@Bass Man I think the problem is more how that and Oddfellows Local don't work together as number 10 and 11 on the album. It just creates a slightly anticlimactic feeling for me, to what is a pretty invigorating and quite aggressive album before that. The last two songs have grown on me and I like them now, just not as much as some of the others.
Ha! Reminds me of Christmas 1987. My twin and I were 13 and just discovered these guys. We dove head first. He asked for this album and DLO. I asked for Murmur and Reckoning. We received all. There is indeed a Santa!
This was REM at their best (imho) and it shows in every aspect of the song, from Michael's haunting tenor to Pete's awesome guitar work; from Mike's incredible bass work to Bill's perfect percussion work. Mesmerizing is the only word that comes close!
I was 23 when I first heard this album. I think it changed my life. This song appears to be the illegitimate child of The Band and Black Sabbath. Heavy, dark and reminiscent of a Southern, gothic novel. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but you get my point. REM’s music resonates deeper now than 25 years ago when I first listened I think, now, I find their songs are less about standard musical art forms; I.e., melody, harmony, bridge, etc.; and more akin to dreamscapes; where the song enables us to float on a breeze or smell the wild grass growing on the roadside or revel in the soundscape of a river full of toads, crickets, birds and waterfalls. This music paints indelible images in my mind; of places seen or remembered or perhaps yet to occur. They chose to eschew standard musical forms and did not write to please an audience; but rather to please themselves. And what a payoff that achieved. For instance is ‘Feelings Gravity’s Pull’ a modern song about technology and yearning or an old dirge about lost seamen and castles? I don’t know and I don’t care, and maybe that’s the brilliance of their musical choices - the listener is free to interpret these songs in any way we desire, which is the true essence of great art.
When I was eleven years old, I stayed up late one Friday night and watched a local music video program... And I saw this. A part of me thought I imagined what I had seen (the cutting is very jumpy, like in a dream), but I could not shake it or the song from my mind. And I think this made me a fan of a group that would challenge whatever I thought a song or video should be. Thank you, Buck, Berry, Mills and Stipe. 👍🏾
Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥 Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥 Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥 Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
My entire teen life 1980 through 1989 was listening to REM. That and Cocteau Twins, Joy Division, Violent Femmes, Bauhaus, The Clash, The Jam, The cure, X, Dead Kennedy's, The Germs, Black Flag, Fear, minutemen, Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, Souxie, The Specials, The English Beat, The Pretender's, Elvis Costello, 45 Grave, The Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, Social Distortion, Husker Du, The Cramps, T.S.O.L., Crass, The Fall, The Talking Heads, Mud Honey, Fugazi, Buzzcocks, Green River, Bad Religion, Bowie... Just to name a few. I'm sure I missed many.
Their first five albums were so different and great compared to what other bands were doing. But the 80’s in general was an awesome decade for musical experimentation.
I haven't listened to this song in 30+years, can at once remember and can't recall how it used to move me - an elusive tonality of the soul forever beyond reach in a vanished decade
This is the first song I ever heard them play live, through the walls of a soundcheck as we were waiting outside. I'm sure you can imagine the chills of excitement that went through the line as we all heard this opening riff.
me, my bicycle, and this song on my walkman in early nighties...remember exploring early rem stuff after hearing out of time - this was so entertaining.
I love R.E.M. ❤️️❤️️❤️️...they were so talented, too bad they have broken up now & are no longer together to give us even more great music.😢 I love R.E.M. ❤️️❤️️❤️️...they were so talented, too bad they have broken up now & are no longer together to give us even more great music.😢
Lucky u. I was supposed to see them first time on this reconstruction tour but my friend screwed me over. Saw them on green , out of time and monster tours.
Saw them in the Royal Court in Liverpool in 85 when they were promoting Reconstruction. They made me realise life was worth a go, along with The Smiths and Prefab Sprout and others. I know they had a tough time recording this album and it maybe isn't among their favourites but this my introduction to REM and I wouldn't have it any other way
REM are my favorite band of all time, this album sound so great also thanks to the good job by Joe Boyd, as he done with Nick Drake and many others UK band...we miss him.
Fables is a fascinating hybrid of the proto-rem demonstrated on murmur and reckoning. And the more accessible sounds that they would show on life's rich pageant. This was were they started to head for the stars. And by Automatic they had achieved it!LOL
@@beckyschade2359 Wow, Automatic being your least favourite. Fair enough I guess, although to me it's close to perfect in the way it flows and each song touches you in a different, but still profound way.
Green is my favorite for how sincere the songs were. But I know I'm in the minority on that and I know that album alienated IRS fans. I think Green, Fables, Monster and New Adventures are under appreciated and often written off, especially Fables and Monster.
+Carole Corns And Maps and Legends, Live and How To Live It, Old Man Kensey, Green Grow the Rushes, Kahoutek, Auctioneer, Good Advices and Wendell Gee. Oh yeah and Bandwagon. It was a B side. My favorite LP by them.
driver 8 and Rockville and wendell gee and little america and this. "reason has harnessed the tame" is a line found both in little america and feeling gravity's pull
I'll never be able to thank you enough for awakening the odd peaceful corner of my subconscious that has stayed with me for over 20 years, now. Your music has touched my mind like no other. Knew it had to end someday, but why NOW? :,(
Always thought the Gang of Four influence was heavy on this one, but I really love how they incorporate cello and other touches which make it their own. Fables of the Reconstruction is my favorite R.E.M. album because of it’s the one where they seemed to take the most chances. It’s also the darkest they got.
I love all of REM's back catalogue, you can really hear them getting better and better from album to album -can you imagine a band being given the chance to develop like that these days? It would all be over by Murmur!
They opened with this when I saw them at the Leroy Theater in Pawtucket, R.I.. It was the Fables tour. Great show. Overall, I had seen REM 8 times. Stopped at Green tour.
Tin Gym. University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa. November 1985. 10,000 Maniacs opened. One of their best songs ever. Never heard it on the radio. Very little air play on MTV (yes, they really use to play videos!)
I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around Peel back the mountains peel back the sky Stomp gravity into the floor It's a Man Ray kind of sky Let me show you what I can do with it Time and distance are out of place here Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull Somewhere near the end it said "You can't do this", I said "I can, too" Shift sway rivers shift, oceans fall and mountains drift It's a Man Ray kind of sky Let me show you what I can do with it Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull onto my eyes Holding my head straight (looking down) This is the easiest task I've ever had to do I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around Shift the swaying river's shift Oceans fall and mountains drift It's a Man Ray kind of sky Let me show you what I can do with it Time and distance are out of place here Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull onto my eyes Holding my head straight (looking down) This is the easiest task I've ever had to do Reason had harnessed the tame Holding the sky in their arms Gravity pulls me down
Recorded yards from where i used to live in a particularly shitty part of London. They hated it there. This record 'made' the band. They should have moved there permanently.
+Anthony Meursault 'Just because people put things in quotes' 'Doesn't mean they have any significant meaning.' 'While this is my favorite record of there's, very few bought it so I don't know what it made for them.' 'Outside of it being my favorite of there's.'
i'd say it was life's rich pageant and document which "made" the band in terms of popularity and chart success, but this was a really good album that differed from murmur and reckoning and helped proved that they could differentiate themselves. it's one of my favorites they made, but i'd imagine if they'd gone through that recording process again, there wouldn't have been many more albums to follow.
I love the sound of this song. Probably R.E.M.'s best song but then, i haven't heard the Collapse into now album yet but almost all of their other albums ive listened to a lot.
I shouldn't have taken the bait, either. I just get really tired of people bringing such irrelevant topics up. The music is amazing. Appreciate and enjoy it, and be happy.
there was a time that i thought bill berry was the lead singer because they never showed the bands photos on their albums, now you cannot escape Stipes face.
R.E.M. made the 80's great.
and the 90's as well :-)
I never thought they were that old when I discover them around 95. But this is so cool.
Fables of the Reconstruction is R.E.M.'s best album. Can't believe that people don't like it that much.
20 years ago, my favourite album was probably Out of Time.
Fast forward to 2020 and my favourite album is actually Reconstruction.....
Mine is "Life's Rich Pageant". "Fables" is ace though, and under - appreciated.
Mine is Document [first 9 songs and then the last two just drag a bit], closely followed by Green, Automatic and Murmur.
@Bass Man I think the problem is more how that and Oddfellows Local don't work together as number 10 and 11 on the album. It just creates a slightly anticlimactic feeling for me, to what is a pretty invigorating and quite aggressive album before that. The last two songs have grown on me and I like them now, just not as much as some of the others.
Listened to Fables until my cassette player ate it.
The best album they ever produced
Gorgeous and weird. One of their most unfairly underappreciated tracks.
Ha! Reminds me of Christmas 1987. My twin and I were 13 and just discovered these guys. We dove head first. He asked for this album and DLO. I asked for Murmur and Reckoning. We received all. There is indeed a Santa!
DLO?
@@annelouisemaclellan485 Dead Letter Office.
One of the best guitar works of Peter Buck
Amazing that this song was written in the 1980s. This band was way ahead of their time.
My first REM album. Great stuff.
This was REM at their best (imho) and it shows in every aspect of the song, from Michael's haunting tenor to Pete's awesome guitar work; from Mike's incredible bass work to Bill's perfect percussion work. Mesmerizing is the only word that comes close!
I was 23 when I first heard this album. I think it changed my life. This song appears to be the illegitimate child of The Band and Black Sabbath. Heavy, dark and reminiscent of a Southern, gothic novel. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but you get my point. REM’s music resonates deeper now than 25 years ago when I first listened I think, now, I find their songs are less about standard musical art forms; I.e., melody, harmony, bridge, etc.; and more akin to dreamscapes; where the song enables us to float on a breeze or smell the wild grass growing on the roadside or revel in the soundscape of a river full of toads, crickets, birds and waterfalls. This music paints indelible images in my mind; of places seen or remembered or perhaps yet to occur. They chose to eschew standard musical forms and did not write to please an audience; but rather to please themselves. And what a payoff that achieved. For instance is ‘Feelings Gravity’s Pull’ a modern song about technology and yearning or an old dirge about lost seamen and castles? I don’t know and I don’t care, and maybe that’s the brilliance of their musical choices - the listener is free to interpret these songs in any way we desire, which is the true essence of great art.
When I was eleven years old, I stayed up late one Friday night and watched a local music video program...
And I saw this.
A part of me thought I imagined what I had seen (the cutting is very jumpy, like in a dream), but I could not shake it or the song from my mind.
And I think this made me a fan of a group that would challenge whatever I thought a song or video should be.
Thank you, Buck, Berry, Mills and Stipe.
👍🏾
you where so lucky! I can't believe you could just watch this on t.v :) its a shame i have to put up with so much awful music...What has happened?
oh sorry for the typo by the way
typos
Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
@@sydglover4842 MTV has happened. And then it stopped other things from happening.
this has to be one of the coolest songs of all time
My entire teen life 1980 through 1989 was listening to REM. That and Cocteau Twins, Joy Division, Violent Femmes, Bauhaus, The Clash, The Jam, The cure, X, Dead Kennedy's, The Germs, Black Flag, Fear, minutemen, Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, Souxie, The Specials, The English Beat, The Pretender's, Elvis Costello, 45 Grave, The Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, Social Distortion, Husker Du, The Cramps, T.S.O.L., Crass, The Fall, The Talking Heads, Mud Honey, Fugazi, Buzzcocks, Green River, Bad Religion, Bowie... Just to name a few. I'm sure I missed many.
How could you miss the Smiths?😁😉
Lol … yeah if your goal was to name every band you listened to in the eighties you probably did.
The smiths
Echo & The Bunnymen
I remember when they used to open the show with this one. Incredibly jarring and beautiful.
Damn, I'd forgotten about this song. This is beautiful.
Their first five albums were so different and great compared to what other bands were doing. But the 80’s in general was an awesome decade for musical experimentation.
I haven't listened to this song in 30+years, can at once remember and can't recall how it used to move me - an elusive tonality of the soul forever beyond reach in a vanished decade
Still sounds amazing and fresh after all these years. Great song.
1985, My First REM Album !.. Groovy all these years..)
What a freaking amazing song and album. It was the first REM record I got into.
This is the first song I ever heard them play live, through the walls of a soundcheck as we were waiting outside. I'm sure you can imagine the chills of excitement that went through the line as we all heard this opening riff.
My opinion, best REM album, by far.
Wiithout a doubt!
I absolutely love it. those were the days. my fav rem song.
Classic late-night kind of song. Weird, spooky goodness.
As far as the I.R.S. period, this album and Document are easily their 2 best.
Eh, I'm partial to Reckoning
Document, Lifes Rich Pageant and Murmur.
This album is so unnerving... I love it
my favorite from it is this and wendell gee.
R.E.M.s I.R.S. period is epic 🙌
yes! they should have stayed with I.R.S instead of selling out to warner brothers.
Maybe they were afraid IRS would audit them
Those IRS records changed my life!
Love the violin at the end.
me, my bicycle, and this song on my walkman in early nighties...remember exploring early rem stuff after hearing out of time - this was so entertaining.
I love R.E.M. ❤️️❤️️❤️️...they were so talented, too bad they have broken up now & are no longer together to give us even more great music.😢
I love R.E.M. ❤️️❤️️❤️️...they were so talented, too bad they have broken up now & are no longer together to give us even more great music.😢
yep, best song, best album....one of the best concerts of all time
Yes ! Definitely thier best album. Reckoning is second
Lois Deak no
Lucky u. I was supposed to see them first time on this reconstruction tour but my friend screwed me over. Saw them on green , out of time and monster tours.
My favorite R.E.M. song. A very pronounced Television/Soft Boys/Dream Syndicate influence.
Thanks for all the memories and great music lads
Peter's guitar makes my insides dance.
Saw them in the Royal Court in Liverpool in 85 when they were promoting Reconstruction. They made me realise life was worth a go, along with The Smiths and Prefab Sprout and others. I know they had a tough time recording this album and it maybe isn't among their favourites but this my introduction to REM and I wouldn't have it any other way
one of their greatest
REM are my favorite band of all time, this album sound so great also thanks to the good job by Joe Boyd, as he done with Nick Drake and many others UK band...we miss him.
It is crazy to me that this only has ~190K views. This is real music.
Eerie opening song from their ‘86 tour. Saw them in Iowa City at Hancher. Sublime!
I remember that! It was a great tour. Saw them in Memphis!
Fables is a fascinating hybrid of the proto-rem demonstrated on murmur and reckoning.
And the more accessible sounds that they would show on life's rich pageant.
This was were they started to head for the stars.
And by Automatic they had achieved it!LOL
Polly Ann how funny. Fables is my favorite! Automatic is my least favorite.
This and Pageant were the zenith, by my Reckoning.
@@beckyschade2359 Wow, Automatic being your least favourite. Fair enough I guess, although to me it's close to perfect in the way it flows and each song touches you in a different, but still profound way.
Green is my favorite for how sincere the songs were. But I know I'm in the minority on that and I know that album alienated IRS fans. I think Green, Fables, Monster and New Adventures are under appreciated and often written off, especially Fables and Monster.
They were a great band.
I've covered REM songs on my channel.
The best
Paul Desca Are they dead?
Frankincensed rem broke up in 2011
Absolutely!!! There will never be another R.E.M.!!!
This, and Driver 8.
+Carole Corns And Maps and Legends, Live and How To Live It, Old Man Kensey, Green Grow the Rushes, Kahoutek, Auctioneer, Good Advices and Wendell Gee. Oh yeah and Bandwagon. It was a B side. My favorite LP by them.
driver 8 and Rockville and wendell gee and little america and this. "reason has harnessed the tame" is a line found both in little america and feeling gravity's pull
Not a bad track on it
Take a break Driver 8. Great song but their top two!
Maps and Legends too, beyond doubt.
The beginning of a blindingly brilliant album. A towering achievement.
I'll never be able to thank you enough for awakening the odd peaceful corner of my subconscious that has stayed with me for over 20 years, now. Your music has touched my mind like no other. Knew it had to end someday, but why NOW? :,(
Always thought the Gang of Four influence was heavy on this one, but I really love how they incorporate cello and other touches which make it their own. Fables of the Reconstruction is my favorite R.E.M. album because of it’s the one where they seemed to take the most chances. It’s also the darkest they got.
Nor can I. This song is one of my favourites.
My first tour seeing them in Seattle 85
Great song. I've had it stuck in my head ever since I started seeing ads for Gravity on TV.
I love all of REM's back catalogue, you can really hear them getting better and better from album to album -can you imagine a band being given the chance to develop like that these days? It would all be over by Murmur!
nah
Their first two albums are considered by experts to be their best. Murmur got a ton of critical acclaim not long after its release
Hard to believe the coolest song in the world only has 7,000 views
They opened with this when I saw them at the Leroy Theater in Pawtucket, R.I.. It was the Fables tour. Great show. Overall, I had seen REM 8 times. Stopped at Green tour.
Murmur , Fables, Document best 3 albums by REM
Oh my... this song!!!! Listening again after years of having it on CD sleeping in the shelves. Amazing song. Thanks UA-cam by the way.
Wow, first comment. How odd. The first time I made out with a girl this song came on the radio in my dad's car. Loved this album, loved that girl.
I saw them on this tour in 1985, love this song
Tin Gym. University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa. November 1985. 10,000 Maniacs opened. One of their best songs ever. Never heard it on the radio. Very little air play on MTV (yes, they really use to play videos!)
I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph
Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around
Peel back the mountains peel back the sky
Stomp gravity into the floor
It's a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Time and distance are out of place here
Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed
When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull
Somewhere near the end it said
"You can't do this", I said "I can, too"
Shift sway rivers shift, oceans fall and mountains drift
It's a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed
When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull onto my eyes
Holding my head straight (looking down)
This is the easiest task I've ever had to do
I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph
Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around
Shift the swaying river's shift
Oceans fall and mountains drift
It's a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Time and distance are out of place here
Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed
When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull onto my eyes
Holding my head straight (looking down)
This is the easiest task I've ever had to do
Reason had harnessed the tame
Holding the sky in their arms
Gravity pulls me down
Ty🍻
Hi R.E.M. & everybody, have a nice day 💜💜💜💜💜 I love REM ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥
I feel so hypnotised by this one ........
Recorded yards from where i used to live in a particularly shitty part of London. They hated it there. This record 'made' the band. They should have moved there permanently.
+Anthony Meursault 'Just because people put things in quotes' 'Doesn't mean they have any significant meaning.' 'While this is my favorite record of there's, very few bought it so I don't know what it made for them.' 'Outside of it being my favorite of there's.'
i'd say it was life's rich pageant and document which "made" the band in terms of popularity and chart success, but this was a really good album that differed from murmur and reckoning and helped proved that they could differentiate themselves. it's one of my favorites they made, but i'd imagine if they'd gone through that recording process again, there wouldn't have been many more albums to follow.
Indeed! Probably my fave album of theirs.
Love this album...time and distance are out of place here
Remarkably cool video made in a time when so man videos were cringeworthy. Fantastic song as well, by the greatest American band in history;
I am not happy. Leaving this world behind while listening to this song seems like the only solution.
My favorite REM album
REM is an amazing band!
Fables is seriously underrated.
What a perfect ending....
Great job on this video...........
I love the sound of this song. Probably R.E.M.'s best song but then, i haven't heard the Collapse into now album yet but almost all of their other albums ive listened to a lot.
Saw them when they were promoting FOTR one of the best live bands ever!!!✌
Mid nineteen eighties. Heard this...then Maps And Legends. Was hooked......
I want to overdose blissfully along to this song
some are bound to pull out a message, some are bound to listen and calm down. Not everyone can carry the weight of the world
awesome guitar
Does ANYBODY notice how much alot of Cobains songs sound like he might have been influenced by this song? I does!
shane Ares I was thinking the same thing.
Cobain kind of hero worshiped Michael. Michael was really torn up when Kurt died.
was thinking the very same thing that im reminded of KC
Kurt was a REM fan.
I think Kurt was happy to admit that he'd been greatly influenced by early REM.
How will be the reconstruction of this world? It'll be told to the grandsons of our grandsons in beautiful fables...
I love a good reconstruction fable.
It's a Man Ray kind of sky.....
great line
Oh, I always heard "It's a memory kind of sky." The real line is a lot better. Thanks for educating me.
yohei72 I had heard “It’s a mandrake kind of sky”
@@lovemrj4ever "'Scuse me/While I kiss this guy" -Jimi Hendrix
yohei72 😁😆😀
Mine are "Lifes Reach Pageant" and "Reckoning".
Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed....
Great
My favourite REM album. I just love the melodies and feel of this album. Only one dud song (Auctioneer). Just wish the production was better.
Dud Song?? WHAT???! Auctioneer is my certain favourite song in this album. Just because you can't appreciate the song, you called it a DUD?? ........
Beautiful
R.E.M. RIP
Still feel gravity's pull
Was this video done by Jim Herbert? Looks so much like Carnival by Limbo District.
I shouldn't have taken the bait, either. I just get really tired of people bringing such irrelevant topics up. The music is amazing. Appreciate and enjoy it, and be happy.
there was a time that i thought bill berry was the lead singer because they never showed the bands photos on their albums, now you cannot escape Stipes face.
Almost 40 yrs old
I was there
Closet thing they ever did to a goth song.
Fantastic song
Stock Pavillion. Madison. May 1985. No finer opening song. Anyone else?
When your whirled is A monster.
Best ever.
Stomp gravity into the floor
Up N we called this Fables Down S you called it Reconstruction. M1R,VA
The bass, drums, and guitar should not go together but they do.
I like the song and I really like the video. I generally hate videos but this one is different.
My favorite.