Various Artists – Not Fade Away
Dave Hjortland | Published on 3/25/2025
(CD only, Decca/MCA, 2006)
Buddy Holly (1936-59) is, of course, a genuine icon of rock’n’roll music. He wrote most of his own songs – not common at the time—and was one of the musicians that helped to define the genre. On the face of it, the concept of getting a bunch of different country/pop stars to contribute to a tribute album to him might seem kinda lame, right? For my part, I would have forecast the likely result to be half-hearted artists turning in uninspired covers with subpar production and a dose of compression. Also, that faded gray cover with the superimposed artist list almost makes it look like a cheapo bootleg and gives a rather poor first impression.
Well… it could have been a colossal mess, but it most certainly isn’t. The stars on this disc are some of the best in the business, and not only did they not phone in their recordings of these songs, most seemingly put their hearts into it – it sounds like it was probably fun for them. That admittedly wouldn’t count for much if the people recording and producing it dropped the ball, but they managed not to and the sonics are – at least on most cuts – better than I was expecting. These are for the most part (note caveat) great songs performed by great artists, and while not every cut is to my taste and I’m going to guess won’t be to yours, many of them are very worthwhile indeed.
There were many talented music stars involved, only some of which I will mention here. The lead cut starts things off in proper fashion, with Holly himself and the Crickets doing “Peggy Sue Got Married.” (Surviving members of the Crickets are credited on two additional cuts.) The Mavericks hold forth with a credible version of “True Love Ways” that was produced by Nick Lowe. Then the late Nanci Griffith, backed by the Crickets, renders an upbeat, most enjoyable version of “Well... All Right.”
Los Lobos does an unfortunate, turgid (at least to my ear) version of “Midnight Shift.” The title song, “Not Fade Away,” is performed by The Band and the Crickets, and sounds like it could be lifted from a Band album – not one of my favorite cuts, but ‘tain’t bad.
One of the most true-to-the-spirit songs is rendered here by the Tractors, a country rock band that does “Think It Over” with something akin to the simpler recording style of Holly’s day. Another such is “Oh Boy!,” enthusiastically presented by Joe Ely and Todd Snyder.
There are other good cuts by other fine artists on this album, singing and strumming like it matters. As indeed, for these classic songs, it does. It’s tempting to comment on all of them, which would probably be more than you would want to read about. But I have to at least mention that the closing one is a heartfelt rendition of “Learning the Game” sung by Waylon Jennings – the guy who was touring with Holly and didn’t get on the plane that ill-fated day the music died in 1959. He’s backed by Mark Knopfler, turning in his usual excellent, distinctive guitar work, and it is a very touching version indeed.
The recording of this album was videoed for a television documentary production. If it’s currently available of the internet, Google and my own limited search skills could not discover it.
When it was released the album was greeted with a very mixed reception by both critics and the public, and I can understand that. A few but comparatively very few folks liked the entire album, others dismissed it entirely as a travesty not worthy of the icon’s work or memory. For my part, I am going to suggest that if you can give this a listen and not be too put off by some of the songs you don’t like, you will be rewarded by a number of songs that you will enjoy. Holly’s songs were indeed wonderful, and deserve to not fade away.
Analog guy that I am, I do wish that this album had been released on vinyl. Perhaps someday Decca/MCA or some discerning record company might remedy that. However the CD ain’t a trial to listen to, and is available for cheap on Discogs and from other online sources.