Track Listing

1. Oh, Boy! - Buddy Holly
2. Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly
3. You've Got Love
4. Maybe Baby
5. It's Too Late
6. Tell Me How
7. That'll Be the Day
8. I'm Lookin' for Someone to Love
9. Empty Cup (And a Broken Date)
10. Send Me Some Lovin'
11. Last Night
12. Rock Me My Baby
13. Think It Over [#][*]
14. Fool's Paradise [#][*]
15. Lonesome Tears [#][*]
16. It's So Easy [#][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71965 in Music
• Brand: MCA
• Released on: 2004-03-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Customer Reviews

Plays like a greatest hits album
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.

Classic album gets the re-work it deserves
This reissue is part of the series of CDs commemorating the 50th anniversary of classic rock & roll albums.

The tracks here sound great, louder, clearer than the earlier MCA reissue by the same title. The first twelve tracks made up the original album, released in late-1957. In addition, there is the inclusion of the two [and sadly, final] Buddy Holly/Crickets singles that were released the proceeding year [1958]. What this means is you're getting the entire collection of Buddy Holly & the Crickets tracks released by he & the group. One track in particular, "Lonesome Tears" makes its appearance on CD for the first time.

Slated for release on April 13, 2004 is the solo album Holly did for Coral, originally released at the beginning of 1957. Watch for it & pick them both up, you won't be disappointed!

Just essential
This is the only album released by the Crickets in Buddy Holly's lifetime, though a solo album, Buddy Holly, was released in 1958, and a compilation of earlier material recorded by Buddy and the Three Tunes, That'll Be The Day, came out a couple of months later. Though these days the billing Buddy Holly And The Crickets is frequently used and indeed this album was re-released in 1962 with that title, this is historical revision. Buddy had a solo career on Coral whilst also being lead singer in the Crickets on Brunswick (in the UK both were on Coral).

The "Chirping" Crickets is an obvious five-star album. As well as hit singles Oh, Boy!, Maybe Baby, That'll Be The Day (the first single), and their equally memorable B-sides Not Fade Away, Tell Me How and I'm Looking For Someone To Love, there are six other exclusive tracks, all lovingly crafted at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis NM or put down in an Officer's Club at an air force base in Oklahoma City in between dates on their first tour, in order to complete the album on time, with backing vocals added back in Clovis by the Picks.

Buddy Holly's original compositions are augmented by a number of telling covers, and in fact Oh, Boy! was not an original, having previously been recorded by Sonny West. The Crickets' version of Chuck Willis's It's Too Late is surely the definitive version. Two songs were co-written by Roy Orbison, who was yet to find success as a performer, including the beautiful An Empty Cup (A Broken Date). It was to be their only album because Buddy left the group in autumn 1958 and, as we all know, 3rd February 1959 became "the day the music died", but what a classic album it is.

This 2004 edition is clearly the one to go for because apart from the excellent digitally re-mastered sound by Erick Labson, it mops up as bonus tracks the two 1958 Crickets singles, Think It Over/Fool's Paradise and It's So Easy/Lonesome Tears.