Fables Of The Reconstruction (studio album) by R.E.M.
Condition: Used
Condition: Used
Condition: Used
R.E.M. bestography
Fables Of The Reconstruction is ranked 10th best out of 35 albums by R.E.M. on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by R.E.M. is Automatic For The People which is ranked number 49 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 19,790.
Upcoming concerts






Listen to Fables Of The Reconstruction on YouTube
Fables Of The Reconstruction track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Fables Of The Reconstruction rankings
Latest 20 charts that this album appears in:
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!
Fables Of The Reconstruction collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 226 members
Fables Of The Reconstruction ratings

where:
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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 468 ratings for this album.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
85/100 ![]() | 2 hours ago | mash | ![]() | 88/100 |
80/100 ![]() | 02/04/2025 13:20 | SomethingSpecial | ![]() | 85/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 01/23/2025 15:34 | Milhaud | ![]() | 77/100 |
80/100 ![]() | 01/22/2025 15:13 | CharlesSimone | ![]() | 82/100 |
85/100 ![]() | 12/18/2024 07:12 | zsolti | ![]() | 81/100 |
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 5% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.3/100, a mean average of 75.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.0.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating
Fables Of The Reconstruction favourites
Showing latest 20 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 64 members
Fables Of The Reconstruction comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 28 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
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.
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.

IMO, REM's best. The most great songs and the most consistent among the deep cuts as well. The only REM album still in regular rotation with me.

Brilliant, the album that made me fall in love with REM & follow their entire career as my all time favourite band . What a trilogy REM produced beginning with Fables , into Lifes Rich Pageant and closing with Document a 3 album masterpiece only bettered by The Fab Four . The tension between band members is palpable on this album best demonstrated by the off key guitar separation which brings Feeling Gravitys Pull to a close . Breath taking album
Outstanding throughout ....... Right behind murmur in their catalog imo.
REM's third album is actually my favourite of their early records, it has a very rustic feel, their first genuine Americana moment, featuring tales of the great outdoors, of railroads, and, old men with stories to tell. It's REM as The Band. It's got some of their best early songs, feeling gravitas pull, driver 8, and, old man Kensey, are all great, as are, green grow the rushes, and, maps and legends. In fact It's all great, the most atmospheric of the band's early records. It ends nicely with the beautiful, Wendell Gee. It all sounds like it was recorded in a barn, or around a campfire. This is REM in the great wide open. Brilliant.
This one falls a bit short towards the end, and is very dark as well, still very good though
I think the most underated of R.E Ms 80's albums, only tapers off a bit towards the end but as good as any other than the big 3 (AFTP, Murmur and LRP) im my mind.
I just signed up so that I can set the record straight about Fables...This is a beautiful album! It has several outstanding tracks, the best of which is "Life and How to Live It". "Maps and Legends", "Driver 8", "Can't Get There From Here", "Green Grow the Rushes", "Wendell Gee", hell the whole album is fantastic. This is where in my opinion the band really found their sound that would catapult them into the one of the best artists on the planet for the next decade or so. I feel FOTR is highly undrrated by both this site and other members.
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment
Your feedback for Fables Of The Reconstruction

A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.