#420

Impressions: Early nerd rock and roll. Let’s do this… This album blasts to life with “Oh Boy!” and then the rumbling, much covered “Not Fade Away.” Holly, who was 21 when he recorded this, has a real nervous energetic delivery that gives the songs a little edge. Love the choppy percussion of “Not Fade Away.” Their mix of R&B, rockabllly and country is so natural and set the stage for, well, everybody. Songs like “That’ll Be The Day” and “Maybe Baby’ codified the drums/bass/guitar rock sound that’s so basic yet so appealing. This album has got all the exciting if well-played singles and the rest of the songs are solid but not quite as amazing as the big hits. Still, has the great energy and crackle of early rock ‘n’ roll, even in the face of palette fatigue from these songs being worn out in movies, tv, oldies radio, Ed Debevic’s restaurants, and a metric-shit-ton of commercial knock-offs.

Starred Songs:  “Oh Boy!” “Not Fade Away” “That’ll Be The Day” “It’s So Easy”
Sneaky Track: “Maybe Baby”
Should this album be on the list? Yes
Will you listen to this again? The big songs I’ll hear again, probably wouldn’t play the album again.