W♥M (Archive)

Bobby Vee

Bobby Vee: Legendary Masters Read More Buddy Holly Last year, we saw two tribute/cover album (Rave On Buddy Holly and Listen to Me: Buddy Holly) for Buddy Holly's 75th birthday. While it's great to hear modern artists covering Buddy Holly .…

Where we last left off, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, all died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959, leaving their big Moorhead, Minnesota, gig wide open. Bobby Vee, then only 15 years old, and his friends, all volunteered to fill in for Buddy Holly as The Shadows. The show was a success, and thus began Bobby Vee's music career.

Soon afterward, they released the single "Suzie Baby", and signed to Liberty Records later in 1959. "Suzie" was a nod to Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue", and it didn't hurt that Vee later covered "Everyday" as a b-side to "Rubber Ball". Anyway, Vee had a string of Billboard hit singles, from "Rubber Ball" to "Devil or Angel" to "Run To Him" to "Come Back When You Grow Up", but he's probably best known for his number #1 hit song "Take Good Care of my Baby".

The Night Has a Thousand Eyes 7" United Artists Records

My favorite all-time Bobby Vee song is "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes", which was the title track to his 1963 album. The "Thousand Eyes" might refer to the stars, watching over the "runaround lover". Although it is a pop song, it doesn't sound like the usual songs of that time period. A really good example can be found in the movie Dark City, which Anita Kelsey (lip-synced by Jennifer Connelly) sings "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" as a classic jazz standard.

A little trivia, but early in Vee's career, Elston Gunnn briefly toured with the band. Gunnn later went on to perform under the name Bob Dylan; Dylan, obviously a massive influence on music today. When Dylan came back on his "hometown" gig at Midway Stadium in St. Paul earlier this year, July 10, 2013, he covered Bobby Vee's "Suzie Baby". In his introduction to the song, Dylan said how Bobby Vee was "the most meaningful person I've ever been on the stage with."

Anyway, Bobby Vee is actually still active in the music scene, often playing live as Bobby Vee and The Vees (his band, The Vees includes his two eldest sons).

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Buddy Holly

Read More Buddy Holly Since it would be Buddy Holly's 75th birthday, if he were still alive, so there's actually a few tribute album to the thick-rimmed glass-wearing rock pioneer. .…

Last year, we saw two tribute/cover album (Rave On Buddy Holly and Listen to Me: Buddy Holly) for Buddy Holly's 75th birthday. While it's great to hear modern artists covering Buddy Holly, sometime it's always better to listen to the source material to get an idea of why Buddy Holly is one of rock and roll's greatest pioneer.

I've listening to The Very Best Of Buddy Holly & The Crickets album from Universal Records, the nice double disc album was originally released in 1999, and contain all of Buddy Holly's hit singles (but does not contain his early 1956 singles, probably due to contractual reasons).

Charles "Buddy" Holley's rock and roll career actually didn't start until he saw Elvis Presley in concert in 1955, and decided to change his then bluegrass-style of music to more rockabilly. When his talent was noticed and eventually signing to Decca Records in 1956, he started using the name "Buddy Holly", thanks to a misspelling of his name on his contract to Decca.

This is where it went strange: Decca decided to not renew Holley's contract in 1957, but, his contract restricted Holly from actually recording songs for other labels for the next five years. Holly decided to record under his band The Crickets, and they signed with Brunswick Records. Meanwhile, as a solo artist, he signed Buddy Holly under Coral Records. Both labels were Decca subsidiary.

Being in the Crickets proved a big hit for Buddy Holly. In just a year, he produced the big hit single, "That'll Be The Day" billed under The Crickets. Meanwhile, because he was also signed as solo artist, he also released two hit singles under his own name: "Peggy Sue" and "Oh Boy!" (you all know that song, "all my love, all my kisses, you don't know what you've been missin', oh boy!").

Buddy Holly was at the height of his popularity in 1958 and 1959, so it was a terrible blow to music when he, along with Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, was killed in a plane crash to Moorhead, Minnesota.

Buddy Holly is one of rock and roll's greatest pioneer.

Even though he died in 1959, his record label continued to release singles and albums posthumously, because Holly had actually recorded a ton of music.

The Very Best Of Buddy Holly & The Crickets track listing doesn't make any sense to me, it's definitely not chronological. Instead, whoever put together the list grouped the biggest hits early on disc one, although hit songs like "Everyday" is spaced near the end (if they were going to group hits, this song should be right next to "Peggy Sue", in my opinion).

Disc two is basically non-essential tracks, although oddly the "Peggy Sue" sequel song "Peggy Sue Got Married" is the lead track on disc two.

Listening to the fifty tracks, many of these songs sound similar, but you also have to realize how amazing it was that they've managed to produce all this music within a brief span of time (1957-1958). Most artists today are lucky to write a hit now and then, let alone twenty of them in a few years.

Anyway, this collection is really meant for both casual and collectors. The audio was remastered, so it sounds great. When you listen to Buddy Holly, you're often reminded how he help shaped rock and roll today.

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Tributes

I've a couple of Crickets/Buddy Holly and Bobby Vee albums that I ended up listening to all day today. They sure don't write them like they used to.

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THAT'LL BE THE RAVE
Since it would be Buddy Holly's 75th birthday, if he were still alive, so there's actually a few tribute album to the thick-rimmed glass-wearing rock pioneer.

Listen to Me: Buddy Holly is one of the albums, coming out September 6th, 2011, via Verve/Forecast in the US (and eOne Music in Canada). The album is produced by Peter Asher (with Songmasters), and it features a collection of tribute/cover songs, all originally written by the late Buddy Holly. Some of the artists involved, includes Ringo Starr (Beatles), Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs), Jackson Browne, Cobra Starship, Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Chris Isaak, Pat Monahan (Train), Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra), and Zooey Deschanel (She & Him).

In case you were wondering what Songmasters' name attached to this project, they are supporting emerging talents to carry on Buddy Holly's legacy. Since 2009, Songmasters has given out The Holly Prize, an annual award presented by the Songwriters Hall of Fame to recognize and support aspiring young musician/singer/songwriter whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly's music.

More information on Songmasters at songmasters.org, more information about Listen to Me: Buddy Holly at listentomebuddyholly.com.

While the above tribute is more centered around established and older musicians, it would seem that Rave On Buddy Holly speaks more on the modern music listeners with such artists like Paul McCartney, My Morning Jacket, Cee Lo Green, Justin Townes Earle, The Black Keys, Florence + The Machine, She & Him (Zooey is double-dipping!), Modest Mouse, Julian Casablancas (Strokes), Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Fiona Apple and John Brion, Graham Nash, The Detroit Cobras, Kid Rock, John Doe, Karen Elson, Nick Lowe and Jenny O.

The album actually came out last month (June 28, 2011), via Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group. I don't have a copy, but I'm curious what Fiona Apple & Jon Brion's version of "Every Day" (one of my favorite Holly song) would sound like. I can only imagine Apple to ooze of sex and weirdness.

You can find out more about Rave On Buddy Holly at raveonbuddyholly.com.

NEVERFIND
I'm not sure if you can still get this, but Spin Magazine is giving away Newermind, a collection of covers by Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Butch Walker & The Black Widows, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Midnight Juggernauts, Titus Andronicus, Amanda Palmer, Surfer Blood, Foxy Shazam, Ema, Telekinesis, Jeff the Brotherhood, Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band. I was told that the album is free until July 25th, but as of this writing, it's still available at facebook.com.

You are required to "like" Spin (lame, I know)... but it's cool, I actually like Spin Magazine, they give away a lot of free music.

Since I have a lot of music to shift through, the only song I listened to from this tribute is the Meat Puppets song, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I've heard a lot of "Teen Spirit" covers, this isn't one of my favorite - but there are very few bands that can do Nirvana justice.

GERMFREE IDENTITY
It was at the Hunx and His Punx show (05/01/11) when I first heard that Poly Styrene had passed away. It was a random conversation with a fellow X-Ray Spex fan. She's gone, but she's definitely not forgotten.

The latest news is that Michael Jackson impersonators paid tribute to the late Poly Styrene for the video "Ghoulish". Having just watched the video, it's about a Michael Jackson audition, and it turned into a massive Thriller-dance throw down at the end. Really fun video.

I think the real irony is that the song "Ghoulish" was inspired by Michael Jackson himself. Her lyrics about seeing through Jackson's mask of "crimson lips and charcoal eyes" to see that he is "quite a nice guy", even though she's never met him.

The music video can be seen at youtube.com, more information about Poly Styrene can be found at www.poly-styrene.com.



YOU KNOW I'M NO GOOD
I know, I know, she's not gone for a week and already I got a note about a mini-mix tribute by Diwon.

Off topic, but I've also noticed all these compilations called Amy Winehouse Tribute/Collection appearing on iTunes and Zune marketplace. I know they have to strike while the iron is hot, but doesn't it seem weirdly greedy? In fact, Microsoft apologized for tweeting "Remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking 'Back to Black' over at Zune." Microsoft didn't need to do that, by all accounts, her death brought her album album "Back To Black" back on the charts.

Anyway, the free Amy Winehouse mix by Diwon can be download at shemspeed.com, where they have this to say:

We were all really sad to hear that Amy Winehouse, the English singer-songwriter known for her powerful contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz passed away two days ago and we wanted to pay tribute with a mini-mix that really shows how incredible of an artist she was. Feel free to share and re-post wherever you would like.

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