"Fables of the Reconstruction" is indeed the
official title. If, however, you look closely at the
title as printed on the
CD, you'll see that the words "of the" are placed ambiguously--you can't tell if the real title is "Fables of the Reconstruction" or "Reconstruction of the Fables". The
liner notes are ambiguous too--one side says "Fables of the..." while the other side says "Reconstruction of the..." (In fact, according to
Amazon, the
import version is officially titled "Reconstruction of the Fables".) According to the
R.E.M. FAQ, the
real title is "Fables of the Reconstruction of the Fables of the..." (
etc.) or else "Reconstruction of the Fables of the Reconstruction of the..." I rather suspect that the band thought that both titles sounded neat and couldn't decide
between them.