Buddy Holly & the Crickets - The Very Best Of

Rating:

* * * *

For a man whose career lasted all of 18 months, Charles Hardin Holley left quite a legacy. The 50 tracks here marking the 50th anniversary of his death, show how industrious he was - as was his estate. Among the many firsts Holly brought to rock'n'roll was a recording career beyond the grave with demos and out-takes polished up for decades after and his catalogue later bought by obsessive fan Sir Paul McCartney. This double CD doesn't run chronologically so the pre- and post-mortem numbers are all mixed up.

Still, it delivers most of his hits early up, while the full scope of the songs show how he proved so influential - you can draw a straight line from

It's So Easy

to

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

and

Well ... All Right

and the early works of Bob Dylan (who saw him play two nights before the plane crash).

It lacks for liner notes or anything special in its packaging, but it's a collection that reminds us that Holly was, musically, much more than the optically challenged wide-eyed romantic of 50s nostalgia.

Russell Baillie