R.E.M. decided to work with a different producer for their next album. Those considered to produce the album included Van Dyke Parks, Hugh Padgham (who had been achieving great success with his work with acts such as the Police and Genesis), Elliot Mazer (known for working with Neil Young), and Elvis Costello.
The band ultimately chose to work with London-based producer Joe Boyd. Guitarist Peter Buck, particularly, wanted to work with Boyd, known for his work with folk rock acts such as Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and Richard and Linda Thompson. After having recorded their first two albums in North Carolina, the band instead flew to England to record the album at Livingston Studios in Wood Green, London. Conditions were less than ideal, as the band had a long commute from their lodging in Mayfair to the studio and London was at the tail end of a rough winter; Buck recalled that "It rained every day it wasn't snowing". Boyd's work ethic reportedly caused tensions with the band, as his precise attention to detail contrasted with the more spontaneous approach the band had utilized on the previous two albums. Dixon and Easter had worked quickly and encouraged the band to experiment; in contrast, Boyd spent hours mixing and remixing songs, which the band felt removed some of the energy and spontaneity of their performances.
Boyd would later describe the recording period as "not the best time in my life", but recalled that "[the band] seemed to get along better than most groups I’ve worked with" even though their relationships were somewhat strained at the time. He described them as "the most well-organized, professional group of people I’ve ever encountered." He felt that R.E.M.'s approach to mixing was unique in comparison to other acts: "When you mix a record, traditionally the singer wants his voice louder, and the guitar player says, 'Turn up the guitar,' and the bass player says, 'Can’t you make the bass parts punchier?' With R.E.M., everyone wanted themselves turned down".
Fables of the Reconstruction mixes the band's established style with folk elements and a darker sound. Writers have labeled the album as jangle pop, folk rock, alternative country, and Southern rock, the album introduced new instrumentation for the band, including strings, brass, and banjo. Prior to the recording of the album, Stipe studied Appalachian music and took an interest in oral storytelling, both of which influenced the material. The combination of the album's sound and the Southern focus of its lyrics have many critics to declare Fables R.E.M.'s most "Southern" album, as well as an example of Southern Gothic. Many of its songs describe eccentric, unusual characters, evoking images of railroads, small towns, eccentric locals, oppressive humidity, and a vague sense of time slowing to a crawl."
The album opener "Feeling Gravitys Pull" starts with a dark, chromatic guitar riff played by Buck. The song's lyrics reference artist Man Ray and include imagery relating to lucid dreaming, "Maps and Legends" uses bassist Mike Mills' backing vocals as counterpoint to Stipe during the chorus. Its lyrics were inspired by Howard Finster, a Baptist minister and outsider artist who had created the album art for Reckoning the previous year. Tyler Golsen of Far Out described "Driver 8" as a "classic railroad song" and a showcase for Buck's playing as both an "intricate picker" and a "folky rock star".
"Life and How to Live It" takes inspiration from a book entitled Life: How to Live by eccentric Athens–based author Brivs Mekis. Mekis split his house into two distinct halves and alternated between living in the two until he died. After his death, copies of the book were found; despite these copies being made none had ever been sold or given away. "Old Man Kensey" likewise "celebrates an eccentric individual living in the Deep South." Lead single "Cant Get There from Here" incorporates soul and funk influences and a horn section. Perpetua described the song as "approximated Southern funk", while Puterbaugh felt it "sets a tone of dislocation that pervades the entire record". "Green Grow the Rushes" was written as part of a pact between Stipe and 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman Natalie Merchant that both would write a song about the genocide of Native Americans; the 10,000 Maniacs song "Among the Americans", from their 1985 album The Wishing Chair, was Merchant's contribution.
"Kohoutek" features Stipe's falsetto singing. According to Lukowski, Stipe's lyrics on this song are more personal, and associate himself with the other outcast characters on the record. Tim Peacock of uDiscoverMusic describes "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" as "atypically jagged and aggressive" for the band, with its "urgent, anthemic sound" hinting at the direction the band would take with Lifes Rich Pageant the following year. Parke has described "Good Advices" (as well as "Green Grow the Rushes") as "Byrds-like balladry." Lukowski refers to its lyrics as "paranoid but strangely reassuring old time wisdom." Closing track "Wendell Gee" features Buck playing banjo; continuing the album's theme of eccentric characters, Puterbaugh considers its lyrics to be a "surreal, lachrymose fable about some back-country oddball."
Contemporary critical reception for Fables of the Reconstruction was generally positive, referring to it as "unretouched R.E.M. in all their rough-cut glory", and felt the band sounded "surer than they did on Reckoning". Also stated states the album to be less consistent than the band's first two, it does "demonstrate musical growth, particularly in how perfectly it evokes the strange rural legends of the South." The album is called and considered as a "Southern Gothic Masterpiece."
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