Buddy Holly CD Box Set -That`ll Be The Day

At long last the definitive Buddy Holly cd box set

Back in 63 when Buddy`s dubbed Brown Eyed Handsome Man 45 reached the upper UK hit parade it sounded fresh to my junior school ears on my brand new Fidelity transistor radio, the rocker sounded contemporary in the age of the beat of the Mersey, I didn’t realise Buddy was dead until I came across my uncle Brian`s Buddy Holly Story Coral lp around 64 (turned out he`d seen Buddy and the lads on their only ever gig in Wales in March 58),by then the Beatlz,Stonez ,Searcherz and a zillion other wanabees had covered Lubbock`s finest, I bought up everything I could find on Brunswick, Coral, Ace Of Hearts and MCA, in the mid 70s we had John Goldrosen’s epic book, the awesome UK compiled 6lp box set ( and a lesser German one), old Don Maclean Gary Busey and Paul McCartney did their bit to keep the music alive.

Eventually I saw various touring versions of the Crickets and met Jerry,Joe B, Sonny and many of the rest of the “More crickets than a dog’s got fleas”, the movies, the musicals the local beers in Wales named after Holly tunes etc etc. By now I was buying all the bootlegs and all the books and fanzines I could find. The lack of a legal Buddy Holly and the Crickets complete cd box set has been the greatest shortfall/outrage in rock n roll, anniversaries, legal disputes,broken promises,endless best ofs, day the music died docs etc etc but one of the cornerstones of rock n roll history has been sadly wanting. Even the Big Bopper could exhumed and reburied recently. The historic 70th Buddy birthday and 50th crash anniversary came and went with a few more almost but not quite releases, I think a major marketing opportunity was missed by failing to get it out by Feb 3rd 2009.

But at long last I`m delighted to say in belated response to the bootlegs the 50 year Uk copyright releases by uncle Thomas Cobbley and all his merrie men the gargantuan Universal company has got its act together with Maria Elena Holley etc all on board. The good news is further enhanced by the project being handled by Universal`s high standard reissue wing Hip O Select, I have their brilliant Muddy Waters,Chuck Berry,Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Burnette RnR Trio and Jerry Lee Lewis projects already and they are a US benchmark for packaging and in particular for sound quality. Mind you , you`ll still need a copy of Jack Huddle`s epic Starlight Starbright and a few other gem to get Buddy`s session work.

By the end of this month there will be a release limited to a mere 7000 copies world wide, of 6 cds with 203 tracks, so that`s Santa sorted out then, US readers can get it direct from Hip O`s web site and elsewhere in the world from usual mega outlets of the rainforest type and in Europe from the long established mail order (UK postal strike permitting!!) like rab specialist Bimbam records – tell em Philip sentcha.

BOB@BIMBAMREC.FREESERVE.CO.UK

BUDDY HOLLY - NOT FADE AWAY: THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS AND MORE

(The great and highly influential Buddy Holly had a relatively brief three year professional recording career. However, because of his enormous talent, enthusiasm for music, and the fortunate emergence of recording tape while he was quite young, we have been left with a vast recorded legacy of 203 tracks that fill out the six CDs of this new limited edition Hip-O Select box set, "Not Fade Away/The Complete Studio Recordings And More."

The 203 tracks range from his earliest recordings when 12 to 15 years old to demos with Bob Montgomery; from his earliest recordings with The Crickets and a set of garage recordings to his first studio recordings for Decca in Nashville; from the Coral and Brunswick recordings and hits that made him famous to his heralded apartment tapes. There are 6 previously unreleased tracks, including most of an August 1955 session, plus another 11 recordings previously unreleased in the U.S. Furthermore, all of the original, locatable undubbed original recordings are here as well as all 57 of the overdubbed versions recorded both in New York City and Clovis months and even years after the "day the music died." Many of these recordings are also hard-to-find or are making their CD debut, having only appeared on the 1979 LP/cassette box set.

The music on "Not Fade Away" is packaged in a yearbook size 80 page book, featuring numerous rare photos and session-by-session recording information. There are also two sets of liner notes: "Legacy" by Billy Altman, which puts Buddy’s career in perspective, and "The Music" by Bill Dahl, a lengthy tome that traces the music session by session. Consultant for this project is noted Holly historian Bill Griggs, with special thanks to Maria Elena Holly. "Not Fade Away" was produced by Universal’s Andy McKaie.

Track listing:

Disc 1: 1. My Two-Timin' Woman, 2. I'll Just Pretend, 3. Take These Shackles From My Heart, 4. Footprints In the Snow, 5. Flower Of My Heart, 6. Door To My Heart, 7. Soft Place In My Heart, 8. Gotta Get You Near Me Blues, 9. I Gambled My Heart, 10. You And I Are Through, 11. Down The Line, 12. Baby, Let's Play House, 13. Down The Line, 14. You And I Are Through, 15. Baby, It's Love, 16. Memories, 17. Queen Of The Ballroom, 18. Memories, 19. Moonlight Baby a/k/a Baby, Won't You Come Out Tonight, 20. I Guess I Was Just A Fool, 21. Don't Come Back Knockin', 22. Love Me, 23. Midnight Shift, 24. Midnight Shift (false start/alternate), 25. Don't Come Back Knockin' (alternate), 26. Don't Come Back Knockin', 27. Blue Days, Black Nights, 28. Love Me, 29. Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight, 30. I Guess I Was Just A Fool, 31. It's Not My Fault, 32. I'm Gonna Set My Foot Down, 33. Changin' All Those Changes, 34. Rock-A-Bye Rock, 35. Because I Love You

Disc 2: 1. Rock Around With Ollie Vee, 2. I'm Changin' All Those Changes, 3. That'll Be The Day, 4. Girl On My Mind, 5. Ting-A-Ling, 6. Rock Around With Ollie Vee, 7. Modern Don Juan, 8. You Are My One Desire (false start), 9. You Are My One Desire, 10. Gone (incomplete), 11. Gone, 12. Gone (alternate take), 13. Have You Ever Been Lonely (incomplete alternate), 14. Have You Ever Been Lonely (alternate), 15. Have You Ever Been Lonely, 16. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man, 17. Good Rockin' Tonight, 18. Rip It Up, 19. Blue Monday, 20. Honky Tonk, 21. Blue Suede Shoes, 22. Shake Rattle And Roll (partial), 23. Bo Diddley, 24. Ain't Got No Home, 25. Holly Hop, 26. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man, 27. Bo Diddley, 28. I'm Looking For Someone To Love, 29. That'll Be The Day, 30. Last Night (undubbed), 31. Maybe Baby (first version), 32. Words Of Love, 33. Mailman Bring Me No More Blues, 34. Not Fade Away (alternate overdub), 35. Not Fade Away, 36. Everyday

Disc 3: 1. Ready Teddy, 2. Valley Of Tears, 3. That'll Be The Day (greetings to Bob Thiele), 4. That'll Be The Day (greetings to Murray Deutsch), 5. That'll Be The Day (greetings to Bill Randle), 6. Peggy Sue (alternate take), 7. Peggy Sue, 8. Listen To Me, 9. Oh Boy (undubbed), 10. I'm Gonna Love You Too, 11. Send Me Some Lovin' (undubbed), 12. It's Too Late (undubbed), 13. Oh Boy, 14. An Empty Cup (And A Broken Date), 15. Rock Me My Baby, 15. Rock Me My Baby, 16. You've Got Love, 17. Maybe Baby, 18. Send Me Some Lovin', 19. It's Too Late, 20. Tell Me How, 21. Little Baby, 22. (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care, 23. Look At Me, 24. Mona (rehearsal), 25. Mona (version 1), 26. Mona (version 2), 27. Mona (version 3), 28. Rave On, 29. That's My Desire (two false starts plus undubbed master), 30. Well...All Right Well...All Right, 31. Fool's Paradise (alternate take 1), 32. Fool's Paradise (alternate take 2), 33. Fool's Paradise (undubbed master)

Disc 4: 1. Think It Over (false start & rehearsal take), 2. Think It Over (undubbed alternate), 3. Think It Over (undubbed master), 4. Take Your Time (false start & alternate take), 5. Take Your Time, 6. Fool's Paradise, 7. Think It Over, 8. Lonesome Tears, 9. It's So Easy, 10. Heartbeat, 11. Love's Made A Fool Of You (undubbed), 12. Early In The Morning, 13. Now We're One (fragment), 14. Now We're One, 15. Come Back Baby, 16. Reminiscing (undubbed), 17. True Love Ways (mono mix), 18. True Love Ways (stereo mix), 19. It Doesn't Matter Anymore (mono), 20. It Doesn't Matter Anymore (stereo), 21. Raining In My Heart (mono), 22. Raining In My Heart (stereo), 23. Moondreams (mono), 24. Moondreams (stereo), 25. You're The One, 26. That's What They Say (w/fragment), 27. What To Do, 28. Peggy Sue Got Married, 29. That Makes It Tough, 30. Crying, Waiting, Hoping, 31. Learning The Game, 32. Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie

Disc 5: 1. Slippin' And Slidin' (slow version #1), 2. Slippin' And Slidin' (slow version #2), 3. Slippin' And Slidin' (fast version), 4. Drown In My Own Tears (fragment)/Buddy & Maria Elena talking in apartment, 5. Dearest (alternate take), 6. Dearest, 7. Untitled Instrumental (a/k/a Buddy's Guitar/listed as "Tremolo Instrumental"), 8. Love Is Strange, 9. Smokey Joe's Café, 10. Peggy Sue Got Married, 11. Crying, Waiting, Hoping, 12. That's What They Say (version 2), 13. What To Do, 14. Learning The Game, 15. That Makes It Tough, 16. Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight, 17. Because I Love You, 18. Changin' All Those Changes, 19. I'm Gonna Set My Foot Down, 20. It's Not My Fault, 21. Rock-A-Bye Rock, 22. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man, 23. Bo Diddley, 24. What To Do, 25. Peggy Sue Got Married, 26. Crying, Waiting, Hoping, 27. That Makes It Tough, 28. That's What They Say, 29. Learning The Game, 30. Reminiscing, 31. Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie, 32. Dearest (version 2), 33. Slippin' And Slidin' (slow version 2)

Disc 6: 1. Baby Let's Play House (I Wanna Play House With You), 2. Down The Line, 3. Wait Til' The Sun Shines Nellie (overdub version 2), 4. Reminiscing, 5. Flower Of My Heart, 6. Door To My Heart, 7. Soft Place In My Heart, 8. I Gambled My Heart, 9. Gotta Get You Near Me Blues, 10. Gone (version 3), 11. Rip It Up, 12. Honky Tonk, 13. Blue Suede Shoes, 14. Shake Rattle And Roll, 15. You And I Are Through, 16. Baby It's Love, 17. Memories, 18. Queen Of The Ballroom, 19. Love's Made A Fool Of You, 20. Wishing (mono), 21. Wishing (stereo), 22. Maybe Baby, 23. That's My Desire, 24. Have You Ever Been Lonely (version 1), 25. Good Rockin' Tonight, 26. Blue Monday, 27. Ain't Got No Home, 28. Holly Hop, 29. Slippin' And Slidin', 30. You're The One, 31. Love Is Strange, 32. (Ummm, Oh Yeah) Dearest, 33. Smokey Joe's Café)

USA HIP-O-SELECT





The Crickets and Keith Richards from the Texans induction into the musicians hall of fame in 2008



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8QLuD-Ew-k