Buddy Holly - Buddy Holly - Greatest Hits

The early Elvis was often moony-eyed, and the Platters had their share (and someone else's, too) of romantic ballad hits, but it was Buddy Holly who all but single-handedly introduced the concept of sweetness to rock & roll. Not just on hushed near-ballads like "Everyday" either, but in many of his fastest numbers as well: "Peggy Sue," "I'm Gonna Love You Too." Even when he plays the tough guy on "Rave On," he comes on like a secret teddy bear. That understanding of love's currents, along with Holly's ingeniously calibrated performances and straightforward songwriting, make his records as timeless as anything from the '50s he didn't live through--more timeless, in most cases. --Rickey Wright Amazon.com

An Excellent Album.

I have to say this is one of the best albums I've ever bought. I'm a teenage girl, and I love this music. While these songs may be old, they'll never go out of style. Buddy's voice is amazing on all of these songs, the instrumentals are perfect, and this is one of the best albums you will ever buy. The second the CD is over, you'll want to listen to it again, I promise you.
July 16, 2008

A Career Thoroughly Botched By The Label

What more can possibly be said about Buddy Holly that hasn't already been uttered a thousand times in both script and song? Well, I've got a bee in my bonnet about something.

First of all this CD is a typical example of the way those who owned the rights to Buddy AND his material thoroughly mismanaged his career. Consider, please, that this legend had exactly eight Top 40 hits between 1957 and 1959. Eight! Elvis had 21 in that period alone, and while it might seem unfair to compare The King to anyone in that era, even Pat Boone had 20. And when it comes to R&R there is no comparison between Boone and Holly.

It's safe to say that, had he been in the hands of a Colonel Parker and a label that knew what it was doing there is no telling how many more millions of records he would have sold.

I can vividly recall the comments among my teenage peers in 1957 as his records came out in a dizzying spasm of inconsistency -"the Crickets of That'll Be The Day weren't the same as Buddy Holly & The Crickets on Words Of Love" they said, pointing to the different labels. And, of course, since the average fan back then didn't know that Decca owned both Coral and Brunswick the misconception was quite understandable.

Look at the history. In 1956 he signed with Decca and that summer cut about a dozen sides. The first releases (Blue Days, Black Nights b/w Love Me on Decca 29854, and Modern Don Juan b/w You Are My One Desire on Decca 30166) went nowhere. The other selections - among them That'll Be The Day, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, Don't Come Back Knockin', I'm Changing All Those Changes, Midnight Shift, Girl On My Mind, and Ting-A-Ling - stayed in the vaults.

In the summer of 1957, as Buddy Holly & The Crickets, he released his own composition Words Of Love b/w Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues on the Decca subsidiary Coral (# 61852) - and promptly got run over by a quick cover from Mercury's The Diamonds. While Buddy failed to chart, they hit # 12 R&B and # 13 Billboard Top 100. The suits then released a new version of That'll Be The Day and, b/w I'm Looking For Someone To Love and credited to The Crickets, it shot to # 1 Top 100 and # 2 R&B that September on another of their subsidiaries, Brunswick (# 55009).

Just to add to the growing confusion, the parent company then put out the original That'll Be The Day b/w Rock Around With Ollie Vee on Decca 30434 that September, just shortly before releasing Peggy Sue b/w Everyday on Coral 61885, again as by "Buddy Holly & The Crickets." This one almost repeated the success of his first hit, going to # 3 Top 100 and # 2 R&B by December.

By then, however, he was competing with himself as that other player also had Oh Boy b/w Not Fade Away in circulation on Brunswick 55035, also peaking at # 10 Top 100 and # 13 R&B in December as by The Crickets. It should not have been surprising, therefor, when Coral 61947 - Listen To Me b/w I'm Gonna Love You Too by Buddy Holly & The Crickets, and released in January 1958, failed to chart. This was bordering on criminal because the wistful A-side is among the best he ever did (unfortunately it's not in this CD).

Brunswick 55053 then presented the classic Maybe Baby b/w Tell Me How by The Crickets, and in March 1958 it topped out at # 4 R&B and # 17 Top 100. When Coral 61985 then tried again with Buddy Holly & The Crickets with the magnificent Rave On b/w Take Your Time, the befuddlement of the public was apparent in the fact that it only went to # 37 Top 100 that May. In fact, from that point on, with one notable exception, they would never again approach the top of the Pop charts, either as The Crickets or their full name.

Think It Over (for my money one of their very best) b/w Fool's Paradise on Brunswick 55072 by The Crickets went to # 27 and 58 Top 100 respectively that August, again in self-competition as Coral 62006 also had Early In The Morning b/w the magnificent Now We're One (a real hard find today) levelling off at # 32 Top 100 the same month.

And just to make certain the rabble stayed confused, Decca not only released another single from the 1956 sessions - Girl On My Mind b/w Ting-A-Ling on Decca 30650, they had two LPs in circulation: one called That'll Be The Day (Decca DL 8707) as by Budy Holly & The Three Tunes with all their 1956 stuff, and another on Brunswick called The "Chirping" Crickets which, in addition to a couple of their hits, also included You've Got Love, It's Too Late, An Empty Cup (And A Broken Date), Little Richard's Send Me Some Lovin', Last Night, and Rock Me My Baby.

By the time January 1959 rolled around Buddy had split from The Crickets, Coral had released another LP - simply titled Buddy Holly - which offered a few more of his hits plus Valley Of Tears, Ready Teddy, Look At Me, and You're So Square, Baby I Don't Care, and on single 62051 had Heartbeat b/w Well, All Right by Buddy Holly & The crickets just moving up the charts when that plane went down in Iowa on February 3. Instead of acting as a catalyst for sales the way it did for Elvis in 1977, the single petered out at # 82 Hot 100.

The next release - appropriately titled It Doesn't Matter Anymore b/w Raining In My Heart - on Coral 62074 was a double-side hit going to # 4 and 88 Hot 100 respectively that April. But after that, attempts to cash in on his "fame" failed, with It's So Easy/Lonesome Tears (Brunswick 55094), Peggy Sue Got Married/Crying, Waiting, Hoping (Coral 62134) and That Makes It Tough/True Love Ways (Coral 62210) all failing to chart.

Buddy Holly deserves all the legend status heaped upon him. What he didn't deserve was a collection of incompetents handling his records and an untimely death. July 29, 2007

50s could rock

This is an excellent compilation of Buddy Holly's songs and proof that the 50s were not square. This is fast rock and roll, not heavy or angry, but definitely not sickly sweet lite stuff either. This belongs in your CD player, not the dentist's office. And to think he got all this done before he died in a plane crash at 23. Wow. July 6, 2007

Good introduction to Buddy Holly's work

Don Maclean's "American Pie" features one line--"The day the music died." He was speaking of the death of Buddy Holly after a plane crash. Holly's career was cut tragically short; he only had a career spanning so few years and a small number of recording sessions. Yet his star burned brightly during that brief time. The "liner notes" note that: "Buddy Holly recorded all the songs on this collection in less than two years. Can you think of another pop music oeuvre of similar strength, variety, and import which came together so quickly?"

This CD includes 18 of his greatest hits. One could, of course, wonder why some of these were included and others were excluded. Nonetheless, a good representation of his work on one CD.

Some illustrative cuts:

"That'll Be the Day": Nice rhythm. This is a simple sung with nice vocal hooks and a good, simple guitar riff.

"Not Fade Away": Covered nicely by the Rolling Stones (it's an infectious tune, and one can see why the Stones would be interested in this). This is an effervescent work. Good guitar riff and clean lyrics. Key line:

"Love for real, not fade away."

"Peggy Sue": This is a classic. The instrumental playing is rousing; quintessential Buddy Holly lyrics.

"Rave On": A rollicking rocker. The vocals are backed by solid rhythm.

"It's So Easy": This was covered nicely by Linda Ronstadt. Another infectious tune. The instrumental backing is spare but effective.

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore": This song is commented on by others as "growth" by Holly. It adds a strong section. To me, this actually works against the rock and roll sensibility of earlier works. It presages the gooey Phil Spector sound that ruined the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road." But it does show real growth in Holly's vision and raises the question of where he would have gone had he lived.

This is well worth looking at by those who want to get a grounded introduction to the art of Buddy Holly. The selections here do that well.

July 2, 2007

Timeless Classic

Buddy Holly was a genius. It's as simple as that. His creation of music was in a class by itself and his work remains nonpareil and will continue to delight many for time immemorial. These are timeless classics that you will never tire of hearing. I just love "Maybe Baby," "Think it Over" as well as his other recordings and to this day say that Buddy Holly could not do a bad song if he tried.

One cannot help but wonder had this humble genius from Lubbock had lived (he died in a plane crash in an Iowa corn field on February 3, 1959 along with Richie Valens and the Big Bopper), what songs we'd be enjoying in addition to these gems. It is possible that he might have joined Roy Orbison, et al. and George Harrison for the Traveling Wilburys. Buddy Holly raised the early Rock & Roll bar; his music influenced later musical juggernauts such as the Beatles. In 1965 the Beatles did "Words of Love" as a nod to this extremely gifted man. Buddy Holly, like a roller coaster set the wheels in motion for quite a musical ride!

It is interesting that former Beatle Paul McCartney owns Holly's music; you can hear some Holly influence in some of Paul's early Beatle compositions. The title "Raining in My Heart" echoes in John Lennon's 1963 blockbuster, "Please Please Me" with the lyric, "but you know there's always rain in my heart (in my heart)."

Don't just take our word for this. Get this collection and believe me, you will be so glad you did.

December 2, 2006

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