Despite the fact that his career was so tragically curtailed when he died in the fateful plane crash on 3rd February 1959, in which The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens also perished, Buddy Holly remains as one of the most important and innovative songwriters and performers of the rock ‘n’ roll era. With a style that uniquely blended country and R&B influences from his background in Texas, and under the guidance of writer/producer Norman Petty, Buddy Holly and The Crickets had a landmark US and UK No. 1 in 1957 with “That’ll Be The Day”, which was followed by a string of memorable classics with Holly recording both with The Crickets and as a solo artist, until fate intervened only eighteen months after his chart debut.

He had recorded sufficient material to provide a number of posthumous singles releases and chart entries, and The Crickets continued recording and having hits without Buddy, and between them they established a legacy of evocative and distinctive material. This great-value 66-track 2-CD collection comprises the A and B sides of the singles released under all those guises during this period – Buddy Holly, The Crickets, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, and The Crickets without Buddy, plus the titles from the “Chirping Crickets” and “Buddy Holly” LPs not otherwise included as singles. It is a comprehensive overview of the recordings which established Holly and his colleagues as influential pioneers of the genre, and a fine showcase for his unique talent.

REVIEWS

“As a regular reader of Vintage Rock, it’s likely you have many Buddy Holly And The Crickets tracks in your collection already. If so, then buy this for someone else to convert them. If not, then this is a must – a complete Buddy Holly-plus collection with a generous 66 tracks, including the 50 or so he cut in his lifetime, most of which he wrote himself.” - John Howard (Vintage Rock)