#205
June 10 1985
REM
Fables of the Reconstruction
Genre: Alternative
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Driver 8
Life and How to Live It
We were all so disappointed in the record when it came out. And, when I re-listened 10 years ago I was also not impressed. This is kind of a departure for the band, away from the jangle pop. Stipe’s lyrics are front and center and, gasp, audible and articulated!
Whatever we think of as “80s”, this album is decidedly not. But as a harbinger of what we Gen Xers would embrace in the 90s, it feels like REM is carving that path here.
Opening with the languid “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” is interesting. This is where REM was going but we didn’t really get it. This is the sound of Out of Time or Automatic for the People. The paisley-poppy-folk of “Maps and Legends” showed us the true REM. This is who they were. Who they always would be. And when they veered too hard from this sound no one wanted anything to do with them anymore. (Monster, anyone?)
What prevents “Kahoetek” from being anything more than a 5th Dimension tune (admit it, you can hear them covering it) is Peter Buck’s oddly loopy guitar leads and come on, “Green Grow the Rushes” is a Peter Paul and Mary song.
Fables is a challenging record. I hated it when it came out. Probably because it wasn’t Murmur or Reckoning. Maybe I was too immature to get it. I didn’t get it 10 years ago, either.
I feel a bit better about it now.
Especially in context to what is happening in music at this time, with Long Ryders and Lone Justice and Jason and the Scorchers. But in that context it doesn’t feel ignited or energized. It feels like they are exhausted.
Fables isn’t alt-country but it’s not ashamed about being from the south. It doesn’t shy away from it’s southern roots. Instead, REM embrace those roots and dive into them. (The extremely haunting backing vocals on “Life and How to Live It”, give me chills)
In the end, no, I don’t agree that this is a lost classic REM record. That it was deserving of high praise that was assigned to their previous.
It’s got great moments. But it’s not stellar.
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