Customer Reviews

Buddy Holly/Chirping Crickets

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During his brief 18 months of stardom on Brunswick/Coral, Holly released just these two albums, mostly recorded at Norman Petty's modest studio in Clovis, New Mexico. Though only the first album is credited, both are solidly backed by The Crickets: Jerry Allison (drums), Joe B. Mauldon (bass) and sometimes Niki Sullivan (rhythm guitar). Buddy's vocals and Stratocaster are an unbeatable combination, and these two albums contain most of the innovative and original rock and roll recordings that established his enduring reputation.

[NOTE: Amazon's list of tracks mistakenly attributes the first 12 to "Buddy Holly" and second 12 to "the Crickets, Buddy Holly". Actually the first 12 tracks are the "Chirpin' Crickets" album on Brunswick, and the following 12 are the Coral album "Buddy Holly". But this distinction was purely contractual -- it is the same group in the same studio on both albums. Drummer Jerry Allison has said in several interviews that when recording these songs, quite often they didn't really know (or care) whether a particular song would be released on Coral as "Buddy Holly" or Brunswick as "The Crickets".]

These two albums are available separately with bonus tracks:

CHIRPIN' CRICKETS [B0001JXQGA] contains all 16 Holly/Crickets releases on Brunswick.

BUDDY HOLLY [B0001XAQTQ] would have been a worthy companion if it contained all Coral releases in Holly's lifetime. Only two singles are omitted: Heartbeat/Well All Right and Raining in My Heart/It Doesn't Matter Anymore. A 19 track CD is not unreasonable and this one would have been exceptional.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

BGO's companion double album REMINISCING/BUDDY HOLLY SHOWCASE [ASIN B000051JQT] is a reissue of two "lost" Holly albums which appeared posthumously in 1963 and 1964. Although many tracks are underproduced demos overdubbed by the Fireballs, Holly is at the top of his game and reaffirms his rock and country roots with some first rate performances of fresh material. REMINISCING made the Top 10 in the U.K and charted three singles.

CHIRPIN' CRICKETS and BUDDY HOLLY (with or without bonus cuts) plus REMINISCING/ SHOWCASE gives you four albums of prime Holly with no repeated tracks.

Two great Buddy Holly LP'S on one CD!! How can you go wrong with that? The sound is great and the material is timeless. A more than worth the money purchase..

This is a good studio mixed album and well worth the price.
Sterilized and clear sound, and of course no getting up and down from the couch to the turntable changing records and sides.
But there is something about the 78 and 45s that contain an atmosphere of warmth and solidity. Peggy Sue was one of my first 78s and I can still hear the bass, maybe not clean, but my record player, with one speaker gave out a real rock'n'roll beat. Maybe Baby on a 45 also has a solid sound.
Still those were the days and this album with my Pioneer receiver with Dolby Digital switched on sounds almost warm that gives me a lot of satisfaction, and is played quite often.

This is a marvelous collection if you're only sampling Buddy Holly's music. It contains his greatest hits, but still omits some of his best music, so beware. Most people listening to Buddy's music for the first time can never stop at just one CD, so this will serve as a fine introduction to some of the best music you'll ever hear. Though these songs are all more than 45 years old, they wear well and are timeless.

Most casual rock fans can name only a few Holly tunes: That'll Be the Day and Peggy Sue, but there is so much more than that. This collection unfortunately omites two of his most haunting, beautiful ballads, True Love Ways and Raining in My Heart. Get another Buddy compilation and listen to the innovative string arrangements on these tunes and you'll plainly know why Paul McCartney (who owns the Holly musical catalogue), adopted these arrangements ten years later as a Beatle.

Perhaps the best song on the album is the amazing It Doesn't Matter Anymore, about a love gone wrong. Again, the string arrangement is years ahead of its time and makes you ponder what might have been had Holly's life not ended so tragically and prematurely. He was a genuine innovator and talent. This compilation proves that.