Feeling Gravity's POLL: REM's "Fables of the Reconstruction"

I like all the Green singles ("Stand" was the first REM song I ever heard), but this is the wrong thread. The second side's awful.

i dunno. a couple of those tracks are real standouts.

document is a bit better than green, but none of them really compare with the first 3 albums

Re: "Life and How To Live It": it's all about Mike Mills's bass part rolling up to the chorus. Incredible sense of excitement and arrival, and Stipe's lyrics are so animated! "My pockets are out and running about" somehow summarizes this entire area of their catalog.

You guys are doing a damn good job of making me listen to this after work.

Not the first REM album I usually think of to pull out by any means, but pretty unassailable nonetheless. And Kohoutek absolutely SHREDS ME. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Yeah, I hope all the people saying they haven't listened to this in ages give it another spin!

I love this album and even I haven't listened to it in ages. Am doing so right now. BELLS ARE RINGING THROUGH THE TOWN AGAIN.

"Stand" – 3:10 I KILL YOU NOW

"Get a Life" hata

not true. i liked Get A Life

"Good Advices" gets my voice.

The last four songs on Fables are the heart of the album to me, an EP within the album. "Kohoutek" augurs something awful with its drone. "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" is an attempt to escape the awful thing ("get me to the train on time"), with high-pitched screeching/feedback accenting the terror. "Good Advices" is an acceptance of the something awful ("at the end of the day, when there are no friends, when there are no lovers"), but there is no more fight left in the band. It's maybe their most country moment in that respect. Then "Wendell Gee" is a look back by someone else, detached, surveying the damage but narrating it from above or beyond.

The only album of theirs that I can stand (aside from maybe Monster). Loved it when I was in high school (back when it came out). If I remember correctly, lp would indicate that it's called "Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables of the Reconstruction..." ad infinitum.

Probably "Can't Get There From Here."

I want to vote for "Driver 8," but it's like the mid-80s suburban "Layla" -- EVERY fucking high-school-age ban

WTF? I would love to live near a radio station that played "Driver 8."

OK. Having just heard the album for the first time in years, I forgot how "Old Man Kensey" and "Kohoutek" go minutes after listening to them.

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Yeah, I hope all the people saying they haven't listened to this in ages give it another spin!

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, October 28, 2008 11:36 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark
Yup, did tonight. A hell of a record. Not their most audience-friendly moment, but less of a "closet" album than Murmur and all the better for it. Every song is better than the one before, almost -- at least, I found myself saying "I'm picking this song" until the next started, and that one was even better. Stipe's lyrics, when you can hear them, sometimes kick songs out of the running. (as in "Good Advices", which is funny and cool anyhow) (It occurs to me as I listen now that he's not a great lyricist, or a great melodicist (?!), or a great singer, but the band would have been so much less without him ... Stipe is the Ringo Starr of REM.) "Wendell Gee" nearly made a last-track nab for the prize, but "Green Grow the Rushes" takes it.

(Noticed for the first time that "Auctioneer"'s verses are a total U2 ripoff/pisstake/tribute [pick one].)

(After Fables was over, I put on Lifes Rich Pageant to see if it held up. Another record I haven't heard in years. It surprised me how good it was, still. Not as good as the first three, but still pretty awesome.)

I would love to live near a radio station that played "Driver 8."

that was the first r.e.m. track that i remember hearing on commercial rock-radio. it wasn't in heavy rotation, but it was there. (i remember hearing "pretty persuasion" on the same station, but i think that was sort of added retroactively a few years later.) but "fall on me" was the real breakthrough, that got a lot of play.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Wendell Gee" for me. One of their greatest songs and anticipates the grandiose simplicity of their later great ballads - "Nightswimming", "Find The River" etc.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Thanks for joining in, everyone!

This is one of those albums that feels like it has several "last songs" to me - like, all four of Wendell Gee, Good Advices, Old Man Kensey and Auctioneer would kind of work.

"Driver 8" is one of my least favourite songs on the album.

25th Anniversary edition box set on the way

Originally released in 1985, R.E.M.'s 3rd album, Fables of The Reconstruction peaked at #28 on the Billboard charts and spawned two hit singles, Can t Get There From here and Driver 8. Breaking with their tradition of recording in Athens GA, the band recorded in England with producer Joe Boyd.

This 25th Anniversary Edition features the classic album digitally remastered. The bonus disc is a complete run thorugh of the album done in studio in Athens, before the band left for London for the actual recording sessions. These demos have never before been released and feature three additional tracks, not on the final album, including "Throw Those Trolls Away, " a song the band has never released.

The albums are packaged in a lift top box and include a poster and 4 postcards, as well as the CD booklet.

I would love to live near a radio station that played "Driver 8."
funny, i was just talking to someone (older than myself) who was complaining about how overplayed Driver 8 was when it came out. it may have been the first time he'd heard REM, I'm not sure ... but it does seem weird. Certainly not an REM song that gets played on the radio these days, at least that I've heard.
anyhoo, the re-ish sounds swell. love this record.

"Life and How to Live It" so so good.

It's a good time of year for this record, the swelter creating mirages everywhere until it ends in a thunderstorm & a rainbow.

Still my favourite REM album by a long chalk

"Life and How to Live It" is my favorite. Looking forward to hearing the demos.

Does the reissue sound better than the thin, shitty-sounding original version? Or are the differences negligible, as is often the case with these sorts of thing?

If it's better, totally buying this soon.

This is exactly how Stipe's vocals should be mixed, but Bill Berry's drums sound pretty terrible.

Still way in the back, huh?

I've only listened to the clips on iTunes, but have to say that I think they sound AWESOME. I always thought that I didn't like the production on this album so much, but I know a lot was often lost in record mastering. Totally recommend checking it out.

Yeah, the reissues sound terrific, with Mills and Berry being the real beneficiaries here, both in terms of mixing/mastering their instruments and the backing vocals. Also, the rawness of the demos on the extra CD is fantastic.

Yeah, I wasn't talking about the reissues above, just the album in general. It is a weird mix, which give it a very specific vibe.

haven't heard the remasters, but it's been years since i last listened to fables of the reconstruction. REM were my favorite band circa 1985, and i bought the album on cassette, within a few days of its release, en route to my 1st semester of college. i bought it again on vinyl once i'd settled in. i dug it, though never with the intensity i'd reserved for reckoning and especially murmur. the songwriting is wonderful, and the album's best songs are at least as strong as anything they'd recorded previously, but i struggled with the fact that they were outgrowing the sound i'd initially fallen in love with, experimenting with writing, arrangement and production. "can't get there from here" is the most obvious example of this, but you also get strings on "feeling gravity's pull", choirlike backing vocals on "maps & legends", explicit byrds pastiche on "green grow the rushes", and so on.

i'm surprised but somewhat gratified to hear so many complaints about the album's sound, because, for better or worse, it was at the time REM's biggest, cleanest and punchiest production. sharp vocals way out in front so you could easily tell what stipe was singing about, with plenty of room reserved for guitars, bass and drums on each track. these qualities helped the record reach a broader audience, but something about it always kept me at a slight distance. it lacks easter & dixon's fanatical attention to sonic detail, and the production seems to favor "the tune" (its melodic and harmonic elements, especially buck's guitars) over rhythm and texture, reducing the importance of bass & drums in relation to the overall sound. it's big-sounding but a bit generic, and maybe that helps explain why i had trouble warming to it.

Wow, I hear this a lot differently. I think Reckoning sounds way "bigger" than this esp. re drums, and Stipe's vocals are pretty low here as well. To me it sounds like you are describing Life's Rich Pageant.

I mean, check these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjDt9oOTPLo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW6d0uv1pW0

I still retain a lot of goodwill towards this album, even though I'm sure some of the songs don't hold up that well (haven't checked). I play "Driver 8" now and again, so I know that still sounds great. It came out just before I started writing for a monthly music paper--the issue before I started had a big article where a writer accompanied them on the road for a few days--and they were one of my two or three favourite bands in the world at the time, so all of that mixes together to give Fables a lot of nostalgic value.

Just speaking for myself, but they still seemed really special or significant or something when Fables came out. If you weren't there (or if you were there and hated them), that will sound laughable. Twenty-five years later, I'll admit that something Christgau wrote about Devo was probably part of their appeal at the time (a small part, but there): "the thrill of being in a cult that could attract millions and still seem like a cult."

To me it sounds like you are describing Life's Rich Pageant.

yeah, i'd agree that life's rich pageant was an even bigger step towards an accessible, radio-friendly sound, but i never thought of reckoning as a "big" sounding album on any level. should really pull all these out and relisten as a set, as it's been ages, probably 15 years since i last heard fables and LRP.

Seriously, you guys, check out the remaster. This album has a great production that just ended up thin sounding in its original mastering.

are the demos on the bonus disc worthwhile?

This album has a great production that just ended up thin sounding in its original mastering.

being inexpert in these areas, i'm never sure what to make of claims about mastering and remastering. do you mean only that the original CD mastering was poor, or were there similar problems with the vinyl mastering? and when albums are "remastered" and rereleased in this manner, is it really just the mastering that's been adjusted? in some cases, i get the impression that the mix has been subtly tweaked, which seems a different issue.

I assume that if they're saying "remaster," they just did a new mastering from the finished, mixed master tape and did not go back and do a new mix.

The mastering process is mysterious to me, too, and I don't know how they seem to have brought this album to life so much. Just sounds really crisp and full, with great definition.

this remaster does sound excellent. ultimately i think i prefer the sound of either reckoning or lifes rich pageant, but this one feels stuck halfway in between those two poles (big/clean, murky/grimy) in an interesting way.

i hate it and L O V E the 2 albums either side of it like my own family. i've never understood that at all but i've tried many times with it. is it the songs?
Green Grow.. is just.. half finished. no better than a band in a pub doodling.

Although I no longer think "Can't Get There..." is a horror, the album is still their weakest pre-Document. "Wendell Gee" is pretty but they've done obscure Southern gothic better. I'd keep "Driver 8," "Feeling Gravity's Pull," and "Green Grow the Rushes."

I only got a copy of this album this year (yeah yeah) but I would have voted for 'Life and How to Live It.'
I really like this video for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJJwjE2TG6Q

yeah, "life and how to live it" is the underrated gem here. as great as anything on the surrounding couple of albums (which, as noted, i prefer)

i suppose it's not really "underrated" when it's received several effusive mentions ITT. still! amazing song.

Best. Wish that when they decided they needed to "rock" later in their career they listened to this song.

Remaster sounds best in headphones, I think. That's where I'm really hearing the separation I'd never heard before. (Was amazed to hear the harmonica in "Driver 8," which I don't think I ever even noticed?)

r.e.m. didn't put out a "meh" record until reveal

I feel like Maps and Legends should be higher than Green Grow the Rushes.

For me it probably would be Driver / Maps / Can't Get.

It is a pretty good record

I usually skip "Maps and Legends", too much of a drone. It's the song where I understand why someone wouldn't like this album, or even this band.

But those last three songs, or even the last four: building up to a final relief. maybe today I would rate "Auctioneer" the highest. they're songs of a band exhausted by the road that already an album earlier was at best viewed ambiguously ("another Greenville, another Magic Mart"). but rather than write about I dunno, Bob Segar style, they characteristically code their images. But they build and build, from frenzy to anxiety to a final passing.

counterpoint: not a drone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-2QlXO1SYY

And then there's "Life And How To Live It," maybe the last of their great skittery jittery rockers where it feels like the wheels are going to come off at any moment - the descendent of Chronic Town and "9-9." After this record they still did plenty of great rock tunes but they were more locked down somehow - don't quite know how to articulate this but there's a nervous energy that gradually gets concentrated into something more focused, not necessarily better or worse but different.

― Doctor Casino, Monday, October 27, 2008 11:23 PM (eleven years ago)

OTM on "Life and How to Live It". When Bill "Blue"Berry plays that disco-esque beat at such frenetic tempo (a la "Hyena", "Harborcoat", et al) it feels like a dangerously-fast downhill ride on an unfamiliar road. I also love the backup vox in the chorus, and those walk-up bass notes that precede it. "my CARPENTERS OUT AND RUNNING ABOUT!!!!..."

What's the deal with the liner notes and its listing of trakcs that aren't actually on the album ("When We Were Young")? Or did I hallucinate that like a "Wendell Gee" fever dream?