Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly
by John Gribbin
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Book Summary Information
Author: John GribbinEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown)
Published: 2009-01-01
ISBN: 184831034X
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Book Reviews of Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly
Book Review: Serves its purpose
Summary: 4 Stars
I think this book does a fair job of serving its purpose, which is to describe the various recording sessions and methods used to record his music over the years. I think it's necessary to add a little biography to either end for a little perspective, and certainly to gain some perspective on Norman Petty's role in the major recording sessions. Whatever his role in Buddy's money situation, it appears he contributed a lot to the recording techniques that were used in the studio and to what Buddy learned about recording techniques along the way. The most interesting thing that I learned from this book were the back story and the techniques used to record "Peggy Sue." The back story itself will, of course, appear in any biography, but the recording techniques were absolutely fascinating.
What did NOT impress me about this book was how the author took conjecture about some of the people in the book and turned it into "fact." As noted by another reviewer, the author did use the Ellis Amburn book as a source, which most know as a bad source of information. However, the author here did acknowledge the Amburn book as a poor source of information, being full of errors as it is. I think he recognizes the necessity of pulling information from more than one source, particularly if the source is known to be unreliable. It would have been better if he had acknowledged all dubious information in this manner, however.
And, by the way, I lived in Lubbock for many years, too. The whole West Texas area has an amazing amount of musical talent, the most famous and successful of which have plaques at the base of Buddy's statue in Lubbock: Waylon Jennings and Roy Orbison, for example (of course). Almost no one not from Lubbock really "gets it." Even Philip Norman didn't get it right when he said Meadow was north of Lubbock in his biography of Buddy. I guess he had the map upside down. To outsiders, Lubbock is flat, treeless, smelly, and boring. The rest of us know better. We planted all the trees, the smell means money (and you don't even notice it after a while anyway), flat means you can see the sunsets and sunrises better, and boring? Absolutely not. That's how we got Buddy Holly. In the fall, everything turns red and black. And for a while, we even had Bobby Knight shooting people in the foot and throwing salads in the grocery store. How could that possibly be boring? And just in case we produce another Buddy...or Waylon, or Richie McDonald or god-forbid another Natalie Maines (just kidding - she's very talented), there's a very active Depot District with plenty of live music venues. (I won't go so far as to say Buddy ever fronted for Elvis, but a friend insists Buddy's brother had to front them some money to get into a movie when Elvis was in town once, though. He says that came straight from the mouth of Buddy's brother himself. Between us, we've met a few of the Holleys a time or two.)
And just when you thought she picked up her ball and went home, it looks like Maria Elena is giving Lubbock a "gift" by returning the Buddy Holly Festival to Lubbock sometime in the near future. Any negative feelings for her aside, Buddy deserves the recognition and new talent deserves the opportunity to find a spotlight. Lets hope it all works out this time.
Summary of Not Fade Away: The Life and Music of Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly was killed at 22 when the plane he was travelling in crashed on 3 February 1959. Although this was less than two years after Holly's first hit record, Don McLean described this as 'the day the music died.' But Sonny Curtis, Holly's friend and musical colleague, told us that the music didn't die, because 'Buddy Holly lives every time you play rock'n'roll.' Fifty years after Holly's death, his lasting influence is clear; a musical based on his life seems set to run for longer than his lifetime and artists as diverse as Blink 182 and Bob Dylan call him an inspiration.The Beatles chose That'll Be the Day by Buddy's group The Crickets as their first attempt at recording, as well as taking the idea for their name. Clearly, the music didn't die!John Gribbin, an ardent fan since he was twelve, presents this labour of love written in the spirit of Sonny Curtis' lyric, as a celebration of Holly's all too brief life, and as an introduction,for all those not around in 1959, to the man and his astonishing musical legacy. "Not Fade Away" also includes - uniquely - a full and detailed account of every Holly recording session, which any Buddy fan will devour.General Books
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