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Win Fables of the Reconstruction and more from R.E.M.

Posted at 4:13 PM on July 12, 2010 by Jim McGuinn

rem fables.JPG
This week we've got 5 chances for you to win R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reconstruction in a new 2-CD remastered reissued version that includes a bonus disc of 14 demos! Plus a copy of the When the Light Is Mine, a DVD that collects the videos of the band's IRS Records era. And one grand prize winner will also score Fables on 180 gram vinyl, and an R.E.M. t-shirt! All you have to do is click HERE to enter (see official rules), and read below to learn more about this landmark 1985 release...

25 years ago, following up the college radio success of their first two albums, the members of R.E.M. flew from Georgia to London to record with English producer Joe Boyd, who had worked with Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, Fairport Convention, and others. Musically, Fables began R.E.M.'s move beyond the jangly pop of Reckoning and towards further experimentation. As Peter Buck says today, "It's a personal favorite, and I'm really proud of how strange it is." For the first time Michael Stipe began to fashion stories into his lyrics, filled with images of a mythically gothic south and from the travelling blur of a band that had spent much of the past 3 years on the road. While the addition of banjo and strings make it their most Americana/rootsy sounding album of the '80s, at the time the dark and murky sound seemed to cloud R.E.M.'s commercial potential. But in retrospect that specific sonic palette creates a definite sense of place and mood that makes the album unique and almost conceptual in feel. Featuring songs like "Can't Get There From Here," "Driver 8," and "Life and How to Live It," Fables of the Reconstruction documents a point in R.E.M.'s history when they were still flying under the radar of mass culture and a few years away from the Top 40, but at the peak of their influence on other bands and the evolution of indie/college rock in the '80s.

R.E.M. with an acoustic version of "Driver 8"

When the world is a monster... you "Can't Get There From Here"

July 2010
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