VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rave On Buddy Holly
2011-05-25
All Tracks FCC Clean
Label – Fantasy
Released – 28 June, 2011
When a band is asked to do a cover for an artist that is so important to the American rock music canon like Buddy Holly you often have one of two offerings from said cover band; 1) stay as true to the original as possible, showing little to no artistic flourishes, or, 2) go absolutely bat-shoot insane with the track, leaving as little of the original song as possible, typically going on their own narcissistic, musical tantrums, lots of noodling, lots of dissonance. The first tendency often produces a lackluster, boring offering while the latter typically comes off like a train wreck. The ultimate goal is to produce a song that you can tell the artist has respect for the original but is confident enough in their own work that they will produce something distinct and interesting for the listener. Lets just say that there is a little bit of both but thankfully there are enough songs on this 19 track disc (which represents about half of Buddy Holly’s total recorded material) that fall in the middle to make it a worthwhile listen.
I won’t waste the space on the tracks that I don’t think worked but here are my top 3 that I thought were effective and would even make Buddy Holly proud:
“(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care” by Cee Lo Green (5) – First of all, how can you not love that voice, second the drum, electronic and tambourine flourishes are right on.
“That’ll be the Day” by Modest Mouse (14) – It’s on the verge of being a little too weird but I think that it pushes the envelope just far enough without going overboard.
“Peggy Sue Got Married” by John Doe (18) – A real stripped down and stark version of the song that almost doubles the running time of the original.
Reviewed by Devon Cunningham Quick Links:
