The Day The Music Died

Plane crashes are somewhat rare and unusual until somebody you know or loved dies from them.  In the music world we seem to know what we were doing when it happens. 1964 Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas became one for the ages, 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd lost Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines became angels and 1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan took the helicopter out to the promised land.  But in 1959 the most historic one was the Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and JP Richardson the Big Bopper who crashed into a barren Iowa cornfield after playing one of the most memorable concerts in rock history at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake.  The weather of 59 in Iowa was the usual, crappy, cold and plenty of arctic cold fronts and Alberta Clippers that is the norm of Iowa winters and sad to know that the inexperienced and perhaps starstuck Roger Peterson ended up meeting one of those blinding Clippers that would take him and the three stars into the music heavens.  And that Dion, who couldn't afford the plane rental and Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings would survive and carve out their own music careers as well as Frankie Sarzo a foot note to it all.  Dion becoming a teen idol of sorts then becoming a folk singer and born again Gospel singer before returning back to a folk blues sound that he's been doing most of his 70 years of being here.  Tommy Allsup becoming a producer and you knew what happened to Waylon, a country outlaw but forever haunted by the plane crash till his untimely death in 2002.

Out of the three, Buddy Holly was the innovator and pioneer what I consider guitar garage rock although by the time the original Crickets left Buddy was coming closer to pop music with the posthumous It Don't Matter Anymore and True Love Ways  but in the meantime recorded a bunch of recordings for future use.  It Don't Matter Anymore written by Paul Anka and having the arrangements of Dick Jacobs for that 50's type of sound may not been what Buddy intended but perhaps more so with Learning The Game a very sad and dark type of love song.  There are no shortages of Buddy Holly greatest hits out there, MCA original 6 record Complete Buddy Holly (1979) captures just about everything that Buddy recorded whereas the now deleted Hip O Select Not Fade Away adds more songs.  Steve Hoffman's remastered 1987 From The Original Masters updates the sound to CD standards and it still remains the best sounding best of and cheap too.  The Complete Buddy Holly is probably too broad for those who just want the hits, so you're better off with GOLD and Down The Line-The Rarities   In his lifetime Buddy recorded two albums proper, The Chirping Crickets and the S/T Buddy Holly albums.  The Great Buddy Holly released after his passing is a collection of his Decca output which didn't sell and was closer to country/rockabilly but still has its charms.  The Chirping Crickets and Buddy Holly are essential 50's albums.

As great as Buddy was, Richie Valens had the most potential to make it even big or at least be a bigger Latino rocker even  Los Lobos cite him as a influence.   At age 17, Valens had two top ten hits with La Bamba and Donna but since he was just starting out, he really didn't have much music out there.  Jasmine has The Complete Richie Valens, and Wounded Bird reissued Richie Valens and Richie, perhaps the best overview is Rockin All Night-The Very Best Of Richie Valens which includes the cream of Richie's songs. In Concert At Pacoima Jr High and The Richie Valens Story is Del Fi's scrapings of the bottom of a small barrel.  The live recording poor sounding and even Richie sounds ragged on this brief EP.  Better to stick with the Very Best Of Richie Valens.

JP Richardson or The Big Bopper as he was better known was one of the best novelty songwriters of the 50s with White Lightning and Running Bear, both hits for George Jones and Johnny Preston but he had some hits of his own for Mercury with Chantilly Lace and the hilarious Big Bopper's Wedding.  Like Valens, Big Bopper's albums are few, Hellooooo Baby the only one I can think of that came out. Rhino did collect a few more for the more definitive Hello Baby, Best Of The Big Bopper (1990) and adds the Purple People Eater meets The Witch Doctor.  For the most part Richardson didn't vary his beats all that often, most use the same as Chantilly Lace but still Richardson's sense of humor makes it a must hear.

On the other side of the pond, the UK seems to cherish the memories of the The Big 3. A interesting artifact is Recall's The 50th Anniversary Last Performance to which Jay Richardson, JP's son compiles what would have been the set list of the acts performing there including Dion and Frankie Sardo.  The plane crash drawing is creepy though.

The plane crash didn't kill rock and roll but set it back a couple years but the influences of all artists, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Bopper would influence The Beatles, The Searchers, Bobby Fuller and many many more for years to come.

Rating:

Buddy Holly:

The Chirping Crickets (Brunswick 1958) A
Buddy Holly (Coral 1958) A
The Great Buddy Holly (Decca 1960) B
For The First Time Anywhere (MCA 1988) B+
From The Original Masters (MCA 1987) A
Buddy Holly: GOLD (Geffen 2005) A-
Down The Line:The Rarities (Geffen 2008) A-

Richie Valens:
Down The Road: The Very Best Of Richie Valens (Del Fi 1995) A-
Richie Valens (Wounded Bird 2006) B
Richie (Wounded Bird 2006) B
Live At Palmona Junior High (Del Fi/Wounded Bird 2006) C+
The Richie Valens Story (Del Fi-Rhino) C+
The Very Best Of Richie Valens (Rhino) A-

The Big Bopper
Chantilly Lace (Mercury 1958) B+
Hello Baby-The Very Best Of The Big Bopper (Rhino 1990) A-

Other:
The Day The Music Died (101 Distribution) NR
The 50th Anniversary Last Performance-Surf Ballroom Feb 2, 1959 (Recall 2009) NR
American Pie/Don McLean (United Artists 1971)  Draw your own conclusion.