The Day The Music Lived

June 21, 2011 7:38 PM

Rave On Buddy Holly is streaming now. The album, released June 28th, features Nick Lowe, Patti Smith, Cee Lo, Justin Townes Earle and others covering Buddy Holly songs.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn (21 comments total)

Huh. Well, I just learned that Buddy Holly occupied a sanctified place in my mind that cannot tolerate covers of his music.

These are perfectly nice covers, good, even. I just can't listen to them. How 'bout that.
posted by maryr at 8:10 PM on June 21, 2011 [3 favorites]

consider that enjoyed
posted by brownchickenbrowncow at 8:14 PM on June 21, 2011

I love the song "dearest" so so much and was very glad to see that this opens with it.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:14 PM on June 21, 2011

If you have any interest at all in Paul McCartney, listen to his cover of "It's So Easy." Be sure to listen to it from the 3:00 mark on. Whether you like Paul or not, it is interesting to hear him completely lose his fucking mind.
posted by flarbuse at 8:26 PM on June 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm a little surprised not to see the Raveonettes on here, given that they named themselves in part after one of his songs and are pretty crazy for him generally. Great link, thanks!
posted by jeffmshaw at 8:32 PM on June 21, 2011

Man alive, do I fucking adore Nick Lowe. This is good. Thanks for posting it.
posted by mintcake! at 8:48 PM on June 21, 2011 [2 favorites]

Nick Lowe < null

That was heavenly.

Thanks.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:50 PM on June 21, 2011

mintcake! I think we just shared a moment.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:51 PM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Rollers show tonight.
posted by mintcake! at 8:56 PM on June 21, 2011

All men are liars.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:08 PM on June 21, 2011

I could just favorite, but I'd rather state the thanks. What a loss.
posted by skepticallypleased at 9:49 PM on June 21, 2011

The Knack, "Heartbeat"
The Beatles, "Words of Love"
Gary Busey, "Oh Boy"
posted by kirkaracha at 9:56 PM on June 21, 2011

Other than Nick Lowe and Paul McCartney's tracks, not a lot to like here. I've got several Buddy Holly cover CDs from the past 20-25 years or so, and after hearing so many covers of his material I've come to the conclusion that apart from The Beatles cover of Words Of Love, most musicians miss the point of his music. Fortunately we've all got his own original recordings to listen to, eh?
posted by motown missile at 2:12 AM on June 22, 2011

Lemmy does Buddy.
posted by h00py at 2:33 AM on June 22, 2011

I'm pretty sure that the Grateful Dead own Not Fade Away like no other band. They lived and breathed rockabilly and blues so they know where it started and of course they knew where to take it.
posted by euphorb at 2:43 AM on June 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Who let Kid Rock on here?
posted by pxe2000 at 4:29 AM on June 22, 2011

I think Buddy Holly's songs are so straight forward that it actually makes it a bit harder to do an exciting cover. You either have to build up the arrangement, which the songs don't need, or do an equally straight forward version, which won't be as good as the original.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:29 AM on June 22, 2011

The power pop Holly tribute album, Everyday is a Holly day, from the late 80's is decent (I recall digging covers by Shoes, Leroi Brothers, Chris Spedding, and the Slickee Boys), but after a few listens it went on the CD shelf with all of the other tribute albums. So many of these tribute albums are fun at first, but for some reason once the leave my new purchases rotations I seldom return to them.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:34 AM on June 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm only really excited by the Modest Mouse cover, since it sounds so sincere and so quintessentially Modest Mouse.
posted by LSK at 10:23 AM on June 22, 2011

I'm not a Buddy Holly fan, which is not to say that I don't like his music, but that I've never sought it out intentionally or had it bowl me over like it does with many people. But this collection is pretty solid. And that McCartney track is a fucking monster.
posted by eyeballkid at 10:51 AM on June 22, 2011

pxe2000: Who let Kid Rock on here?

I'm almost disappointed that his track isn't terrible. It's a pretty decent cover... I was sorta hoping for a trainwreck. Every covers collection should have at least one.
posted by Kattullus at 6:31 AM on June 26, 2011