyl wore out. There was such a magic about this band: the sublime melodies, the mysterious lyrics and vocals, so hypnotic you just had to listen repeatedly, yet you could never tire of hearing the songs. I had heard advance rumblings that this album was a departure from Murmur and Reckoning, and as soon as "Feeling Gravity's Pull" resonated through the headphones as I began the journey homeward (thankfully the rain did not come) it was indeed true... this was a departure. The drone of cellos, the murky aura, the downcast nature of the majority of the songs was a far cry from the generally bright and upbeat Reckoning and the rock-folk-punkiness of Murmur. But I loved it anyway, and wore out the cassette as well, and replaced it with the CD as soon as I could afford a player (they were still quite expensive in those days). I went on to purchase every R.E.M. album that followed, and after all of the years that have passed, through all of their stylistic twists and turns, Fables is the one R.E.M. album that still takes me to another place, stirs my emotions more than any of the others, even the equally somber Automatic For The People. There is distance, desperation, and longing in so many of these songs, "Feeling Gravity's Pull", "Maps And Legends", "Life And How To Live It", "Old Man Kensey", "Green Grow The Rushes", "Good Advices", and "Wendell Gee" that transcends most anything else you will hear. You can just feel the loneliness of a band that was in a dreary place during the sessions, far away from home (England), through Stipe's vocals, Buck's yearning guitar jangle, and Mills' aching harmony vocals. And you feel along with them...in fact, I still often shed tears during "Good Advices" when I hear "Home is a long way away...", the vocals are so full of loneliness you can't help but cry sometimes. Some people think of the South when they listen to this album. Yes, it does have that sound. When I listen to it, I tend to think of gray rainy days, regrets I may have, separation from the ones I love, and a longingness to go back home, wherever I may be.

For their third album REM travelled to England to record in the damp and dreary atmosphere of the British isles. That mood definitely comes across on the first half of the record. Where their first two records were lighthearted, Fables reaks of the despair and darkness that the group felt as they recorded it. Depression often makes for great records, and this record is no exception. "Old Man Kennsey" and "Feeling Gravity's Pull" are harrowing. Unfotunately, the momentum begun on side one is lost on side two. The second side goes back to more of their lighter and open sound but unfortunately the songwriting is not up to par, with the exception of "Kohotek". Sorry, I have always found "Can't Get There From Here" to be one of their most annoying songs, and Stipe's vocals don't help any on it either. Yet if the songs on side two would have been stronger this could have been their best record. Despite the three star rating I gave this, I seriously recommend this record based on the strength of the first half. Those songs alone are masterpieces worth the price of the album.