The short-lived career of Buddy Holly still allowed enough time to produce a number of hits, which are catalogued on the 1978 release of Buddy Holly and the Crickets' 20 Golden Greats.

This 44 minute album is a fantastic flashback to the late 50s - the days of simple and comparatively innocent rock and roll. Buddy Holly's warm and wholesome rockabilly sound is refreshing and crisp. It's also surprisingly timeless. For example, tracks like "Not Fade Away" remind me so much of Vampire Weekend and seem strangely familiar. The entire album transports me to the 50s. And to me, the 50s has always seemed like a decade frozen in teenaged years - young music fans partying and dancing the night away to the great sounds of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. It may be an idealized vision of the 50s, but it's perfect in my head. The simplicity of early rock and roll is magic - it's clean, rhythmically simple, and somehow sucks you in. In Buddy Holly's music you can hear tropical influences as well (on tracks such as "Heartbeat"). You can also hear the precursor to bands like the Rolling Stones. Buddy Holly was like the smooth, polished rock and roll star...and then the Rolling Stones got a little more wild and edgy. It's a fantastic dichotomy and such a cool progression in sound from one to the other. Most of us have listened to Buddy Holly at some point, whether you knew it or not. This is a great album and has timeless classics.

Enjoy.