Review:

Someday, if all the legal issues are resolved or most likely when his recordings fall into the public domain, someone will release an ultimate and definitive Buddy Holly boxset. In the meantime we'll enjoy this reissue of his early material recorded in 1956.
A storming gig by a young boy from Memphis called Elvis convinced the young Buddy that his future was in rockabilly, not in hillbilly and precipitated the end of his partnership with Bob Montgomery.
CD 1 contains the full session recorded for the first time under Hollys name in Nashville (later issued on album by Decca under the name That'll be the day) completed with studio chats, fragment of unissued takes and false starts. Also presents on this first cd are the demos made with Norman Petty at Clovis and released here without those lame overdubs made by The Fireballs.
The second cd is made of home-recordings when Buddy was back in his hometown of Lubbock. This raw sides of Buddy playing covers of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Big Joe Turner and Clarence Frogman Henry as well as Have You Ever Been Lonely (no less than four takes are included here) and the country hit Gone are a thrilling testimony.
Two instrumentals (Holly Hop and Honky Tonk) were recorded on that informal sessions and they show a guitarist gaining in confidence. Later overdubbed, the takes present are the original masters.
The booklet is interesting, well done with the singles reproduced inside. These are essential recordings and we can only hope El Toro will continue the job with the following years.
Fred "That'll Be The Day" Turgis - Jumpin from 6 to 6

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