R.E.M. has certainly taken definitive steps to attempt to reclaim their position at the center of the mainstream lately. “The little band that could” from Athens that at one point eschewed lipsyncing in videos and blazed trails for everyone from Nirvana to Radiohead has seemingly accepted their own standard classic rock ambitions in the last few years, finally succumbing to inevitability by releasing first a greatest hits compilation, then a live album, and now a new album on which they attempt to recapture the spirit of their earlier, not-utterly-tedious work — you know, getting back to our roots, maaaan. Weird thing is, for once it seems to have worked. Perhaps only the return of original drummer (and best musician in the band) Bill Berry could complete the cycle with the (again inevitable) “once-in-a-lifetime, all-original-members, last-chance-ever-we-promise” reunion tour, but until then Accelerate is a welcome sign of life from a band most had written off as sadly having long-ago fallen off into the “oh yeah, they used to be okay” bin. It’s a bit rushed and overly loud, as if these aging guys trying to recapture their youth recall themselves as punkier and more abrasive than they ever really were, so it’s more a return to the form of Monster than Lifes Rich Pageant — but still far better than anyone had any right to hope. The aura of kudzu mystery the band used to affect so effortlessly has long since dissipated in the glare of the spotlight, but it’s nice to see the R.E.M. that was once a seemingly endless font of catchy, melodic ’60s throwback tunes hasn’t entirely ceased to exist.
Reposting this from the 17th just to get a fresh start for 2008, or something:
Been a bit, eh? Sorry about that. Life gets in the way sometimes. I’ve been busy with a variety of things, writing a lot, and playing quite a bit of music…just nothing for this site. Shame, that. I keep meaning to update the design of the site, and thinking I might as well wait until then but then I don’t update the design either, other things always seem to take higher priority. Guess I’ll just stick with this for the time being.
I’ll see if I can’t pop back by here a little more frequently. No promises though, I don’t want to break anyone’s little heart.
Anyway, as per usual, I continue to get mail periodically from people about Bobby Fuller:
Aaron,
I just finished reading your article pertaining to Bobby Fuller. Very interesting and such a shame that his death goes unvindicated. I do have a question about the suicide ruling. I don’t know how things worked with insurance companies in 1966 but suicide today means no payout. Was it different back then? If the mob was behind his death then seems to me that they would want it ruled as murder or of unknown cause. From your explanation of his death and the coroners report a monkey could see that it was murder. I’m in the health field and it doesn’t take a medical background to see this.
I look forward to your answer and again, great write up.
Susan Ovadia
I don’t really know a lot about insurance but the whole no payout on suicide thing seems to go back further than the 60s, so I would guess it was probably no different then. Interesting point, Susan.
Hi Aaron,
My name is Rick Kern, a former drummer/vocalist with many local bands in El Paso back in the 60’s – ’73 when we took to the road for our Fame and Fortune. We got the fame, but not much fortune. I just wanted to tell you that I have enjoyed the writings about BF4. I had a group that had Jim Reese (of BF4) in it for 5 years, after Bobby died. The group was formed in 1968 and went to 1972. We were called The Basic Sound. He was an amazing guitar player that could listen to a song and play it almost perfect the first time he attempted it. I was just talking with Dalton Powell a few minutes ago and he was saying that Jim could play Chuck Berry better than Chuck Berry. Most of the songs that Jim sang and played in our group were mostly Chuck Berry tunes.
I just wanted to take this time to share this information with you.
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