Shake-Well! REM Does Like to Dish Plumbing-Fables Is All 1960S Major
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tial to realize if they are not pushed too quickly. And, of course, they have Ma- ria McKee's strong, charismatic sing- ing out in front. I look for Lone Justice to be around for quite a while. Michael Tearson Fables of the Reconstruction: R.E.M. I.R.S./MCA IRS-5592. Sound: B Performance: B - Any band that likes to play cutesy with its album title (the record jacket says Fables of the Reconstruction/Re- construction of the Fables) is in my mind immediately suspect for not let- ting the music do the talkin'. And when you're confronted by a lyricless inner sleeve garnished with 400 different typefaces spread in pick -up -sticks fashion, garbled as a gremlin milk- shake-well! R.E.M. does like to dish out the obscure. That's not so bad in itself, as anyone from The Stones to the avant-garde cult-faves The Residents can tell you. But R.E.M., riding on the good critical yet stinging sound that reeks of ear- Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and vibes of last year's Reckoning, seems nestness. Occasionally it just reeks. drummer Bill Berry, along with some to be taking on a British art-rock pose He's pushed Michael Stipe's trade- studio help, do little to add wiring and as infuriating as the music is pretty. mark -garbled lead vocals plumbing-Fables is all 1960s major Fables producer Joe Boyd, who brings mostly toward the back chords, Seals & Crofts harmonies, a lot his pedigree from the Fairport Conven- of this instrumental con- of dark bass lines, and one song, "Life tion/Brit folk-rock stables, has fash- struction site, turning Stipe and How to Live It," that sounds re- ioned here a thick, blocky almost into an inner voice, markably like the early R.E.M. favorite, a conscience. Or did Boyd "Radio Free Europe." do t just to h de him? Pleasant enough but hardly inspir- ing, is R.E.M. Stipe's vocals, after all, Fables' gimmicky obscurity may hare their moments, enough to get you running back to but they don't exactly Dada. Frank Lovece swing from tenor to basso profundo. Flaunt the Imperfection: China Crisis Guitarist Warner Bros. 25296-1, $8.98. Sound: B Performance: B The second China Crisis album is something quite different from the first. With a new producer in Walter Becker of Steely Dan fame, they have made over their sound. Now the group sports breezy, loping melodies with stripped - down, elliptical lyrics. If the concept sounds vaguely familiar, think about the sound of Steely Dan from Katy Lied to Aja and the hip coolness those records had, and you might have some idea of what China Crisis is about these days. AUDIO/OCTOBER 1985 339 .