ooooo weeee oooo i look just like

My Dad’s love for lyrics, which I mentioned in a previous post, had an interesting affect on the way he listened to music from the fifties. For the most part my Dad agreed with the sentiments coming out from early hippies that most of the music from the fifties was just a sugar frosted coating for the real stuff that was happening in the world. Songs like “Little Darlin” are undeniably classic but definitely weren’t the first thing my Dad reached for when he put on some music.



Of course, there were a few exceptions. In typical Taryn’s parents fashion, the songs from the fifties that I grew up on came from the people who were rocking the societal boat in some way - Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, etc. One of the people you would have found a miniature Taryn singing along with and dancing around the house to was Buddy Holly.



Knowing that, it’s easy to understand why I was beyond excited to hear about a new Buddy Holly Tribute Album coming out June 28th: Rave On Buddy Holly.

Songs keep leaking into the radio waves and onto the interwebs like little teases - you can generally catch Fiona Apple and Jon Brion’s awesome version of “Every Day” at some point during Morning Becomes Eclectic these days. Everything I’ve heard so far is supremely good.

Tribute albums are interesting to me because it’s essentially buying an album of songs that you very likely already own. Why would I listen to Fiona’s version of “Every Day” when I have Buddy Holly’s version already? Obviously the two songs sound different but is it different enough that I might prefer to listen to that version over the original sometimes? At the other end of the spectrum, is it too different - just different for the sake of being different - and I’m attached to the old version so I don’t like the reinvention?

Producer Randall Poster put it nicely when he called gathering the tracks for the album a process of finding “pieces of a complex and original puzzle.” I haven’t heard the album from beginning to end, but what I’ve heard seems to walk the above described line between different enough to be new and similar enough to be recognizable extremely well.

I cannot wait until June 28th to hear the album as a full beginning to end story but until then I’m content savoring the little gems that are starting to pop up. One of the standout tracks I’ve heard is Florence + The Machine’s version of “Not Fade Away.” Check out the fun little video for the song...