R.E.M.: Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985)

As noted elsewhere in these pages (and described at length in my book), R.E.M. was one of the small handful of bands that truly changed my life. When I was belatedly introduced to them in 1984, upon my arrival at college, it was a revelatory experience, opening me up to all the music I'd been missing outside my MTV/radio-fueled suburban bubble. Those first two LPs, Murmur and Reckoning (as well as debut EP Chronic Town), rarely left my tape deck that entire year.

So when their third album dropped...