Gold

Personnel include: Buddy Holly (vocals, guitar); Niki Sullivan, Sonny Curtis (guitar); Boots Randolph (tenor saxophone);Don Guess, Joe Mauldin, Larry Welborn (bass instrument); Jerry Allison (drums). With his geek-chic glasses, nasal voice, and sleek, smart, perfect rock & roll songs, Buddy Holly's status as the first real "alternative" rocker has yet to be truly acknowledged. All the more reason to buy and relish Geffen/Decca's two-disc GOLD compilation, which gives a definitive portrait of Holly's output. The 50 songs are arranged chronologically (all of Holly's material was recorded between 1956 and '59--the lone exception being a '54-'55 recording of "Down the Line"), and the set includes everything fromHolly's best- known hits ("That'll Be the Day") to his lesser known gems ("Heartbeat") to obscurities (his version of Lieber and Stoller's "You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care). " An essential additionto any complete rock library.

Track Listing

• Disc 1
• • 1 down the line
  • 2 soft place in my heart
  • 3 holly hop
  • 4 blue days (aka blue days, black nights)
  • 5 love me
  • 6 midnight shift
  • 7 baby, won't you come out tonight
  • 8 changing all those changes
  • 9 i'm gonna set my foot down
  • 10 rock around with ollie vee
  • 11 girl on my mind
  • 12 ting-a-ling
  • 13 modern don juan
  • 14 brown eyed handsome man
  • 15 that'll be the day
  • 16 i'm lookin' for someone to love
  • 17 worlds of love
  • 18 not fade away
  • 19 everyday
  • 20 tell me how
  • 21 ready teddy
  • 22 listen to me
  • 23 oh, boy!
  • 24 it's too late
  • 25 peggy sue
• Disc 2
• • 1 i'm gonna love you too
  • 2 look at me
  • 3 little baby
  • 4 you've got love
  • 5 maybe baby
  • 6 rock me my baby
  • 7 you're so square (baby, i don't care)
  • 8 rave on
  • 9 fool's paradise
  • 10 take your time
  • 11 well...all right
  • 12 think it over
  • 13 early in the morning
  • 14 heartbeat
  • 15 it's so easy
  • 16 wishing
  • 17 love's made a fool of you
  • 18 reminiscing
  • 19 true love ways
  • 20 it doesn't matter anymore
  • 21 raining in my heart
  • 22 peggy sue got married
  • 23 crying, waiting, hoping
  • 24 learning the game
  • 25 what to do