R.E.M.- Fables of the Reconstruction 40th- Michael Stipe, Peter Buck

After defining a neo-folk rock sound on their first full-length album Murmur in 1983, and refining that jangly style further with Reckoning a year later, indie band R.E.M. spun Fables of the Reconstruction in 1985, which put us on notice that all styles and lyrical subjects were fair game in R.E.M.’s rapidly-evolving future. “It’s a significant time-stamp within the band’s 14-album catalog,” writes Charles Moss in Spin, “a record about the American South, and what it means to be Southern at that time…” forty years ago.

You will hear “Driver 8”, “Can’t Get There from Here”, and a rare live performance of “Maps and Legends” recorded in 1987 at McCabe’s Guitar Shop. With R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe and lead guitarist Peter Buck in my classic rock interview recalling playing for the door admission in clubs during their rice and beans days. Matthew Perpetua writing in Pitchfork described Fables of the Reconstruction (#28 on the Billboard sales chart)  aesthetic as “evoking images of railroads, small towns, eccentric locals, oppressive humidity, and a vague sense of time slowing to a crawl.” In other words, rural Georgia and the Carolinas.

My interview with Peter Buck and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. includes the earliest days of the Athens GA band, with songs from their first four full albums Murmur, Reckoning, the transitional Fables of the Reconstruction, & Life’s Rich Pageant. -Redbeard