It's been a long wait for the fans of R.E.M. Not so much to see their band play live, but to grab hold of such a high quality piece of work as this year's "Accelerate.

British rockers The Verve returned to America for the first time since their split a decade ago to perform at the Coachella Festival in California on Friday night - and frontman Richard Ashcroft told the faithful the band is back for good.

Bruce Springsteen and the beach are intrinsically linked. Imagine the Bruce of the 1970s chasing girls on a Jersey boardwalk, getting sand stuck in the scruff of his lazy beard and evading the pushers. It's nothing less than the embodiment of Mid-Atlantic state romance.

R.E.M. -- which is singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills -- are counting down the time to the release of Accelerate, their 14th studio album, on a website,

"The Grammys at 50 are showing their age," crows the latest headline from Newsday. Have the Grammys ever showed anything but? It takes years for them to even deign career artists buzzworthy enough for the Best New Artist trophy. (The most glaring example? Alt country siren Shelby Lynne taking home Best New Artist prize 13 years into her career.)

Radiohead's In Rainbows has been hailed the best album of 2007 by America's top critics. The release easily topped the new "Billboard Critics' Choice" poll after it appeared on 17 of the 49 lists submitted by the music magazine's staff and writers.