BUDDY HOLLY  -  Not Fade Away (6-CD Box) Limited Edition

The great and highly influential Buddy Holly had a relatively brief three year professional recording career. However, because of his enormous talent, enthusiasm for music, and the fortunate emergence of recording tape while he was quite young, we have been left with a vast recorded legacy of 203 tracks that fill out the six CDs of this new limited edition Hip-O Select box set, “Not Fade Away/The Complete Studio Recordings And More.”

The 203 tracks range from his earliest recordings when 12 to 15 years old to demos with Bob Montgomery; from his earliest recordings with The Crickets and a set of garage recordings to his first studio recordings for Decca in Nashville; from the Coral and Brunswick recordings and hits that made him famous to his heralded apartment tapes. There are 6 previously unreleased tracks, including most of an August 1955 session, plus another 11 recordings previously unreleased in the U.S. Furthermore, all of the original, locatable undubbed original recordings are here as well as all 57 of the overdubbed versions recorded both in New York City and Clovis months and even years after the “day the music died.” Many of these recordings are also hard-to-find or are making their CD debut, having only appeared on the 1979 LP/cassette box set .

The music on “Not Fade Away” is packaged in a yearbook size 80 page book, featuring numerous rare photos and session-by-session recording information. There are also two sets of liner notes: “Legacy” by Billy Altman, which puts Buddy’s career in perspective, and “The Music” by Bill Dahl, a lengthy tome that traces the music session by session. Consultant for this project is noted Holly historian Bill Griggs, with special thanks to Maria Elena Holly. “Not Fade Away” was produced by Universal’s Andy McKaie.

Disc 1
1. My Two-Timin’ Woman
2. I’ll Just Pretend
3. Take These Shackles From My Heart
4. Footprints In the Snow
5. Flower Of My Heart
6. Door To My Heart
7. Soft Place In My Heart
8. Gotta Get You Near Me Blues
9. I Gambled My Heart
10. You And I Are Through
11. Down The Line
12. Baby, Let’s Play House
13. Down The Line
14. You And I Are Through
15. Baby, It’s Love
16. Memories
17. Queen Of The Ballroom
18. Memories
19. Moonlight Baby a/k/a Baby, Won’t You Come Out Tonight
20. I Guess I Was Just A Fool
21. Don’t Come Back Knockin’
22. Love Me
23. Midnight Shift
24. Midnight Shift (false start/alternate)
25. Don’t Come Back Knockin’ (alternate)
26. Don’t Come Back Knockin’
27. Blue Days, Black Nights
28. Love Me
29. Baby Won’t You Come Out Tonight
30. I Guess I Was Just A Fool
31. It’s Not My Fault
32. I’m Gonna Set My Foot Down
33. Changin’ All Those Changes
34. Rock-A-Bye Rock
35. Because I Love You
Disc 2
1. Rock Around With Ollie Vee
2. I’m Changin’ All Those Changes
3. That’ll Be The Day
4. Girl On My Mind
5. Ting-A-Ling
6. Rock Around With Ollie Vee
7. Modern Don Juan
8. You Are My One Desire (false start)
9. You Are My One Desire
10. Gone (incomplete)
11. Gone
12. Gone (alternate take)
13. Have You Ever Been Lonely (incomplete alternate)
14. Have You Ever Been Lonely (alternate)
15. Have You Ever Been Lonely
16. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
17. Good Rockin’ Tonight
18. Rip It Up
19. Blue Monday
20. Honky Tonk
21. Blue Suede Shoes
22. Shake Rattle And Roll (partial)
23. Bo Diddley
24. Ain’t Got No Home
25. Holly Hop
26. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
27. Bo Diddley
28. I’m Looking For Someone To Love
29. That’ll Be The Day
30. Last Night (undubbed)
31. Maybe Baby (first version)
32. Words Of Love
33. Mailman Bring Me No More Blues
34. Not Fade Away (alternate overdub)
35. Not Fade Away
36. Everyday
Disc 3
1. Ready Teddy
2. Valley Of Tears
3. That’ll Be The Day (greetings to Bob Thiele)
4. That’ll Be The Day (greetings to Murray Deutsch)
5. That’ll Be The Day (greetings to Bill Randle)
6. Peggy Sue (alternate take)
7. Peggy Sue
8. Listen To Me
9. Oh Boy (undubbed)
10. I’m Gonna Love You Too
11. Send Me Some Lovin’ (undubbed)
12. It’s Too Late (undubbed)
13. Oh Boy
14. An Empty Cup (And A Broken Date)
15. Rock Me My Baby
15. Rock Me My Baby
16. You’ve Got Love
17. Maybe Baby
18. Send Me Some Lovin’
19. It’s Too Late
20. Tell Me How
21. Little Baby
22. (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care
23. Look At Me
24. Mona (rehearsal)
25. Mona (version 1)
26. Mona (version 2)
27. Mona (version 3)
28. Rave On
29. That’s My Desire (two false starts plus undubbed master)
30. Well…All Right Well…All Right
31. Fool’s Paradise (alternate take 1)
32. Fool’s Paradise (alternate take 2)
33. Fool’s Paradise (undubbed master)
Disc 4
1. Think It Over (false start & rehearsal take)
2. Think It Over (undubbed alternate)
3. Think It Over (undubbed master)
4. Take Your Time (false start & alternate take)
5. Take Your Time
6. Fool’s Paradise
7. Think It Over
8. Lonesome Tears
9. It’s So Easy
10. Heartbeat
11. Love’s Made A Fool Of You (undubbed)
12. Early In The Morning
13. Now We’re One (fragment)
14. Now We’re One
15. Come Back Baby
16. Reminiscing (undubbed)
17. True Love Ways (mono mix)
18. True Love Ways (stereo mix)
19. It Doesn’t Matter Anymore (mono)
20. It Doesn’t Matter Anymore (stereo)
21. Raining In My Heart (mono)
22. Raining In My Heart (stereo)
23. Moondreams (mono)
24. Moondreams (stereo)
25. You’re The One
26. That’s What They Say (w/fragment)
27. What To Do
28. Peggy Sue Got Married
29. That Makes It Tough
30. Crying, Waiting, Hoping
31. Learning The Game
32. Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie
Disc 5
1. Slippin’ And Slidin’ (slow version #1)
2. Slippin’ And Slidin’ (slow version #2)
3. Slippin’ And Slidin’ (fast version)
4. Drown In My Own Tears (fragment)/Buddy & Maria Elena talking in apartment
5. Dearest (alternate take)
6. Dearest
7. Untitled Instrumental (a/k/a Buddy’s Guitar/listed as “Tremolo Instrumental”)
8. Love Is Strange
9. Smokey Joe’s Café
10. Peggy Sue Got Married
11. Crying, Waiting, Hoping
12. That’s What They Say (version 2)
13. What To Do
14. Learning The Game
15. That Makes It Tough
16. Baby Won’t You Come Out Tonight
17. Because I Love You
18. Changin’ All Those Changes
19. I’m Gonna Set My Foot Down
20. It’s Not My Fault
21. Rock-A-Bye Rock
22. Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
23. Bo Diddley
24. What To Do
25. Peggy Sue Got Married
26. Crying, Waiting, Hoping
27. That Makes It Tough
28. That’s What They Say
29. Learning The Game
30. Reminiscing
31. Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie
32. Dearest (version 2)
33. Slippin’ And Slidin’ (slow version 2)
Disc 6
1. Baby Let’s Play House (I Wanna Play House With You)
2. Down The Line
3. Wait Til’ The Sun Shines Nellie (overdub version 2)
4. Reminiscing
5. Flower Of My Heart
6. Door To My Heart
7. Soft Place In My Heart
8. I Gambled My Heart
9. Gotta Get You Near Me Blues
10. Gone (version 3)
11. Rip It Up
12. Honky Tonk
13. Blue Suede Shoes
14. Shake Rattle And Roll
15. You And I Are Through
16. Baby It’s Love
17. Memories
18. Queen Of The Ballroom
19. Love’s Made A Fool Of You
20. Wishing (mono)
21. Wishing (stereo)
22. Maybe Baby
23. That’s My Desire
24. Have You Ever Been Lonely (version 1)
25. Good Rockin’ Tonight
26. Blue Monday
27. Ain’t Got No Home
28. Holly Hop
29. Slippin’ And Slidin’
30. You’re The One
31. Love Is Strange
32. (Ummm, Oh Yeah) Dearest
33. Smokey Joe’s Café