Denny Laine
Holly Days

THE REVIEW

In 1976 Buddy Holly would have turned forty, but fate played a cruel joke on the bespectacled rocker and took him away much earlier.

For Paul McCartney, Holly was a true idol of his adolescence and in '76 he managed to buy the entire catalog of the American musician. He decided to record a cover album dedicated to him and isolated himself in his "rude studios" in Scotland, recording all the instrumental tracks by himself, to which he then added the vocals. Soon, however, Paul changed his mind and entrusted the vocals to his friend and bandmate Denny Laine; finally, he opted to release "Holly Days" under Laine's name. This LP is a collector's item, released in '77, it sold little, at the time there wasn't much desire for revival, and old rock'n'roll classics didn't have much commercial appeal. "Holly Days" can be considered a Wings project, published for fun between "At The Speed Of Sound" and "London Town"; a fresh and captivating album, recorded with a very sparse production that had already distinguished other Paul productions such as "McCartney" and "Wild Life". Songs like "Heartbeat", "Moondreams", "It's So Easy" are truly refreshing, light and catchy, played with great fun and carefreeness by Paul, Linda, and Denny. An approach to music that is very adolescent and carefree, a refreshing philosophy of making music for the three Wings after the strains of the world tour.

"Holly Days" is McCartney's first attempt to rediscover the rock roots of his music; the Russian album and "Run Devil Run" would follow in the future, but this LP has an energy all its own that would not be repeated in the other works.