R.E.M. / Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)

R.E.M. moved to London to record this, their third album. The experience of trying to write songs and produce a record while living in an unfamiliar country was quite stressful after several years of rigorous road work. They pulled together, and prevailed with a killer album to show for it. In spite of their surroundings, the album is pure Athens, Georgia. The songs range in tone from quiet, ballad-like pieces to full tilt rock and roll. Fed by the overwhelming sense of isolation, Stipe’s contributions are dark and more complex than ever. His allusive lyrics explore a variety of themes through cryptic mumblings, howls, and stuttered explosions of verbosity. The band pulls back at times, offering a lighter touch on tracks like “Wendell Gee,” a dirge concerning a crooked Athens car dealer, or the border ballad “Green Grow the Rushes.” But the comparatively placid songs are like a calm before the storm, and only foretell of things to come. The angst surges ahead in rockers like “Driver 8” and the abrasive “Life and How to Live It,” a paranoid and dissonant song inspired by an equally paranoid Georgia hermit. Sonically, the classic R.E.M. sound is present on every track: harmony vocals and refrains, jangling guitars, snappy bass lines and urgent drum licks. The soundscape is enhanced by instrumentation including banjo and strings. Overall, it’s an essential R.E.M. album, more accomplished than the debut or follow up, but missing the polish of what came after. I’m thankful for that: R.E.M sounds much better left rough around the edges.