Fables Of The Reconstruction
by R.E.M.
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R.E.M. bestography
Fables Of The Reconstruction is ranked 10th best out of 36 albums by R.E.M. on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by R.E.M. is Automatic For The People which is ranked number 45 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 18,547.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Fables Of The Reconstruction track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Fables Of The Reconstruction rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 45 Music Albums of 1985 | 41/45 | 1 |
| 2026 |  MadhattanJack | Top 76 Music Albums of 1985 | 17/76 | 4 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Best Of The 80's Pt.3 (201-300) | 98/100 | - |
| 2026 | lanadeleswift | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 90/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | zsolti | Top 49 Music Albums of the 1980s | 42/49 | 3 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 77 Music Albums of 1985 | 41/77 | 2 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 90 Music Albums of 1985 | 11/90 | 4 |
| 2026 | Foxforce5 | Top 34 Music Albums of 1985 | 5/34 | 4 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Greatest Music Albums: 301-400 | 67/100 | - |
| 2026 |  cestuneblague | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 46/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 333 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,742 | |||
Fables Of The Reconstruction collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 243 members
Fables Of The Reconstruction ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 495 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 42 hours ago |  JR | 1,124 | 81/100 |
| ! | 09/04/2026 19:01 | Tamthebam | 23,296 | 69/100 |
| ! | 08/22/2026 13:13 |  Milhaud | 2,156 | 71/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.3/100, a mean average of 75.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.3.
Fables Of The Reconstruction favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 67 members
Fables Of The Reconstruction forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements BestEverAlbums 08/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements BestEverAlbums 07/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movementsFables Of The Reconstruction comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Great album! But I want to spend this comment raving on Bill Berry; who just might be my favorite drummer of all time. His feel for the pocket is phenomenal with complex hi-hat patterns complimenting his simple but tasteful fills. Could keep incoherently rambling about him but I'll save you guys from that.
Favorite Songs: Feeling Gravitys Pull, Life And How To Live It, Auctioneer (Another Engine) (Edited)
HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/23/2025 23:15 | #308166
So close to being perfect. Can't quite stick the landing. But damn, I love how moody this is. R.E.M. does post punk and it rocks! (Edited)
The album didn’t get a lot of love from the band themselves so can easily be overlooked.
Don’t be fooled by this. It is a masterpiece. (Edited)
I think of the first three R.E.M. albums as a suite. A journey from youth to experience. It was my own journey too, having discovered the band at the time of Murmur. I love many of their other albums as well, particularly Automatic but these are the ones that still resonate to me down the years. This should definitely be Top 1,000. It gets stronger for me all the time.
The idea that this isn't rated as one of their top 3 best is ridiculous. Perfect representation of REM just perfectly in between Indy and sold-out genres.
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