Buddy Holly - Down The Line: Rarities '2009

Tracks list

 Universals 2009 triple-disc set Memorial Collection and its two-CD
companion, Down the Line: Rarities, effectively act as a substitution for a
reissue of the six-LP 1979 box The Complete Buddy Holly, long a holy grail item
among rock & roll fanatics. That set never materialized on CD for various legal
and logistical reasons, so bootleggers stepped into the void, assembling a
ten-disc set that went far beyond the original vinyl box, and then as the
original recordings crept into public domain in Europe, year-by-year chronicles
started to pop up over there. These satisfied the needs of completists in a way
Universals twin 2009 CD sets may never, as there are too many missing alternate
takes, apartment tapes, and demos -- not to mention live cuts, which are
virtually absent -- but for hardcore fans who are less obsessive, these two
releases are far easier to absorb than the bootleg, which gets weighed down in
historical minutia that obscure the big picture.

Spanning 59 tracks over the course of two discs -- nearly as many songs as those
on the three-disc Memorial Collection -- Down the Line concentrates on boiling
that minutia down to its essentials, to get the best of the alternate takes,
demos, and Apartment Tapes, or at least to find the music that fits the broadest
audience. Again, this concentrates on studio, not live, sessions and it follows
the same trajectory as Memorial Collection, beginning with Buddys duets with Bob
Montgomery and ending with a selection of highlights from his solo acoustic
recordings in his New York apartment (many of which are also heard on Memorial).
Down the Line adds detail and color to the story, digging deeper at Buddys
country roots -- the earliest cuts here sound downright hillbilly -- and
spotlighting the Crickets lean rock & roll via several selections that strip off
all the overdubs, leaving behind just their propulsive jangle. Where Memorial
Collection invites pure marvel at Buddy Hollys rapid progression, Down the Line
hints at the work behind it all, the conscious editing and development of his
sound and the cheerful record-plugging at radio sessions (theres a wonderful
sequence of Thatll Be the Day specially recorded for various prominent DJs), and
this can make for fascinating listening. However, like a lot of archival
releases of this nature, Down the Line requires some attentive listening: when
alternate takes begin to pile up upon each other, it takes some serious
attention from serious listeners to sort it all out. Naturally, there are some
immense rewards here, lying in small details and flat-out knock-outs, like
Buddys slow, sexy reworking of Slippin and Slidin, which is further proof that
Holly was an inventive interpreter in addition to being a singular songwriter.
While this set doesnt require intense concentration and Herculean patience the
way that the bootleg The Complete Buddy Holly does -- that is strictly the
province of fanatics -- Down the Line cannot be appreciated without a
concentration that goes very, very deep: its something for serious rock &
rollers who fancy themselves scholars.
:: TRACKLIST ::

Earliest Bloomings (All Undubbed)
1-1 –Buddy Holly - My Two-Timin Woman 2:15
1-2 –Buddy* & Bob - Footprints In The Snow 1:20
1-3 –Buddy* & Bob - Flower Of My Heart 2:36
1-4 –Buddy* & Bob - Door To My Heart 2:23
1-5 –Buddy* & Bob - Soft Place In My Heart 2:16
1-6 –Buddy* & Bob - Gotta Get You Near Me Blues 1:54
1-7 –Buddy* & Bob - I Gambled My Heart 2:44
1-8 –Buddy* & Bob - You And I Are Through 2:06
1-9 –Buddy* & Bob - Down The Line 2:04
1-10 –Buddy Holly - Baby, Lets Play House 2:28
1-11 –Buddy Holly - Moonlight Baby A/K/A Baby, Wont You Come Out Tonight
1:59
1-12 –Buddy Holly - I Guess I Was Just A Fool 2:19
1-13 –Buddy Holly - Dont Come Back Knockin 2:00
1-14 –Buddy Holly - Love Me 1:53

Buddy Holly & The Crickets - The Garage Tapes (All Undubbed)
1-15 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Gone 1:13
1-16 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Gone (Alternate Take) 1:16
1-17 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Have You Ever Been Lonely (Alternate
Take) 0:54
1-18 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Have You Ever Been Lonely 1:18
1-19 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man 2:09
1-20 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Good Rockin Tonight 1:57
1-21 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Rip It Up 1:25
1-22 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Blue Monday 1:58
1-23 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Honky Tonk 3:27
1-24 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Blue Suede Shoes 1:53
1-25 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Shake Rattle And Roll (Partial) 1:22
1-26 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Bo Diddley 2:20
1-27 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Aint Got No Home 2:01
1-28 –Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Holly Hop 1:37

2-1 –Buddy Holly - Last Night (Undubbed) 1:56
2-2 –The Crickets - Not Fade Away (Partial Alternate Overdub) 2:23
2-3 –Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue (Alternate Take) 2:33
2-4 –The Crickets - Oh Boy (Undubbed) 2:09
2-5 –Buddy Holly - Thats My Desire (Two False Starts Plus Undubbed
Master) 4:12
2-6 –Buddy Holly - Take Your Time (False Start & Partially Undubbed Take)
3:33
2-7 –The Crickets - Fools Paradise (Alternate Take Undubbed) 2:31
2-8 –The Crickets - Fools Paradise (Undubbed Master) 2:33
2-9 –The Crickets - Fools Paradise (Alternate #2 Undubbed) 2:33
2-10 –The Crickets - Think It Over (False Start & Rehearsal Take) (Take
1) 2:14
2-11 –The Crickets - Think It Over (Undubbed Alternate) (Take 2) 1:52
2-12 –The Crickets - Think It Over (Undubbed Master) (Take 3) 1:51
2-13 –Buddy Holly - Loves Made A Fool Of You (Undubbed) 2:05
2-14 –The Crickets - Thatll Be The Day (Greetings To Bob Thiele) 0:36
2-15 –The Crickets - Thatll Be The Day (Greetings To Murray Deutsch) 0:33

Buddy Holly - The Apartment Tapes (All Undubbed)
2-16 –Buddy Holly - Thats What They Say (W/Fragment) 1:52
2-17 –Buddy Holly - What To Do 1:55
2-18 –Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue Got Married 1:51
2-19 –Buddy Holly - That Makes It Tough 2:18
2-20 –Buddy Holly - Crying, Waiting, Hoping 1:52
2-21 –Buddy Holly - Learning The Game 1:35
2-22 –Buddy Holly - Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie 1:15
2-23 –Buddy Holly - Slippin And Slidin (Slow Version #1) 3:11
2-24 –Buddy Holly - Slippin And Slidin (Slow Version #2) 3:36
2-25 –Buddy Holly - Slippin And Slidin (Fast Version) 1:27
2-26 –Buddy Holly - Buddy And Maria Elena Talking In Apartment 3:28
2-27 –Buddy Holly - Dearest (Fragment) 1:14
2-28 –Buddy Holly - Dearest 1:53
2-29 –Buddy Holly - Untitled Instrumental (A/K/A Buddys Guitar/Listed As
Tremolo Instrumental) 1:20
2-30 –Buddy Holly - Love Is Strange 1:44
2-31 –Buddy Holly - Smokey Joes Cafe 2:15

 Remastered By [Digitally] – Erick Labson

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