R.E.M. part 2

Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), the third studio album by R.E.M., the only one recorded by the group outside of the United States (in the UK), is a concept album of Southern Gothic themes and characters.

The opening song, "Feeling Gravitys Pull" (sic), describes falling asleep while reading and it serves as an entry point to the album's inhabited universe.

Driver 8 describes the scenery surrounding railroad tracks. Driven by a distinctive guitar riff, "Driver 8" was one of the most popular songs on the album. I love it too.

Life and How to Live It is about Athens, Georgia, author Brivs Mekis, who wrote a book titled Life: How to Live, and had it printed, only to have all existing copies of it stacked in his closet.

Can't Get There from Here, is my favorite song from this album. It was the first R.E.M. song to feature a horn section. The title is a rural American colloquialism sometimes used in response to a request by travelers for difficult directions.

The album closes with Wendell Gee, a celebration of an eccentric individual.

Their next album, Lifes Rich Pageant (sic), was released in 1986 and is an even better record. Slant Magazine listed the album at #52 on its list of "Best Albums of 1980s" saying "Lifes Rich Pageant stands as a nearly seamless transition between the band's formative period and their commercial dominance." Indeed, Michael is vocally more confident, allowing the songs to built to an understated dramatic climax, a style that would become the trademark of all future R.E.M. great songs.

The title is taken from the 1964 film A Shot In The Dark and it's a line by Peter Sellers playing Inspector Clouseau. The missing apostrophe in the title is deliberate. Nearly all contractions used by R.E.M. lack apostrophes, though "life's" in this case is a possessive. Peter Buck once stated, "We all hate apostrophes. Michael insisted and I agreed that there's never been a good Rock album that's had an apostrophe in the title."

The opening track is Begin The Begin. Stipe has called it "a song of personal, political activism." It's an impressive song.

My favorite song from the album and one of my all-time favorites is Fall On Me. It's also Stipe's favorite. It's a a song about oppression and the lyrics are very interesting. I mean, the line "Feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air" is simply majestic.

There's a problem feathers iron

Bargain buildings, weights and pulleys

Feathers hit the ground before the weight can leave the air

Buy the sky and sell the sky and tell the sky and tell the sky

Don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)

Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)

Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)

There's the progress we have found (when the rain)

A way to talk around the problem (when the children reign)

Building towered foresight (keep your conscience in the dark)

Isn't anything at all (melt the statues in the park)

Buy the sky and sell the sky and bleed the sky and tell the sky

Don't fall on me (what is it up in the air for?) (it's gonna fall)

Fall on me (if it's there for long) (it's gonna fall)

Fall on me (it's over, it's over me) (it's gonna fall)

Don't fall on me

Well, I could keep it above

But then it wouldn't be sky anymore

So if I send it to you, you've got to promise to keep it whole

Here's the studio version:

Here's the MTV Live Unplugged version from 1991:

Cuyahoga is another protest song, whose themes include the pollution of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio and the treatment of Native Americans earlier in American history. Musician Ken Stringfellow described Cuyahoga as being "an anthem, but it's not self-congratulatory. It's about what's gone wrong with our country. It was an anti-anthem in that way. It took on an issue, but it was still unifying and powerful. That's a hard thing to do well."

I Believe looks to the past in order to be able to clearly see the future.

Swan Swan H uses Civil War imagery to spin its poetic tale.

Tomorrow, the album that brought R.E.M. to the forefront and helped to move the band towards mainstream success.