The first time I saw Casablanca, I was a 21-year-old college student living abroad in England. My "flatmates" and I decided it was a good idea to take advantage of some of the £1 theaters around town that trafficked in classic films. I remember watching much of the movie with my mouth agape as line after line of that canonic dialogue hit me as if I'd never heard anything like it before. Of course, as a self-taught aficionado of pop culture, I had heard it before. Everywhere. A similar feeling developed as I listened to the opening tracks of "The 'Chirping' Crickets," Buddy Holly's first and last long player under the band moniker, The Crickets. And while "long player" may be a misnomer, with its twelve tracks coming in at just about 26 minutes, the comparison to Casablanca is perfectly appropriate. The riffs, the beats, the rough-edged vocals trading off with that lover's croon and those country yelps all add up to something very special and deservedly influential. In addition to the well-known highlights - the emphatic drum on the last "when... you... make... me... cry-y" of "That'll Be the Day" - there are plenty of other lesser-known treasures. For example, listen to the roiling introduction to "Rock Me My Baby" and you can hear a prophecy of rock to come. Of course, a considerable part of what makes Buddy Holly so compelling is the degree to which his career is shrouded in the mystique and mystery of what might have been. Hearing all of that talent and potential in one sitting, it is hard not to feel the empty hole his untimely death left behind. Here's looking at you, kid. Grade: A-
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