Reconstruct your wits and click on this link to go back to the main REM page Fables of My Bum Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 Murmur. Great album! Full of wonderful melodies! The songs were interesting and fun. Reckoning. Not as great of an album, but it was still quite good! It had a handful of GREAT songs and the rest were enjoyably consistent. Fables of the Reconstruction. Not enjoyably consistent, but the album has its moments. My principle problem with Fables of the Reconstruction lies with the melodies. Everything else about the band, be it the instrument playing, the singing, the general feeling of the album, are still fine. It's just that the overall melodies aren't nearly as good as they used to be! And without great melodies, how am I supposed to enjoy this album? ... Well, there are still spots in here to enjoy. But, especially when you compare it to their totally enjoyable two previous albums, Fables comes off as a bit of a disappointment. Nevertheless, I would never call this album a "misstep." It's not that bad. All in all, it's still listenable. It's just boring at times. That's all. Overall Album Score: 7.9 out of 10 (This is a good album. I just have a hard time enjoying it.) Average Song Score: 8.1 (There are some good songs on here ... there are some boring ones, too. There was only one 10-scoring song in here. The lowest of the bunch were just a handful of 7-scoring songs.) Album Tilt: 7.5 (This is a difficult album to get into.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (Even though R.E.M. aren't nearly as enjoyable for their third album, I still respect them as artists. Stipe is a good singer ... and the rest are still super with their instruments.) Track Reviews Feeling Gravitys Pull 8/10 Dreary and surrealistic! ... That's not a good quality 100 percent of the time. I'd wish for something that's a little more tuneful. But this is interesting. R.E.M. was experimenting ... there's nothing wrong with a little experimenting! Unfortunately, it also went to a determent of their quality, but ... that's okay. This is an interesting song if little else. Also, the instruments are lusher than what we've been used to hearing from R.E.M. Maps and Legends 8/10 This one is still much more lush than R.E.M. were in the previous albums, but this one is more within the same sort of musical style. It succeeds because of the nice instrument playing (the riff is neat). But this one fails to catch fire, really, in my opinion. Driver 8 9/10 More upbeat ... the tune is pretty nice ... and this is more enjoyable. Yep. This is a good old, regular R.E.M. song that's fun to listen to. I can't really mention anything else! Life and How to Live it 7/10 It has a nice beat ... It does little for me, unfortunately. It seems a little bit distant. Although, it is played very well ... and I do enjoy it on a minor level. Old Man Kensey 8.5/10 I like this one because it is has a more mystical quality about it. The melody isn't incredibly special, at parts it soaaaaars! That's pretty cool! This is one of the album's better moments, I'd say. Can't Get There From Here 10/10 I LOVE THE RIFF! ... I also love how this song keeps on changing keys, and how utterly catchy this one is! The highlight! Quite easily, this one wins as being the best song off the album. Green Grow the Rushes 9/10 A pleasant and enjoyable mid-tempo tune. The melody is good. The arranging was top-on, as usual, and ... yep ... this is another good R.E.M. tune. Kohoutek 7/10 Whew! This isn't that good! It starts out all right and then it just grows dull and ... hmmm ... I don't like it anymore. Auctioneer (Another Engine) 7/10 Wow ... this album isn't fun at all. I'm having a difficult time enjoying this!! It's played well, though, I suppose ... Good Advices 8.5/10 Better ... more pleasant ... Oh yeah! It's far from perfect, I guess, but I'm able to enjoy this one without too much effort. Wendell Gee 7.5/10 This one is slooooooow and kinda boring. Just the same, it's professional, and ... and ... whatever. (Oh man ... why does this sound slightly like country music????) Send me your fables about this album here!

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