Customer Reviews

Pat Dinizio/Buddy Holly

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Part of DiNizio's appeal has always been the honesty with which his songs come across. He's an artist who has never hidden his love for the music that has clearly inspired and influenced his own work. He seems to fully embrace the fact that he's a fan of rock n' roll as much as he is one of its premier talents.

I'll confess that I was a little curious to see how Pat would handle what I had previously considered to be the "untouchable" recordings of Buddy Holly...untouchable in the sense that it was hard for me to imagine anyone recording anything remotely close to the freshness and energy with which Holly himself recorded songs like "Words of Love," "Listen To Me," "Peggy Sue," or "That'll Be the Day." Others have tried but never, in my opinion, has anyone come close to reproducing Holly's magic. Pat DiNizio has not only captured that magic in his rendering of these songs, but he has seemed to reinvent them the way that I imagine Buddy himself would have done had he had the opportunity.

You could hardly find two more different vocalists than Holly and DiNizio. Holly's voice was full of youthful energy and had an everyman quality to it...his voice made me feel like I could sing a Buddy Holly song and sound ok at it. DiNizio's voice is deep and earthy, nazel-y one second, belly-of-the-whale deep the next. It's a beautiful instrument, one of the most distinctive in rock.

I've listened to this CD numerous times since receiving it and it sounds as absolutely fresh and dynamic as the first time. This is a tribute album that seems more like a true collaboration between the recording artist (DiNizio) and the source artist (Buddy Holly). Thus far it's my favorite of the year and is sure to be one of the best releases of 2009.

I dare you! I dare you NOT to be moved by Pat's take on True Love Ways. This alone is worth the price of the album. If the rest of the album weren't new, stunning takes on the Buddy Holly catalog, Pat's vocal on True Love Ways alone accompanied by the string quartet would be worth hitting the "Buy Now" button. It is a real heart-breaker if you have ever experienced that emotion to any degree. If you have someone you love, grab them and have a nice slow dance with them. Pat's version of True Love Ways can evoke BOTH emotions, deep love and real heart-break. I don't know how he does it. The Man is a Master!

The rest of the album? Geez, anyone who can summon up the legendary Bobby Vee and Charlie Calello to help out with the vocals and strings must have a little black book that has to be the envy of musicians everywhere. You've heard these songs over and over, year after year. Not like the way they are done here. Oh no sir! Pat Dinizio understands these songs, lives them and breathes them. The life that he gives these songs is as if they are being heard for the first time. When you can take these songs and make them sound as if they are brand new, you know they are in the hands of a man who loves them as if they were his own family.

These songs are Pat's heart. They are his life. They are his soul. These are the songs that inspired him and challenged his own songwriting with The Smithereens. We all know the hits that resulted from that challenge. Just take a look!
From Jersey It Came! The Smithereens Anthology

Do yourself a favor and get Pat Dinizio/Buddy Holly. For Valentine's Day. For all year round. For yourself. For another.

For your soul.

Despite a short musical career that was nipped in the bud by his untimely death on February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly's music still managed to influence many musicians over the years. Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens was one such writer/musician whose life was changed forever that day in 1979 when he bought a vinyl copy of Buddy Holly's second album. Reportedly, he was so moved by what he heard in those grooves that he was inspired to write his own songs with a similar "no-nonsense" Buddy Holly pop writing approach. Pat even went so far as to wear horn-rimmed glasses like Buddy, play a Buddy Holly Model Reissue Fender Stratocaster, write the song "Maria Elena" as an homage, and to buy Buddy's Ampex reel-to-reel tape recorder and microphone at a Sotheby's auction in 1991.

So who better to record a heartfelt tribute to one of his musical idols than Pat DiNizio for this 50th anniversary year of Buddy Holly's death? The first indication that this isn't going to be just some rote collection of Buddy Holly cover tunes becomes obvious immediately when the beautiful lilting strings begin to waft from the intro to the CD's opening track "Words of Love". The album's stunning new orchestrations by famed string arranger Charles Calello perfectly complement the unbridled emotion in Pat's vocals. The arrangements accompanying "Well Alright" manage to swing and rock while "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" builds to a rollicking crescendo. Calello's totally original orchestral arrangements and Pat DiNizio's vocals allow us to hear these familiar songs anew but without straying too far from their classic origins.

Pat does not try to emulate Buddy's singing style or his trademark hiccup vocals on this album. However, the songs still seem like a perfect match when seamlessly meshed with DiNizio's passionate vocals, the authentic Buddy Holly-era guitar playing and the lush orchestrations. One need only listen to Pat's rendition of "Raining in My Heart" (with its Beatles/Jeff Lynne influenced production) or the majestic "True Love Ways" as irrefutable proof that he has lived with these songs in his head and in his heart for most of his life. Listeners will inevitably become swept-up (and perhaps even choked-up) by the raw emotion in his voice as he sings these and other Holly classics that still hit you with a wallop after all of these years. Bobby Vee (who filled-in on the ill-fated tour after Holly's death) lends vocal support on "Listen To Me" and contributes a moving essay to the accompanying CD booklet. Although a string quartet is used throughout most of this album, "Heartbeat" is one notable guitar-driven exception. The brilliantly performed acapella doo-wop arrangement of "That'll Be The Day" with Pat and four other seasoned vocalists is another.

This is one of those rare albums that is genuinely worthy of being called a tribute in every sense of the word. Pat DiNizio and producer Kurt Reil have crafted a remarkable CD that is a tribute not only to Buddy's talent but to their own skills as well. As long as there are true "keepers of the flame" like Pat DiNizio around to pay proper homage to this musical genius, Buddy Holly's music will continue to rave on and not fade away.

While some folks may be scratching their heads asking why this treasured American songwriter is releasing another covers album, the answer is all too obvious: if not him, then who ?

We all know this is the 50th anniversary of Holly's untimely passing, yet relatively little has been done to commemorate the anniversary and more importantly, celebrate Buddy's astonishing talent and career. Thank God pop music afficionados and keepers of the flame like DiNizio are there for us.

As for the record itself, it would seem pointless to do straight covers as the originals are true time capsules - or to borrow from the All-Time-Biggest-Buddy-Fan Sir Paul McCartney, "relics from a different age". DiNizio brilliantly picks up where Buddy left off at the all-too-young age of 22, when he was pioneering elaborate production techniques in the rock and pop arena. Here, DiNizio teams up with world renowned string master Charlie Calello to present tastefully orchestrated guitar & string arrangements of some of those latter day (as well as earlier) Holly classics. In that regard, "True Love Ways", "Raining In My Heart", and "Learning The Game" garner "instant classic" honors, and the fun continues on tracks like "Listen To Me" and the simply delightful acappella working of "That'll Be The Day". The latter being perhaps Buddy's best known song, the complete reworking is an astute move by DiNizio and producer Kurt Reil. Ironically, and quite fittingly, Holly's big production number "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" is delivered with the bitterness evoked in the lyrics that were lost in the "pluckiness" of Holly's own rendering. "So you go your way, and I'll go mine ...". No less a songwriting institution than the immortal bard of Hibbing, Minnesota (one Bob Dylan) kinda took that idea and ran with it too.

Buddy touched all of us with his music ... and still does. And as the Beatles passed Holly, Carl Perkins and others on to my (and Pat's) generation, DiNizio carries the torch to make sure the music never really dies. I can think of no more fitting medium. RAVE ON !

Being a Buddy Holly purist, I purchased this CD only because some of the reviews I read were good. I was not disappointed. The up to date arrangements of these Holly songs show how Buddy's songwriting has withstood the test of time. These "re-treads" or "re-makes" are not "covers" because "covers" were rushed at the time a record was released and other artists and record companies tried to capitalize on the expected success. Since Pat Dinizio's CD came along 50 years after Holly's death, in no way was he trying to "cover" Buddy in a race for the charts. For this reason, time was well spent in carefully working out the arrangements. The CD offers pleasant listening for even Holly purists like myself.

Pat Dinizio is one of my favorite singers and The Smithereens are one of my favorite groups. This album is cool. Pat puts his heart and soul into it and it shows. Love the solo and Beatles tributes as well. Thanks for the great music.

Your album of Buddy Holly classics was just what I needed to help me through a harsh winter. The singing and the orchestrations are simply top notch. I've listened to this album many times and have yet to tire of it. My wife likes it so much she took it into her workplace where, she told me, several of her fellow employees asked where to get it. I've always been a huge fan of Buddy Holly. Out of the many artists who have remade his songs, I believe you're the first to capture his soul.

The warmth of Pat DiNizio's voice is such a perfect fit to Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" that it makes you feel as if you're hearing Holly's original and John Lennon's cover at the same time. Taken at a slower tempo than either of these earlier versions, without the propulsive handclaps of the Beatles, and with an added string arrangement, this opening track signals the musical eulogy that fills out the rest of the eleven covers. Aside from the doo-wop a cappella closer "That'll Be the Day," DiNizio is supported by drums, bass, guitar and the Encore Chamber String Quartet arrangements of Charles Calello.

Holly stretched into strings at the end of his tragically shortened career, with "True Love Ways" and "Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore," but DiNizio takes these ideas and aims them backwards through Holly's catalog. The results are a great deal heavier than the pizzicato of Holly's original "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" or the gentle accompaniment of "True Love Ways." DiNizio's version of the former is dominated by the storm clouds of a cello, and the latter is transformed from Holly's lilting dream of a vocal to a low sob ornately filigreed with violins. "Listen to Me" manages to crack a smile amidst its low vocal and strings, and "Raining in My Heart" is more contemplative than distraught.

Holly's songs have retained their effervescence, and his spirit informed the wry memories of Don McLean's "American Pie" and inspired the chiming rock `n' roll of the Smithereens. DiNizio directly displayed his affinity early on with 1989's "Maria Elena" and subsequently with the Smithereens live version of "Well Alright," but confronting Holly's absence head-on seems to have made him profoundly sad. Even Calello's powerful string arrangements can't rescue DiNizio from his funk as he transforms Holly's "Everyday" from a lyric of longing to a mournful ode.

Having expected a buoyant celebration of Buddy Holly's spirit, it was difficult, at first, to adjust to the slowed tempos, brooding vocals and heavy strings. But as the fiftieth anniversary of Holly's death passes by, and with his hopeful originals readily available on CD, DiNizio's red-rimmed interpretations provide a moving statement of faith in the enduring importance of Buddy Holly and the emotional wallop his songs still pack to this day. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Could there be any project more challenging and daunting than a recorded tribute to a legend inducted into the Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame as part of the first class (1986)? Those initial honorees included Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, and, of course, Buddy Holly. Many artists have contributed single tracks to previous Holly tribute compilations. Here, Mr. DiNizio bravely and brilliantly offers an entire album of his own carefully selected covers. They are stunning and absolutely, positively awesome. I can't pick a favorite. Other reviewers have gone into more detailed analysis for you. Whether it's solo or with the Smithereens, Pat DiNizio never fails to deliver a top-shelf product and result. His prodigious talents, accomplishments, visions, and continuing activities are truly amazing considering the current penchants and conditions found within the music industry. Thanks Pat for another superb recording and we greatly appreciate your remarkable commitment to the fan base.

Pat has always paid tribute to his influences, especially Buddy Holly and the Beatles. In this CD Pat does more than just "cover" Buddy Holly. He treats the material like a true fan and pulls off a perfect "new" but "can't ever be better than the original" combination. Found myself singing Pat's versions of the songs a few times. Pat is a true original and probably one of the hardest working stars in Rock and Roll. If you are a Pat Dinizio, Smithereens, or Buddy Holly fan you will not be disappointed.