Most
Buddy Holly fans don't want to admit it, but there was a pretty fair chance that, had he lived past February 1959,
Holly's music might well have followed the path into teen pop and pop/rock pursued by
Bobby Vee. It's impossible to get too far past that thought, or the memory of
Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "Raining in My Heart" in listening to this polished piece of teen idol pop/rock from
Vee. He even does "Teardrops Fall Like Rain," a song written by and originally recorded by the post-
Holly Crickets. More to the point, it seems as though
Vee and producer
Snuff Garrett were thinking along the lines of those last
Holly singles even as late as 1962 (though one suspects that, had these been
Holly sessions, a few of the guitar parts might've been a tiny bit more assertive and bluesy).
Vee does surprisingly well on such classics as Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On," and even the thoroughly string-drenched
Goffin-
King number "Sharing You" offers a powerful vocal in all the right spots. He's a first-rate pop/rock crooner across this opulently produced album, which, if it represents a soft and uninventive side of rock & roll that was soon to be overthrown by
the Beatles (who were just getting signed to Parlophone in England as this LP made its appearance), is still eminently listenable. And some of it is pretty solid rock & roll, too, most notably "I Can't Say Goodbye" and "Sharing You" (which was a hit single), where
Vee really cuts loose with those pipes. ~ Bruce Eder