Send "R.E.M. " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Maybe they're caught in the legendTwo decades since R.E.M. released its first five albums on the quasi-indie label I.R.S. Records, history has more or less reconfigured those records into a singular entity, a glorious musical parade marching out over a five-year period that was alternative rock’s first unequivocal entry in the greater rock canon. While the music on those releases is on average definitely well-deserving of such acclaim, such an examination obscures the finer details of R.E.M.’s recording history, as the 25th anniversary reissue of the band’s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), demonstrates. Nonetheless loaded with music that lesser bands tried to emulate but never matched, Fables of the Reconstruction stands today as the weakest of the group’s pre-Warner Bros. releases, the result of a uncomfortable recording environment and the band being stuck in a bit of a sonic rut. Fables of the Reconstruction depicts R.E.M. at a creative crossroads. It was the first album the critically lauded cult group recorded without producers/fellow Southerners Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. Instead, the Athens, Georgia quartet headed to England to record tracks with Joe Boyd, who was well-regarded for his work with British folk luminaries ranging from Fairport Convention to Nick Drake, not to mention with early Pink Floyd. In retrospect, the location choice proved to be unwise. Exhausted by years of nonstop touring, the band members were further wound down in England by a numbing daily commute to the recording studio, dreary winter weather, and unpleasant food. Years later, the musicians revealed that they came perilously close to calling it quits during the making of the record. Guitarist Peter Buck described the record to Mojo in 2003 as “a snapshot of us in our 24-year-old nervous breakdowns”. Given the context, it’s no wonder that during the album’s promotional duties singer Michael Stipe took to massacring his hair, crafting it first into a monk’s tonsure, followed by a bizarre egg yolk-dyed yellow hairdo that enhanced the fatigued expression plainly visible on his face back then....full text |
| Bbc |
| Now into the fourth decade of their career, it’s easy to forget the significance of R.E.M.’s music, especially the five albums released on IRS Records. Murmur, their seminal debut album, was released in 1983. Twenty-five years later, in 2008, a deluxe anniversary edition was brought out, newly remastered, with a bonus live concert. Similarly last year, to celebrate its quarter-century, their second album Reckoning was reissued with another live album. Presumably this will continue each year until their last album for IRS, Document, turns 25, by which time the series of 30th anniversary editions will have probably begun. The remarkable thing is that Murmur, Reckoning and now, in 2010, Fables of the Reconstruction (or Reconstruction of the Fables – the cover was designed so that the title becomes an infinite, unending loop) sound not just old albums reborn, but like brand new ones. Part of that is down to the remastering – which makes Fables… sound bolder and crisper than it did before – but really, it’s testament to the timeless nature of Berry, Buck, Mills and Stipe’s songwriting. This third effort marked a change in direction for the band, who infused its 11 songs with dark, unsettling undertones. It begins with the metallic sheen of Feeling Gravity’s Pull, the sound of a slow-motion apocalypse, an iron world rusting. Old Man Kensey extends that sense of impending doom, while Auctioneer (Another Engine) and Kohoutek are full of a nervous, jittery energy. Maps and Legends, Driver 8 and the hypnopompic lament of Wendell Gee recall the jangly guitars and slight country twang of those first two albums, but they still sound somewhat twisted and deranged. Overall, Fables is the embodiment of confusion, of minds and worlds unsure about their futures, a sense of foreboding intensified by Stipe’s oblique, muddied lyrics....full text |
| Pitchfork |
| Given their vast and varied catalog, it's sometimes easier to imagine R.E.M. as a discography than to picture them as a flesh-and-blood band. Ironically, it may be R.E.M.'s insistence upon operating as a fully democratic entity that has allowed them to shapeshift so completely and convincingly. Whether crafting a subdued folk song or an over-the-top glam rock stomper, R.E.M. have always embraced their chosen approach completely, even if it means former drummer Bill Berry laying low for an acoustic number or singer Michael Stipe handing off a lead vocal to bassist Mike Mills. On their sophomore LP, Reckoning, those polymorphous tendencies find root as palpable, electrifying, yet-unexplored potential. And with this aptly named reissue, Reckoning finally gets the "Deluxe" treatment (and much-needed remaster) that it deserves. This comes as no surprise; the "Deluxe" reissue of the band's debut full-length, Murmur, was revelatory, breathing astonishing new life into a 25-five-year-old album. Greg Calbi's expert remastering job cleaned up the album's notoriously murky sonics and revealed previously unheard detail and force. This newfound clarity made Murmur seem much more purposeful, lifting the proverbial veil on an album made by record nerds who understood the common ground between the Soft Boys, Gang of Four, and the Velvet Underground. Reckoning couples the energy of Murmur with the experience of a group that has spent a few years touring and recording, documenting that crucial moment when a band's ideas and ambitions are overtaken by the unique chemistry of its players. Finally, with this remaster, "Harborcoat" makes for a fittingly explosive opener. Many of the best songs on Reckoning follow the formula set forth on this debut track: a methodical verse followed by a sly turnaround into a cathartic chorus. Bill Berry's drum parts are at times virtually indistinguishable from song to song, and Michael Stipe tends to sing verses and choruses in the same respective registers. But Reckoning is far from formulaic-- instead, it is host to a kind of determined minimalism, each song building via subtle variations in performance and instrumentation. "Discipline" is not a word that gets thrown around a lot when discussing rock music, but it is key to Reckoning's success....full text |
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