With Fables of The Reconstruction R.E.M. find themselves thrust into the 'third album' dilemma - whether to persist with a distinctive sound, thereby risking being pigeonholed, or to make such a radical departure as to lose their initial following and gamble on finding a completely new audience.

Thankfully it's a problem that's been negotiated very successfully. For this album R.E.M. have dispensed with the production team of Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, the desk crew on all heir recordings to date, and gone for the talents of veteran English producer Joe Boyd, whose previous credits include Fairport Convention and Nick Drake among others, to create a more reflective backdrop for Michael Stipe's lyrical excursions. Subtle use of brass and springs complement Peter Buck's mercurial guitar work and the Berry/Mills rhythm section are as unobtrusive as the best rhythm sections should be - all in all a refined progression for one of the best sounds in contemporary music.

'Fables' has a decidedly pastoral feel, a sense of searching for long lost roots pervades Stipe's dense, almost impenetrable lyrics.

'Green Grow The Rushes' and 'Wendell Gee', with it's picked banjo and string arrangement are probably the most overtly rural of the album's tracks. Elsewhere the sixties pop feel of 'Can't Get There From Here' sits very well alongside the standard R.E.M.-isms of 'Driver 8' and 'Maps and Legends'. The standout track is 'Auctioneer (Another Engineer) 'which the band previewed on their live date here last year - a furious guitar assault from Buck combines with a typically mysterious Stip lyric to crate one of the most unnerving moments of R.E.M.'s career to date, as chilling as television at their best.

On the form shown here R.E.M. are well on their way to becoming one of rock music's greatest forces, capable of *rocking out* with the best of them, yet still able to make the hairs on the back of the neck stand up in the privacy of your own home. 'Fable' offers an insight into the dark corners of a hitherto unknown America - an America that I, for one, want to find out more about.

In short... a triumph.