Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Down The Line - Buddy Holly, Don Guess, Bob Montgomery, Sonny Curtis, Norman Petty, The Fireballs
2. Soft Place In My Heart - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Bob Montgomery, Don Guess, Sonny Curtis, The Fireballs
3. You And I Are Through - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Bob Montgomery
4. Midnight Shift - Buddy Holly, Owen Bradley, Don Guess, Doug Kirkham, Grady Martin, Sonny Curtis
5. Love Me - Buddy Holly, Don Guess, Faris Coursey, Grady Martin, Sonny Curtis, Owen Bradley
6. Don't Come Back Knockin' - Buddy Holly, Don Guess, Faris Coursey, Grady Martin, Owen Bradley, Sonny Curtis
7. Blue Days, Black Nights - Buddy Holly, Don Guess, Faris Coursey, Grady Martin, Sonny Curtis, Owen Bradley
8. Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Sonny Curtis, Don Guess, Jerry Allison
9. I'm Gonna Set My Foot Down - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Sonny Curtis, Don Guess, Jerry Allison
10. Changing All Those Changes - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Sonny Curtis, Don Guess, Jerry Allison
11. Rock-A-Bye Rock - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty
12. Rock Around With Ollie Vee - Buddy Holly, Owen Bradley, Jerry Allison, Don Guess, Bob Montgomery
13. Girl On My Mind - Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Don Guess, Sonny Curtis, Owen Bradley
14. Ting-A-Ling - Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Don Guess, Owen Bradley, Sonny Curtis
15. Modern Don Juan - Buddy Holly, Faris Coursey, Grady Martin, Boots Randolph, Owen Bradley
16. Holly Hop - Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, The Fireballs, Norman Petty
17. Brown Eyed Handsome Man - Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Norman Petty, Sonny Curtis, Don Guess
18. That'll Be The Day - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Jerry Allison, Larry Welborn, Gary Tollett, Ramona Tollett
19. I'm Lookin' For Someone To Love - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Larry Welborn, Niki Sullivan, June Clark, Gary Tollet, Romana Tollet
20. Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Vi Petty, Unknown

Disc 2:

1. Words Of Love - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Unknown
2. Not Fade Away - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison
3. Everyday - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Unknown
4. Ready Teddy - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Vi Petty, Niki Sullivan, Unknown
5. Tell Me How - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, The Picks
6. Oh, Boy! - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, The Picks
7. Listen To Me - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin
8. Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Unknown
9. I'm Gonna Love You Too - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Unknown
10. It's Too Late - Buddy Holly, The Crickets, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, The Picks
11. Maybe Baby - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, The Picks
12. You've Got Love - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, The Picks
13. Rock Me My Baby - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, The Picks
14. Look At Me - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Vi Petty, Unknown
15. You're So Square (Baby, I Don't Care) - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Unknown
16. Little Baby - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, C.W. Kendall, Unknown
17. Rave On - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Bob Thiele, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin, Al Caiola, Donald Armone, William Marine, Robert Bollinger, Robert Harter, Merril Ostrus, Abby Hoffer
18. Well...All Right - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin
19. Take Your Time - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin
20. Fool's Paradise - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Niki Sullivan, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Vi Petty, The Roses

Disc 3:

1. Think It Over - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Vi Petty, The Roses
2. Heartbeat - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, Tommy Allsup, George Atwood
3. It's So Easy - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Tommy Allsup, The Roses
4. Lonesome Tears - Norman Petty, The Crickets, Buddy Holly, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Tommy Allsup, The Roses
5. Love's Made A Fool Of You - George Atwood, The Crickets, Bo Clarke, Tommy Allsup, Norman Petty
6. Wishing - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Tommy Allsup, George Atwood, Bo Clarke
7. Early In The Morning - Buddy Holly, Dick Jacobs, Sam Taylor, George Barnes, Al Chernet, Sanford Bloch, Ernest Hayes, Panama Francis, Phillip Kraus, Helen Way Singers
8. Now We're One - Buddy Holly, Dick Jacobs, Panama Francis, Sam "The Man" Taylor, Unknown, Helen Way Singers
9. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, King Curtis, Joe B Mauldin, Jerry Allison
10. True Love Ways - Buddy Holly, Dick Jacobs, Abraham Richman, Sanford Bloch, Al Caiola, Ernest Hayes, Clifford Leman, Doris Johnson, Sylvia Shulman, Leo Kruczek, Leonard Posner, Irving Spice, Ray Free, Herbert Bourne, Julius Held, Paul Winter
11. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly, Dick Jacobs, Abraham Richman, Sanford Bloch, Al Caiola, Ernest Hayes, Clifford Leman, Doris Johnson, Sylvia Shulman, Leo Kruczek, Leonard Posner, Irving Spice, Ray Free, Herbert Bourne, Julius Held, Paul Winter, David Schwartz, Howard Kay, Maurice Brown, Maurice Bialkin
12. Raining In My Heart - Buddy Holly, Dick Jacobs, Abraham Richman, Sanford Bloch, Al Caiola, Ernest Hayes, Clifford Leman, Doris Johnson, Sylvia Shulman, Leo Kruczek, Leonard Posner, Irving Spice, Ray Free, Herbert Bourne, Julius Held, Paul Winter, David Schwartz, Howard Kay, Maurice Brown, Maurice Bialkin
13. What To Do - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty
14. Peggy Sue Got Married - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty
15. That Makes It Tough - Buddy Holly
16. Crying, Waiting, Hoping - Buddy Holly
17. Learning The Game - Buddy Holly, Norman Petty
18. You're The One - Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Slim Corbin, Norman Petty, The Fireballs
19. Smokey Joe's Cafe - Buddy Holly
20. Dearest - Buddy Holly

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16041 in Music
• Released on: 2009-04-13
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .28 pounds
• Running time: 125 minutes

CD Description
The three-CD, 60-selection Memorial Collection presents a thorough, digitally remastered overview of Buddy Holly’s short, yet astonishing career featuring rare undubbed recordings with original partner Bob Montgomery and backing band and collaborators, The Crickets. The collection includes all of Holly’s hits--among them a few of rock’s greatest recordings, “That’ll Be The Day”, “Oh Boy!”, “Maybe Baby", “Not Fade Away”, “It’s So Easy”, “Peggy Sue”, “Rave On”--the set concludes with selections from the “Apartment Tapes”, in which Holly sings new songs and accompanies himself on acoustic guitar in his New York apartment just months before the tragic crash. One Buddy & Bob recording, “Soft Place In My Heart”, has never before been released.

Customer Reviews

Oh Boy! Changing All Those Changes!
When I bought my still mint copy of the US 6-LP "The Complete Buddy Holly" [MCA 6-80,000] issued in 1979, I felt elated to be able to finally enjoy a detailed account of Holly's music. The LP's presented the man's work from his first duets with Bob Montgomery to his final demos. Additional material included songs recorded for TV, some live recordings, some songs recorded under the name of different artists (with Buddy playing on them) and a few interviews. At the time of release, this set was regarded as the ultimate Buddy Holly reference archive.

Although legal reasons prevented its release on CD, bootleggers later outdid it by issuing a 10-CD set that was much more comprehensive. As Holly's work fell into Public Domain in Europe, several year-by-year compilations were issued there. All these releases are certainly interesting to the scholars and the fanatics who want to delve at length into them.

Without going this far, Geffen has now - at long last - reissued two separate CD sets that are sourced from the remastered original master tapes. Both these sets concentrate on studio recordings.

"MEMORIAL COLLECTION" is a 3-CD, 60-track set that presents Holly's best known music under three main "themes": the early rock'n'roll, the Crickets at their peak and the somewhat "poppier" material. This set supersedes, in my opinion, the excellent 50-track, "Gold" 2-CD set from 2005 [also from Geffen] because the tunes are flowing better on the set under review.

Those who want still more of Holly's legacy will be happy to know that Geffen has also issued a 2-CD set titled "DOWN THE LINE: RARITIES" that gathers no less than 59 alternate takes and rarities. It is a pretty good distillation of the numerous alternate takes, demos, and "Apartment Tapes". It requires, however, much more attention to be truly rewarding to the listener.

I am so fond of Holly's music that I have bought both sets but even "serious listeners" can rely solely on "Memorial Collection." In any case, buying both can do you no harm.

There are a few tracks featured on both sets but, in view of the musical and historical value of these marvelous recordings - which feature exquisite sound quality to boot - this is a minor quibble indeed.

Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll

"Little Things You Say And Do...Make Me Want To Be With You..."
The track list in the 32-page booklet doesn't give the full picture - so space allowing - here's a detailed listing so fans can work what's what (all discography details are US):

Disc 1 (43:36 minutes)
1. Down The Line (Previously Unreleased In The USA)
2. Soft Place In My Heart (Previously Unreleased)
3. You And I Are Through (Previously Unreleased In The USA)
4. Midnight Shift (February 1958 LP "That'll Be The Day", Decca DL 8707)
5. Love Me (March 1956 7" single on Decca 29854 [B-side to 7])
6. Don't Come Back Knockin' (as per 4)
7. Blue Days, Black Nights (as per 5, A-side)
8. Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight
(March 1983 LP, "For The First Time Anywhere", MCA 27059)
9. I'm Gonna Set My Foot Down (as per 8)
10. Changing All Those Changes (as per 8)
11. Rock-A-Bye Rock (as per 8)
12. Rock Around With Ollie Vee (as per 4)
13. Girl On My Mind (as per 4)
14. Ting-A-Ling (as per 4)
15. Modern Don Juan (1956 7" single on Decca 30166 [A])
16. Holly Hop (Previously Unreleased In The USA)
17. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man (as per 8)
18. That'll Be The Day
(1957 7" single on Brunswick 55009 [A])
(Also on album 'The "Chirping" Crickets', November 1957, Brunswick BL 54038)
19. I'm Looking For Someone Too Love (B-side to 18, also on the LP)
20. Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues
(1957 7" single on Coral 61852 [B-side to "Words Of Love"])
(Also on the album 'Buddy Holly', February 1958, Coral CRL 57210)
(Tracks 1 to 3 are credited to BUDDY & BOB [Bob Montgomery]; 4 to 17 and 20 are BUDDY HOLLY; 18 and 19 are THE CRICKETS)

Disc 2 (42:03 minutes):
1. Words Of Love
(1957 7" single on Coral 61852 [A] and 'Buddy Holly' LP)
2. Not Fade Away
(1957 7" single on Brunswick 55035 [B-side to "Oh, Boy!" and 'The "Chirping" Crickets' LP)
3. Everyday
(1957 7" single on Coral 61885 [B-side to "Peggy Sue" and 'Buddy Holly' LP)
4. Ready Teddy (on 'Buddy Holly' LP)
5. Tell Me How (on 'The "Chirping" Crickets' LP)
6. Oh, Boy! (as per 2, [A])
7. Listen To Me
(1958 7" single on Coral 61947 [A])
(Also on the 'Buddy Holly' LP)
8. Peggy Sue (as per 3)
9. I'm Gonna Love You Too (as per 7 [B-side])
10. It's Too Late (Chuck Willis cover) (as per 5)
11. Maybe Baby
(1958 7" single on Brunswick 55053 [A] and the 'The "Chirping" Crickets' LP)
12. You've Got Love (as per 5)
13. Rock Me My Baby (as per 5)
14. Look At Me (as per 4)
15. You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care) (as per 4)
16. Little Baby (as per 4)
17. Rave On (1958 7" single on 61985 [A] and the 'Buddy Holly' LP)
18. Well...All Right (1958 7" single on Coral 62051 [B-side to "Heartbeat"])
19. Take Your Time
(1958 7" single on Coral 61985 [Non-Album B-side to "Rave On"])
20. Fool's Paradise
(1958 7" single on Brunswick 55072 [Non-Album B-side to "Think It Over"])
(All Tracks are credited to BUDDY HOLLY)

Disc 3 (41:13 minutes):
1. Think It Over (see 20 on Disc 2)
2. Heartbeat
3. It's So Easy
4. Lonesome Tears
5. Love's Made A Fool Of You [1958 Recording with 1964 Overdubs]
(on "Showcase", 1964 USA LP on Coral 57450)
6. Wishing [1958 Recording with 1963 "Fireballs" Overdubs]
7. Early In The Morning
8. Now We're One
9. Reminiscing [King Curtis cover] [1958 Recording with 1962 "Fireballs" Overdubs]
10. True Love Ways [Minus Studio Chatter]
11. It Doesn't Matter Anymore
12. Raining In My Heart
13. What To Do [Previously Unreleased In The USA]
14. Peggy Sue Got Married
[1979 USA 6LP Box Set "The Complete Buddy Holly", MCA MCA6-80,000]
15. That Makes It Tough [as per 14]
16. Crying, Waiting, Hoping [Previously Unreleased In The USA]
17. Learning The Game [as per 14]
18. You're The One [as per 5]
19. Smokey Joe's Café [Coasters cover] [Previously Unreleased In The USA]
20. Dearest [as per 14]
(Tracks 1, 3 and 4 are credited to THE CRICKETS; all others BUDDY HOLLY)

USA issued 10 February 2009 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of his untimely death (delayed until 13 April 2009 in the UK), this 3CD, 60-track retro has divided reviewers on the big three - content, packaging and sound. I feel there's losers and winners on all counts.

"True Love Ways" isn't in STEREO and is minus the wonderful studio chatter that turned up on Steve Hoffman's "From The Original Master Tapes" of 1987 - disappointing. The sound quality is demo-only on parts of Disc 1, but improves vastly when the studio stuff arrives and is fantastically clear thereafter. CD2 is awesome - content and sound - it could easily act as a stand-alone hits set in it's own right. The stark Buddy/Guitar acoustic performances on Disc 3 are STUNNING ("What To Do") and fans have waited near 30 years to hear them on CD in truly great sound - remaster engineer ERICK LABSON has delivered once again.

Some have bitched about the card packaging and the CDs do become loose once out of their slots, but the outer card wrap sorts that out and the quality of the colour and black/white shots in the fold-out card digipak is superb. OK - it's not Bear Family beautiful as presentation goes - but I like the 3CD substantial feel of it. For the price, it's as respectful as it can be.

It's also clear now that with "True Love Ways", "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and Raining in My Heart" and the Apartment demos - Buddy had a truly stunning 3rd album in him - but alas.

"Memorial Collection" is not perfect for sure - but it is here - and in good shape too - and at reasonable price. I've loved listening to it - I really have. Rave on you beautiful man - rave on.

Value
You really can't go wrong with this one...a superb collection of stuff here, including the famed 'apartment tapes' - just Buddy and acoustic guitar, and worth the purchase price alone - for the price of a single album. Excellent packaging and informative beautifully produced booklet with great photos etc. Full details of every track for all you anoraks out there, and last, but not least, 3 cds full of music from one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.
This guy's influence is immeasurable, but even if you don't give a hoot as to who influenced pretty much everyone from the Beatles onwards, you'll love the simple, well constructed and beautifully played songs in this excellent package. Thoroughly recommended.