Search - Buddy Holly :: Holly in the Hills/Giant

Holly in the Hills/Giant
Buddy Holly
Holly in the Hills/Giant
Genres: Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (22) - Disc #1

UK two-fer includes 'Holly In The Hills' (1965) & 'Giant' (1969 - deleted domestrically). Highlights include 'I Wanna Play House With You', 'Memories', 'Love Is Strange' & 'Smokey Joe's Café'. 2002.

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Buddy Holly
Title: Holly in the Hills/Giant
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Bgo - Beat Goes on
Release Date: 8/26/2002
Album Type: Import, Original recording remastered
Genres: Pop, Rock
Styles: Oldies, Oldies & Retro
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 5017261205636, 766489132129

Synopsis

Album Description
UK two-fer includes 'Holly In The Hills' (1965) & 'Giant' (1969 - deleted domestrically). Highlights include 'I Wanna Play House With You', 'Memories', 'Love Is Strange' & 'Smokey Joe's Café'. 2002.
 

CD Reviews

Holly In The Hills/ Giant - Buddy Holly
Joseph Loughmiller | Asheville, NC United States | 03/05/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)

"Basically, here's the thing- the first 12 tracks are hard to find, vintage buddy holly, and showcase his early country roots. These aren't the best quality, but they're absolutely essential to any serious Buddy Holly collection. Now, that being said, i found the latter 10 tracks to range from "okay" to "tremendously awful". Not any fault of Holly himself- the problem here is POINTLESS AND ANNOYING OVERDUBS. What you're hearing isn't Buddy Holly as he sounded, but someone else's idea of what he SHOULD have sounded like. Tracks like "Love Is Strange" and "You're The One" are almost COMPLETELY RUINED by obnoxious and out-rightly GOOFY sounding strings overdubs, while "Slippin' And Slidin" and "Smokey Joe's Cafe" suffer from horribly un-authentic sounding backing tracks. They would have done MUCH better by simply presenting Buddy's original recordings as they were, without the hideous and gaudy additions of newer musical arrangements placed ON TOP of the original, un-marred performances. Frankly, I would sooner recommend searching out a bootleg recording rather than see anyone pay good money for a DOCTORED Buddy Holly album. Pretty disappointing."
It's been a long wait for this CD - grab it fast
Jacobus T. Boot | Perth, Western Australia | 05/09/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Holly In The Hills was the last album of new material, the bottom of the barrel. This is the album collecting the early country and western duets between Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery recorded well before the That'll Be The Day / Peggy Sue days when country was still the music commonly played and Elvis had yet to come and perform live in Lubbock to make that huge impact on Buddy and his friends that turned them to Rock'n'Roll. The country stuff is hokey yet it is great. It shows an important facet of the early Buddy Holly before Elvis and true BH fans will want it to complete their collection and rightly so !
The addition of Wishing is a real boost as before the release of this album it was hard to get other than on an Extended Play 45 vinyl record. Of course with CDs this all changed but the album is stronger for it. We have waited too long for this release, let us hope that the complete catalogue will be available sooner than later. A recommended buy for fans who want to hear Buddy in his early days.
Giant was the second last of the official `New' releases of the overdubbed demo performances from Buddy Holly after his death and like 'Showcase' and 'Holly In The Hills', the other overdubs, is for the fan's collection. The track `Love Is Strange' is the high point of the CD and sufficient to warrant the price. It is only the overdub version, yet it generates the true romantic atmosphere Buddy was trying to create for the teens of the day.
It is a pity Norman Petty did not use The Crickets instead of The Fireballs from the nostalgic point of view but the music works. It is not a studio album and no fan expects it to be and will accept it for what it is, an attempt to present the remaining tracks Buddy put down in demo or casual form.
Not popular with the critics but then that is nothing new. BH Fans will still want it."
Helps greatly to complete your Buddy Collection
William Lynd | Poestenkill, NY United States | 03/01/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased this CD and was pretty happy to get some of these hard to find tracks. This is definitely no "Greatest Hits" collection though! What you are getting is 22 fairly rare tracks, most of which were very early recordings that were overdubbed by Norman Petty after Buddy was tragically killed in early 1959. If you are a fan of Buddy, these tracks gives you a deep look into his roots with some very "true" country music
and a quick look at what might have been as songs like "You're The One" and "Love is Strange" which were basically home demos recorded shortly before he died. Here they are overdubbed to sound almost like a finished recording.Had to go with 4 stars here because sound quality is lacking, but probably no fault of BGO, these are very early recordings and nothing much could likely have been done."