Customer Reviews

Down the Line: The Rarities (Dig) (Slip)

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The release of the Buddy Holly album "Down the Line: Rarities" is as welcome as it has been long awaited. The 59 tracks on this two disc set span the length of his all-too-brief career--from a 1949 recording of Hank Snow's My Two-Timin' Woman--to January 1959, when the songs collectively known as The Apartment Tapes were recorded.
And what a ten years it was, chronicled through songs that have been carefully remastered through use of the best in digital technology. Never-released performances from Buddy and his friend Bob Montgomery appear in this collection, revealing how deeply bluegrass and country shaped Buddy's musical development. The set of songs known as The Garage Tapes are a highlight as well. Buddy and fellow Crickets J.I. Allison and Joe B. Mauldin fairly tear through an array of cover tunes--Chuck Berry's "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man," Little Richard's "Rip It Up," Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes," and Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll." In a pre-release interview, J.I. Allison recalled what these recording sessions were like: "Many of the tunes were done just in Buddy's garage, but I remember doing a few of them like `Bo Diddley' and `Brown-Eyed Handsome Man,' way out West at Petty's studio in Clovis, NM. The line-up was Buddy, myself on drums, Sonny Curtis on guitar and Don Guess on bass."
Many of the tracks on "Down the Line: Rarities" were overdubbed in the years following Buddy's death with new backing vocals and instrumentation. Now, for the first time, these overdubs have been removed, restoring the tracks to the sound they had when first recorded by Buddy and his friends. A writer for Reuters got it right in describing the result as a series of "musical revelations." At last, the talents of all who took part in these recordings can be heard and fully appreciated.
For me, and I suspect many others, the centerpiece of this collection will be the set of songs known as The Apartment Tapes. Great care has been given to the digital transfer of these songs, largely recorded as tracks that Buddy sang while playing his acoustic guitar. They sound superb--very much as though Buddy had recorded a set of songs "unplugged" for an intimate gathering of friends. Original songs like "Learning the Game" and "That Makes It Tough" appear alongside excellent covers like "Dearest" and "Love is Strange"--performances that for me recall the depth and flowering of Buddy's talent as present in songs like "Well, Alright" and "Words of Love."
When I bought "Down the Line: Rarities," I sat down and listened to The Apartment Tapes straight through. I was deeply moved when I heard Buddy sing "memories will follow me forever," a line from "That Makes It Tough." I thought of that lyric in light of all the people who have cherished memories of the way his music has touched their lives. And so it seems only fitting as well that with this release, such memories in music as were left to us after Buddy's death will endure, as will an enhanced appreciation for his unique and groundbreaking musical gift.

I confess from the outset that I have been a true believer in all things Buddy for more than 3 decades, and can recite by heart the lyrics to even the more obscure Holly songs without a second thought.

That said, I approached this collection with some trepidation for, as you might assume, I have a rather extensive Buddy collection (mostly records please...CDs are for punks!) including the most impressive Box Set that was issued many years ago. However, even I was impressed by the songs on this collection, most especially the second CD--better known in Holly-land as the "Apartment Tapes' made in NYC only weeks before his tragic departure. Kudos to both the eternally lovely Marie Elena Holly and the rest of those in charge of Buddy's estate for putting out this wonderful collection of songs that again and again raise the eternal question of "what if..."

Listening to the, essentially, solo songs on the second CD the mind boggles when you remind yourself that he was but a child, really, at only 22. He'd already mastered songwriting to a level that few would ever come near...in fact, such was the pervasiveness of Buddy's influence, that a young Minnesotan named Robert Zimmerman was among those who saw one of the last Buddy shows in early 1959...the young lad, better known now as Bob Dylan, said that when he saw Buddy it looked as though "he had a halo around him.'

Indeed. Listening to the angelic voice on the second CD on songs such as Fool's Paradise, That's My Desire and one of the most heartbreaking of all, the beatific 'Dearest', it's not hard to picture the bespectacled young Texan with a guitar, a smile and a halo above him.
Perhaps that's why we lost him so young...God realized that even He didn't want to wait another 50 years to get a front row to a Holly concert.

There have been many other tragic losses of great musicians, but none more than the loss of Buddy Holly at 22. The fact that we are here, a half century later, extolling the virtues of songs he wrote before he reached his 23rd birthday speaks for itself.
Sadly, we are just left to wonder again and again what might have been...and, as the song says, "memories will follow him forever...and that makes it tough..."

Still, as this wonderful collection proves, with all due respect to Mr McLean, the music didn't die...and continues to rave on, year after year after year.

50 years after his untimely death comes some real rarities. Most have been available on bootleg compilations for years, but there are some nice surprises as the early Buddy And Bob stuff undubbed. For those that want the best sound (like me) and collect Buddy's music, this is a must own collection.

This is a collection of home recordings, demos and outtakes by the late, great Buddy Holly, issued in time to capitalize on the 50th anniversary of the singer's tragic death. While Holly's die-hard fans will consider this an essential purchase, the more casual fan will do better to purchase one of several greatest hits packages available on CD.

Most of these tracks have been available before, but have not previously been issued on CD, except on bootlegs. Back in 1979, to take advantage of the renewed interest in Holly's music after the 1978 biopic, a boxed set of LPs was released in England that included every known recording, including the roughest of demos, live recordings, and outtakes. Hard core fans and collectors were overjoyed, but reportedly the Holley (yes, that's the original and correct spelling) family and Buddy's widow were less than thrilled by the poor quality of some of the tracks. Since that time, relatively little of Holly's early recordings and demos has been available. As a result, a small but lucrative industry developed for bootlegs of the unavailable material.

This set will serve to fill that gap, for most fans. The sound quality is much improved; presumably modern remastering and noise reduction have been utilized where possible. Some of the tracks have had instrumentation removed that was overdubbed in the 1960s to make them sound both more contemporary and commercial. As a result, one finally has the opportunity on these songs to hear the Crickets more clearly, including Holly's talents as a guitarist. Holly's final recordings, demos that were recorded in the kitchen of his Greenwich Village apartment shortly before he left on his final, fatal tour, are presented here without overdubs, and are probably the highlight of this package.

I agree with all of those reviewers before me who gave this set such a glowing review. It's a great selection of songs and the rarest tracks sound better than ever! However, what none of the others have mentioned is the way the discs are packaged (and the packaging is the only reason I give the set four stars instead of five.)

The packaging has the same dimensions as a digi-pack but there are no trays. The discs slide in and out of pockets in the cardboard sleeves and several others with whom I've spoken have had the same experience as I have - the discs were scratched and/or scuffed "right out of the box." Aesthetically, the carboard sleeves are beautiful with several photos. The insert booklet features a nice bio and session information for each track. With the amount of effort that obviously went into this collection, it's a shame that the packaging offers the discs themselves so little protection.

I really enjoy this set, but am wondering why during this historic 50th anniversary we still do not have the excellent "Complete Buddy Holly" that was released back in the 70's. Another small complaint is they have also released "Memorial Collection" which is a 60 song hits collection that came out this week and is a nice companion set to this one, but have some of the same songs on each set, which doesn't make any sense to me.
(Another question about "Memorial" is that there is only about 120 minutes of music spread over three cd's - it would have easily fit on two CD's - but that's a different story.

The set is very nice though - I think the sound on the apartment demos is simply amazing - let alone the fact that they are 50 year old recording made in his apartment! I really enjoy hearing the undubbed stuff and that's why I give this five stars.

Two small complaints to finish off my review - The packaging is simply horrible, horrible, horrible! Universal - if you are listening please do better if another set is in the pipeline! I've always loved the song "That's What They Say" I was surprised to dind the lead in "fragment" but I think it would have been nice to have this separated from the "finished take".

The more I listen to Buddy Hollys music, the more I wish with all my heart that I could jump in a time machine, go back to 2 February 1959 and stop anyone from getting on that ill fated plane. Three young up and coming talents (Buddy Holly, aged 22, Jiles Perry "the Big Bopper" Richardson, aged 28 and Richie Valens, aged 17) and the 21 year old pilot, Roger Peterson, all so brutally taken from us far too soon.

Buddy Holly really was one of the most amazing music talents there's ever been. Let's face it, we're talking about a man who could clear his throat in the middle of a song and make it sound like it's part of the song (for anyone who's never noticed it, he does it once on Tell Me How and twice on Oh Boy!) and who was never frightened to experiement with his music - who else had thought of using a celesta, or getting the drummer to slap his thighs (on Everyday) or play the beat on a cardboard box (on Not Fade Away)? He was also such a huge influence on other artists, ask the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones who their biggest influence was and they'll tell you it was Buddy.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of that tragic accident, this CD of rare recordings by Buddy Holly has been released and it's the one I've waited all my life to have. To hear what the songs on the tapes found in his apartment actually sounded like without all the overdubbing, just Buddy and his guitar, is wonderful. What these songs would have ended up like had he lived, sadly, we'll never know but, in my opinion, they could have been released just as they are here.

This CD is the best I've bought in a long long time and if, like me, you're a fanatical Buddy Holly fan, it's an absolute MUST HAVE. If you're not quite such a fanatical fan, then there are plenty of "best of" collections out there that you'd probably prefer, my recommendation being "the Buddy Holly Collection". My only complaint about this CD is that it wasn't released years ago.

For those of us who have mostly heard only Buddy's hits over the years, the music on this set is a revelation. It opens with a homemade recording from 1949 that sounds like...a homemade recording from 1949! This is followed by a 1953 recording and a series of 1954-55 recordings that are pretty much what you might expect from kids growing up in west Texas in those days--music by which to drive pickup trucks down Farm-to-Market roads. It's a miracle Buddy overcame those beginnings to create the great, innovative rock 'n' roll for which we remember him. He could more easily have become the next Hank Williams.

The "garage tapes" from late 1956, where Buddy and his buddies do their take on contemporary hits by Little Richard, Fats Domino, Carl Perkins, et. al. are, for me, more entertaining.

Disc two begins with outtakes from various sessions at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis. These are interesting when compared with the familiar versions we have heard for years. Lastly come the "apartment tapes" from just before the Winter Dance Party tour. Some of these tracks were "finished" (revised) after Buddy's death and released, others were not.

All in all, I enjoyed the music; I love Buddy's music more each time I listen to it. But the cheesy, crappy packaging is another matter. I am sure I will put these discs in a "real" CD jewel case and set this flimsy/clumsy cardboard container aside. If the record company had provided decent packaging I would give this set at least four stars, probably five. But my dislike for their choice of packaging is so strong it knocks my rating all the way down to three stars.

Buy it anyway; you'll love it!

I'm listening to Buddy Holly outtakes from the fifties. I really like Buddy. 50 years this month since the music died. Buddy worked hard and had a talent. The Bob Montgomery country demos aren't bad, but it's not the demos that make this an album of interest, but the band work tapes and the songs Buddy taped for himself. An insight into the work that went into the songs is an insight that just gets me off -- and I have few real heroes -- Buddy, Bob Dylan, Tom Rush. Right now it's Buddy , and he's making me cry with raw prototypes of hit songs because he works from real emotion, so the emotional content has not yet yielded to arrangement and the repetition of performance. I honestly didn't expect to be so emotionally affected by this record. I just expected it to be interesting. But wow. He was so young! Some of these I prefer to the hit versions. I just like Buddy Holly. I respond in the spine.

This CD set is mostly for Buddy Holly feaks. Final, polished recordings are few and far between. But for real Holly fans the unadorned, naked tapes of Holly, his guitar and couple of other musician friends present is a rare treat. That voice of his still sounds as sweet as ever.