Memorial Collection [10/21] [by Buddy Holly, CD, 2008]

Universal's 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 Hol... more

Universal's 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 Universal's 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.The big picture is what the 60-track Memorial Collection is all about: it's the master takes, including all the hit singles, bookended by rare recordings. At the front, it's three tracks from Holly's country/rockabilly duets with Bob Montgomery (one of which, "Soft Place in My Heart," also shows up on Down the Line); at the back, it's the guitar-and-vocal solo recordings Buddy cut at his New York City home in late 1958/early 1959, recordings that are dubbed "the Apartment Tapes" among fans. Here too there are some duplicate... less