The Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law: The Best Of The Bobby Fuller Four (2004)

One of the great unsolved mysteries of rock & roll is the death of Bobby Fuller (2nd from left) who led the Texas quartet that bears his name. Some investigators claim the up-and-coming star was murdered, others insist he committed suicide. Either way, his body was found face down in his unlocked car with gasoline poured all over his body and an empty gas can next to him on the front seat. If you're interested in more of the seedy details you can find all that you want here on an archived version of the prolific blog, Forgotten Hits. 

Virtually a one-hit wonder, Fuller is almost exclusively known for "I Fought the Law," a 1966, #9 hit appropriately covered by The Clash and less so by pseudo-punkers Green Day. The Dead Kennedys released a version of it too. Covers recorded by these irreverent rockers shouldn't surprise anyone when the famous song in question has lyrics like "I fought the law and the law won."  

The Best Of The Bobby Fuller Four is a short retrospective featuring twelve songs and a brief radio ID the band recorded called "Big Kahuna." The whole set clocks in at less than a half hour. It's not a lot of music for your money, but for most people this is all of The Bobby Fuller Four they'll ever need. If you do want more there are other, longer compilations and a very comprehensive, three disc, sixty-four song, box set that includes all of the group's best material, some live tracks, and a host of previously unreleased music.

The quartet's big hit was originally recorded by the post-Buddy Holly Crickets and written by band member Sonny Curtis. That shouldn't be surprising when you consider Fuller and his band to be among Holly's biggest fans. It's easy to hear why no one - except for maybe early Marshall Crenshaw - sounded more like the deceased, early rock pioneer. If you don't believe me just listen to "Love's Made a Fool of You." 

"Let Her Dance" sounds like it could have come from one of the hipper British Invasion outfits. In this case it's The Hollies.

"Phantom Dragster" has a definite Bo Didley beat and "King of The Wheels" is a Beach Boys influenced car song.

There are two previously unreleased tracks, "I'm A Lucky Guy" and "Baby My Heart" that are both rooted in garage rock or the songs of The Dave Clark Five. Take your pick.

Who knows if Fuller would have progressed beyond the typical sounding 60s rock found here, but upon listening to this album you'll definitely understand that his work rivaled those of his biggest influences of the era.

The songs featured below appear to be lip-synced but the videos - complete with stereotypical 60s go-go girls - are real and appear to be from the TV show, Hullabaloo.