By David Parker
While the recently released Buddy Holly CD album has been a success in the UK pop charts, die-hard Holly fans found the album’s concept hard to swallow…
‘ TRUE LOVE WAYS – BUDDY HOLLY & THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Some might say its success helped to keep Holly’s name and music alive, which may be true, especially with the album’s recent chart placings.
Others say the whole project was futile, even a desecration.
Following on from the Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Billy Fury albums with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the songs of Buddy Holly were ‘orchestrated’ with the results being – speaking as a long-time Holly fan – quite simply horrendous.
With the essence of the original recordings extracted and replaced with new arrangements it just sounded alien: I mean – “Peggy Sue“, with strings(?)
Back in the early 60s Buddy’s ‘Apartment Tapes’, which featured just him with acoustic guitar accompaniment, were overdubbed by Buddy’s recording manager Norman Petty with the Fireballs providing the backing which worked quite well and managed to maintain some of the Holly feel depending, of course, on individual opinions.
But this latest album ends up glossing over what is the essence of Buddy’s music. The publicity that goes with this project claims ‘this is how Buddy would’ve liked to hear it’ but I think that’s just sales-talk, and I wonder what Buddy would have really thought of these attempts to ‘up-date’ his songs?
Other tracks like Oh Boy! embellished with strings, simply go against the song’s rock’n’roll spirit.
But worse still, the drumming of Jerry Allison has been faded out and overdubbed with more drums. Surely this is a ‘desecration’ of what is truly as much a part of the song as what Buddy played on it?
The album’s concept also dis-misses the major contribution made by the musical and technical know-how of Norman Petty. Also, Dick Jacob’s string-arrangements on Buddy’s final recordings such as True Love Ways and It Doesn’t Matter Any- more were sublime, so why try to do them again?
The consensus of opinion among Holly fans around the world has likened the album to put lipstick and eye-shadow on the Mona Lisa which would, of course, be sacrilege. I’ll stick with the original versions and keep the fl ame burning in my own way…