Joe Boyd worked with R.E.M. as the producer of Fables of the Reconstruction. The 1985 album marked a change from the Don Dixon–Mitch Easter production team used on R.E.M.’s first two albums.
Boyd was known for producing folk-rock artists including Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and Richard Thompson. Guitarist Peter Buck especially wanted to work with him, while Michael Stipe initially favored Van Dyke Parks because of the album’s Southern Gothic themes. The band ultimately chose Boyd and recorded in London rather than North Carolina.
The sessions took place at Livingston Studios during February and April 1985, and the finished album was released on June 10 that year. Boyd’s meticulous mixing approach created a darker, murkier sound, although the band sometimes felt it reduced the spontaneity they had enjoyed with Dixon and Easter. Fables became R.E.M.’s first album recorded outside the United States and reached number 28 on the Billboard 200.