ALBUM REVIEW: Buddy Holly - Buddy Holly

    Buddy Holly had very quickly found himself caught up in the emerging swirl of rock and roll, the new hot musical movement of the mid-1950, and one of the more top-shelf, more enduring musicians from the time. Earlier in 1957, Holly and his backing group The Crickets had hit number one with "That'll Be the Day", before following up their own success with "Peggy Sue", which was then followed by "Oh Boy!" not too far after; throw in a solid debut record with that year's The "Chirping" Crickets, and you have a solid recipe for getting yourself in the rock and roll history books, even if they almost certainly didn't know that would happen. Of course, Holly was largely the focus of The Crickets on account of his playing the lead guitar and being the singer, so it only made sense that his second album with The Crickets as his backing group would be credited solely to Holly himself, and for all intensive purposes it would be the final album he ever recorded (while the That'll Be the Day album released a few months after this one, that record was recorded all the way back in 1956). With this third album, Holly doesn't only put some of his greatest singles all in one easy-to-find place, but showcases a decently consistent talent for performance and a far more varied listening experience than most rock records of the day. An improvement over the debut in many ways, and a real snapshot of what makes Holly so enjoyable to this day.

    One could argue, of course, that rock music was much more of a singles game back in the 1950s, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you - how often do you really want to sit through all of a Chuck Berry record over just hearing "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and calling it a day? That's not to say that's always the case with these old records, but albums like Here's Little Richard or even Elvis' debut record are often the exception to the rule. Well if you want good singles, than Buddy Holly has them in droves on this record. Almost half of the album serves as material for a "greatest hits" compilation, from a driving rock number like "Rave On" or "Peggy Sue" to the charming affirmation of love on "Everyday", quite possibly Buddy Holly's greatest musical achievement. There's plenty more from there, too, from the smashing introductory track "I'm Gonna Love You Too" to the slower somberness of "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" to the iconic lick and harmonies of "Words of Love", one of my personal favorite Holly songs. If 50s rock truly is a singles game, than Holly's deck is loaded - each one of these is an enduring number from the era that manages to stay charming in the face of nearly 65 years after the fact, largely because they manage to still sound so full of life and confident. That's without mentioning other classic rock and roll numbers that Holly blows through, from a rendition of "Ready Teddy" to a take on the Leiber-Stoller "You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care)", songs that Buddy Holly does do some amount of justice to, even if the latter is stronger.

    That's without breaking down the other things about the album - The Crickets were undoubtedly a tight bunch of teens playing rock, but the group sounds even better on this album. Really, the sound of the album is a step up from Holly's first record, and in my opinion it's from the back-up singing; most of the harmonies on this album (with the exception of "Rave On") are done by Holly himself, and his charming delivery and clean voice have aged far better than the at times poor back-up singing on The "Chirping" Crickets. The record also flows remarkably well for a 50s rock record, and far more competently, although for my money the second half is decently stronger than the record's first half. By mentioning the second half, this makes for the cleanest transition into mentioning how the album track "Little Baby" is a very good closing number, even if it is short - hell, it's almost more R&B and blues than it is real rock and roll. The album tracks are probably the one area where I could truly nitpick, as in the grand tradition of rock albums from the time, there is some filler. It isn't as bad on this release as on other old rock records, but it's still here, especially on side A. One of the best cases of this is "Listen to Me", the flip side to the "I'm Gonna Love You Too" that is very much just a retread of "Words of Love", even if the melody is pretty solid. There's also the similarly named "Look at Me" that precedes it on the album, which is a pretty forgettable piano-led number, even if it does make a passable break-up of styles between the two rock numbers that surround it. You can't win 'em all, I suppose.

    By late 1958, Holly had parted ways with The Crickets, manager Norman Petty, and had begun what's called the "orchestral" phase of his career, all while looking towards producing for artists in New York and potentially starring in films; unfortunately, none of that would happen, as Holly became a victim of The Day the Music Died in February of 1959 at the shockingly young age of 22. In his short time making music, however, he became one of the most hot and enduring figures in rock music, and his legacy is best summarized on this self-titled album. Holly's ability to play, sing, and write is at its absolute sharpest here, from hot rocks to soft ballads. It's a testament to early rock and roll, and one of a few truly essential albums from that era that remains as good as the day it came out - rave on.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Buddy Holly.