27th November - The Crickets' The "Chirping" Crickets

Artist – Album: The Crickets – The “Chirping” Crickets

Released: 27^th November 1957

Sounds Like: Ooo-ee-oo, just like Buddy Holly

Music is full of big what-if questions: What if, instead of his first guitar, Elvis had received a bicycle or a rifle for his tenth birthday, as he had wanted? What if Dylan had never gone electric? What if The Sex Pistols hadn’t played that legendary Manchester gig? What if God was one of us? Another biggie is raised by today’s blog – what if Buddy Holly had lived?   

It’s hard to overstate the influence of Holly – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan all cited him as a massive inspiration on their burgeoning careers. His brand of rock and roll may have been a little more clean cut than that of a few of his contemporaries, but he had a huge hand in bringing underground black music to a wider, whiter audience. He played with the likes of Little Richard and Chuck Berry, and he incorporated the Bo Diddley shuffle into a number of his songs. He was the subject of two brilliant tunes in the form of Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ and Weezer’s ‘Buddy Holly’. He even made glasses cool. In the wake of Elvis’ forced hiatus for national service, the space was open for Holly to become a worldwide superstar. But then he died aged just 22. 22! An unbelievably young age – when I was that old I was sleeping in my mate’s spare room, performing menial odd jobs like stuffing letters into envelopes for the local university.

Released just a year and a half before his fatal plane crash, The Crickets’ only album was also Holly’s first, but it makes a fine argument for him being music’s most tragic loss. ‘Oh, Boy!’ and ‘Maybe Baby’ stand as two of the finest cuts from the era, whilst the attitude-tastic ‘That’ll Be the Day’ and the stuttering, funky ‘Not Fade Away’ (a personal favourite) belong with the best of all time.
Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Oh, Boy! – 2:07

2.       Not Fade Away – 2:21

3.       You’ve Got Love – 2:05

4.       Maybe Baby – 2:01

5.       It’s Too Late – 2:22

6.       Tell Me How – 1:58

7.       That’ll Be Day – 2:14

8.       I’m Looking for Someone to Love – 1:56

9.       An Empty Cup (And a Broken Date) – 2:11

10.   Send Me Some Lovin’ – 2:33

11.   Last Night – 1:53

12.   Rock Me My Baby – 1:47 

Listen to ‘Not Fade Away’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyTtFNGzFsE

Also released on the 27^th November:

1970: The Kinks – Lola versus Powerman and the Money Go Round

Also released on the 27^th November:

2000: The Avalanches – Since I Left You