Customer Reviews

Chirping Crickets

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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Its a cliche...but this music is timeless. To me it sounds as fresh today as back in 1957. I bought this not for the hits, but for the album tracks, which I hadn't heard before. I think my favorite is "Rock Me My Baby", but all of the tracks are superb. FIVE STARS PLUS!

This is the second greatest pop album ever, next only to the Beach Boys' immortal classic "Pet Sounds". Even the tracks that aren't as great or as well known as the hits (like "That'll Be the Day" or "Oh Boy!") begin to sound great after a while. Buddy Holly only receives competition from Jerry Lee Lewis as my favorite 50's overground rocker. While Jerry perfectly captured the the rebelliousness of the sounds of "satan's music", Buddy Holly captured the teen angst present. These two artists are what drove teenagers to throw away their Bing Crosby records and fall in love with the greatest music ever created by mankind - rock 'n' roll. This album is a must-own collection of catchy pop songs that changed rock forever. Hey, it's cheap too!

The first Buddy Holly album released in his life-time. What a marvellous start to any career, the thunder of 'Oh Boy' the questioning 'Tell Me How' and the totally different 'Not Fade Away' all bundled together with the mega hit 'That'll Be The Day'.

A wonderful album of fifties music at its' very best.

This was the first introduction of the music of Buddy Holly and The Crickets to the world at large and the impression it made has been felt through the years in the music of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Mark Knopfler and many many more up to the present day as evidenced by the tribute album 'Not Fade Away'.

Without a doubt one of the seminal albums of Rock'N'Roll.

THIS MAGNIFICENT WORK MAKES IT ALL TOO OBVIOUS HOW GREAT BUDDYS LOSS WAS TO US.

Much like Chuck Berry's first album ("After School Session"), Buddy Holly's first full-length is more a document of his early recording sessions (and the hit singles that they spawned) than a concerted effort to make a cohesive album-length statement. Not exactly surprising a full decade before The Beatles conceptualized Sgt. Pepper's. But also like Berry's debut, this collection of song presents an album of snapshots that document the genesis of rock 'n' roll.

The album's original dozen tracks plays almost like a greatest hits collection, with signature gems like "Oh Boy!" "Not Fade Away," "Maybe Baby," "That'll be the Day" testifying to rock 'n' roll immortality. Holly's ringing guitar and hiccupping vocals drew from a different sensibility than did Berry's blues-tinged playing, but the backbeat and optimism of the lyrics (even the heartbreak suggested it was great to be a teenager ready to fall in love again) brought them together under the rock 'n' roll banner. Holly and The Crickets' simple arrangements reveal the power of Holly's songwriting - his ability to craft a lyrical and melodic hook that is unforgettable. The vocal stutter of "Oh Boy!", the rhythm guitar solo of "Not Fade Away," and the peeling guitar intro of "That'll Be the Day" are just a few of Holly's trademarks.

The album's non-hit tracks offer some lesser-known delights. "An Empty Cup (And a Broken Date)," co-written with Roy Orbison, offers a helping of disappointment and a sweet guitar break, and a cover of Chuck Willis' "It's Too Late" is the perfect stage for Holly's heartbroken, atmospherically echoed crooning. Amazingly, the former was recorded in a hotel room, on a portable tape recorder, along with the bouncy flip-side (to "Maybe Baby"), "Tell Me How," and the bass-heavy nursery rhyme "Rock Me Baby." The original flip-side to "That'll Be the Day," "I'm Looking For Someone to Love," is rockin' Buddy Holly at his finest, with two fine rockabilly styled guitar breaks! Little Richard's "Send Me Some Lovin'" fits Holly's hiccupping style perfectly, resulting in a stroll-tempo cross between rock and doo-wop.

Geffen's 2004 reissue adds Holly and the Cricket's first two post-album singles, the memorable "Think it Over" and "It's So Easy," and their less memorable B-sides, "Fool's Paradise" and "Lonesome Tears." They're a great coda to an album that was already one of rock's founding documents.

AS A HOLLY FAN FOR OVER 40 YEARS THIS ALBUM SHOWS HOW SMART THE MAN WAS, HE WAS SO AHEAD OF HIS TIME THAT THE BEATLES AND STONES TO NAME BUT TWO GROUPS WERE INFLUENCED SO MUCH BY HIM. THE REAL DEPTH OF THIS MUSIC ON OCCASIONS LEAVES ME GASPING FOR MORE OF HIS MUSIC. AS HIS DEBUT ALBUM THE MUSIC STILL LIVES ON. HE MAY BE DEAD BUT HE IS STILL HERE MUSICALLY.A MUST FOR ANY ROCK FANATIC