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| vinyl cover |
release date: Jun. 10, 1985
format: vinyl (reissue - ILP 465380 1) / cd (1992 - The I.R.S. Years Vintage 1985)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Joe Boyd
label: I.R.S. Records - nationality: USA
Tracklist: 1. "Feeling Gravitys Pull" - 2. "Maps and Legends" - 3. "Driver 8" (4 / 5) - 4. "Life and How to Live It" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Old Man Kensey" - 6. "Can't Get There From Here" (4 / 5) - 7. "Green Grow The Rushes" (4 / 5) - 8. "Kohoutek" - 9. "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" - 10. "Good Advices" - 11. "Wendell Gee" (4 / 5)
Bonus tracks on 1992 extended edition: 12. "Crazy" (single B-side) - 13. "Burning Hell" (single B-side) - 14. "Bandwagon" (single B-side) - 15. "Driver 8" (live) (single B-side) - 16. "Maps and Legends" (live) (single B-side)
3rd studio album by R.E.M. is released on I.R.S. and produced by Joe Boyd. It's an interesting and complex album. The title in itself is strange. The front cover of the vinyl album has the words 'Fables of the', and the back cover reads 'Reconstruction of the'. And when you look at the vinyl A-side, it's titled 'Fables of the Reconstruction', and B-side 'Reconstruction of the Fables', which is to say the title is either meant to be repeated indefinitely; or it refers to the two titles given on the vinyl sides. So there's that, and that's it! Already, quite peculiar at first look. So much for the wrapping, but same thing goes for the music, the tracks and the style. Everything is somewhat disguised and wrapped up, like... riddles. The tracks are not as much straight forward indie rock-sounding as on Reckoning (1984) but this one comes with a stronger folk rock sound, though, it's still jangle pop.
I always liked the album but at the same time also felt that there was something unfinished about it, bringing about a sensation that it generally lacks more great songs like "Driver 8", "Green Grow the Rushes", and "Wendell Gee".
The 1992 expanded cd reissue contains 5 bonus tracks all of which have previously been released on various singles as B-sides. The album was also reissued for a 2-disc '25th Anniversary Edition' with the original album as disc 1, and 14 extra tracks on disc 2 labelled 'The Athens Demos'.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]
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| 1992 bonus tracks reissue |
