Any Buddy Holly fans?

[webby]

Hi,

One of my Father's favourites is Buddy Holly (I think he's great too) and as it's his birthday soon, I thought I might see what was available on CD and get him something.

However, there's a ton of Buddy reissues and compilations, some probably good, most not so good. Now, I know there's only a finite amount of stuff in the Buddy catalogue so I thought I'd go for the original albums if poss; The Chirping Crickets, Buddy Holly, and That'll Be The Day. There seem to be a few different releases of these, some with bonus tracks, some as two-fers without bonus tracks...I have no idea which is best.

Any Buddy fans that could help?

Links:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Three-Albums-Buddy-Crickets/dp/B001PPLI8C/ref=sr_1_8?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1296926464&sr=1-8
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chirping-Cricke-Buddy-Holly/dp/B0001JXQGA/ref=sr_1_23?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1296927186&sr=1-23
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buddy-Holly/dp/B0001XAQTQ/ref=sr_1_17?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1296926519&sr=1-17
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chirping-Crickets-Buddy-Holly/dp/tracks/B000056ILC/ref=dp_tracks_all_1#disc_1
I can't find the That'll Be The Day cd.

Thanks

[Beechwoods]

I'm not really a fan of Buddy Holly, though I am partial to Linda Ronstadt's versions of 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' and 'That'll Be The Day'.

Speaking generally though, I think it's nicer to focus on the originals, with or without bonuses, rather than compilations or two-fers. That way you get to hear the tracks in context. I'm sure that a lot of Buddy's output has found release over the years, but unless your dad is a major obsessive he's not going to find outtakes and alternative versions that interesting for repeated plays.

Also thinking from experience with other bands, keep an eye on what 'post-production' has been done to the tracks. Try and pick up releases featuring the original mixes. I know that Buddy's stuff went through a phase of being remixed into pseudo-stereo and that does neither him nor his legacy any good, IMHO :)

[tannoy man]

Buddy Holly from the Original Master Tapes on MCA Records is a fantastic sounding CD.