Somebody either decided to pen an extra four clever lines for Art and not take credit for them, or else there is an earlier cover version (perhaps late 60's early 70's) in which these lines appear, and it was rhat version which Art's arranger used to arrange his session.

At this stage, nobody claims to remember where the four lines came from, although I still have a sneaking suspicion that Paul Simon penned them. (Of course, 50 years from now, Rolling Stone will probably reveal that they were written by the studio janitor!)

BGO have re-issued alomst all Bobby Vee's LPs as double CDs. If you can lay hands on "Meets The Crickets", do so. It is in most critics' eyes, his best LP, and shows he could really rock when he wanted to.

A lot of critics who dismissed Vee, claimed that it was the Crickets who made the LP work, but in fact the photo on the album was faked.

It shows Bobby Vee, Jerry Allison, Joe B Mauldin and Jerry Naylor on the cover, whereas only Allison was on the session - the other "Crickets" being Liberty session musicians Beel Pitman and Tommy Allsup. (At least, Allsup had once played with Buddy Holly - his are the guitar solos you hear on "Heartbeat" and "It's So Easy").

The day the Liberty photo was taken, Naylor had arrived in LA to join the Crickets as lead singer replacing Sonny Curtis who was in the army in France while Mauldin had long since given up music and gone back to Texas.

However, for photographic reasons - all appeared on the cover holding guitars in the Liberty studio!

Still it is a great LP - he obviously enjoyed himself on it.

Liberty did some slightly dodgy things like that.

Their "Bobby Vee Live On Tour" album for example, was actually done in the studio using tracks left over from earlier sessions, to which they subsequently added screams and applause!

Ah, the good old days of fakery-doodery as Flanders might say.

You are right - I collect a bit - habit I suppose - and I love mixed compilations as I am driven more by songs than performers, if you know what I mean.

The Disky stuff is great - occasionally you will get a track which is a bit iffy, but 99% of their stuff is fine. Also, the matsering on another UK label, Ace, is superb - they are real fans, and go to inordinate lengths to get the best master tapes.

A bit of a change from the early days of CDs when they were frequently mastered directly off the vinyl - crackles and pops included!

Couldn't happen nowadays, says he, having just bought a Ray Peterson compilation which appears to have been mastered in the depths of a cellar, from some very dodgy cassette tapes!

Still, you live and learn.

OK, you live anyway.

• RE: Bobby Vee Special - John 08/09/2007 09:01:21 EDT (1)
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