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The Crickets' California Sun (also sometimes referred to as Collection: California Sun/She Loves You, or The Crickets) was their final LP as a contemporary group, released the year before they went on what became an extended hiatus, into the 1970s (at which time they re-emerged on the oldies circuit). It was also sort of payback -- of the most good-natured kind -- as Buddy Holly's various bandmates and surviving contemporaries -- Jerry Allison (drums, backing vocals), Sonny Curtis (lead guitar, vocals), Glen D. Hardin (keyboards, Fender Rhodes piano bass), and Jerry Naylor (vocals) -- did an album comprised, in large part, of covers of John Lennon/Paul McCartney songs. Considering how much the Beatles owed to the Crickets, it seems even more now than it did then, to be a logical move for the older Texas-spawned group, looking for a contemporary audience. They don't sound that different from the band as it existed in Holly's time, obviously missing Holly's unique voice, but otherwise mostly retaining the lean, clean guitar/bass/drums sound, with a texture only a half-generation removed from their rockabilly roots on songs like "A Fool Never Learns"; the rendition of "Slippin' and Slidin'," and their covers of Doc Pomus' "Lonely Avenue," and the Motown standard "Money" could have been done by the classic (i.e. original) lineup. As for the Beatles covers, they're a mixed bag -- "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is done too much like the original, with Curtis emulating George Harrison's and John Lennon's guitar parts too closely to add much; "She Loves You" is better, Curtis' playing very exposed with all of its embellishments, and Allison's extraordinary drumming nicely delineated as well; "I Saw Her Standing There" isn't quite inventive enough to be more than a fairly routine cover, only the spirited vocals standing out along with elements of Curtis' playing; "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You," by contrast, are made into de facto Crickets numbers, with the kind of timbre that recalls the original band, and singing that manages to invoke the memory of Buddy Holly -- had he lived, it would be easy to imagine him doing versions of either of these songs (perhaps in return for the Beatles' recording of "Words of Love") that would be very much like what we hear on this album. Among the originals, the Jerry Allison co-authored "You Can't Be in Between" is a first-rate piece of British Invasion-style rock & roll, with strong playing and singing, a catchy melody and chorus, and a great beat, and the album closer, "Come On," is a rousing and catchy rocker that shows this group to be as contemporary-sounding a band as there was in 1964.
© Bruce Eder /TiVo
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Buzz Cason, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - John Lennon, ComposerLyricist - Paul Mccartney, ComposerLyricist - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist - Kenji Sazanami, Translator
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - Morris Levy, Composer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist - Henry Glover, Composer
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - John Lennon, ComposerLyricist - Paul Mccartney, ComposerLyricist - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist - Sonny Curtis, Composer
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - James Smith, ComposerLyricist - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist - Albert Collins, ComposerLyricist - Richard Penniman, ComposerLyricist - Edwin Bocage, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - John Lennon, ComposerLyricist - Paul Mccartney, ComposerLyricist - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - Doc Pomus, ComposerLyricist - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - John Lennon, ComposerLyricist - Paul Mccartney, ComposerLyricist - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Berry Gordy Jr., ComposerLyricist - Buzz Cason, Producer - Janie Bradford, ComposerLyricist - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Don Covay, ComposerLyricist - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - John Lennon, ComposerLyricist - Paul Mccartney, ComposerLyricist - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Composer, Producer - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Jerry Allison, Composer - The Crickets, MainArtist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Buzz Cason, Producer - Rick Hall, ComposerLyricist - ERNIE FREEMAN, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Leon Russell, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - The Crickets, MainArtist - Dan Penn, ComposerLyricist
℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
Album review
The Crickets' California Sun (also sometimes referred to as Collection: California Sun/She Loves You, or The Crickets) was their final LP as a contemporary group, released the year before they went on what became an extended hiatus, into the 1970s (at which time they re-emerged on the oldies circuit). It was also sort of payback -- of the most good-natured kind -- as Buddy Holly's various bandmates and surviving contemporaries -- Jerry Allison (drums, backing vocals), Sonny Curtis (lead guitar, vocals), Glen D. Hardin (keyboards, Fender Rhodes piano bass), and Jerry Naylor (vocals) -- did an album comprised, in large part, of covers of John Lennon/Paul McCartney songs. Considering how much the Beatles owed to the Crickets, it seems even more now than it did then, to be a logical move for the older Texas-spawned group, looking for a contemporary audience. They don't sound that different from the band as it existed in Holly's time, obviously missing Holly's unique voice, but otherwise mostly retaining the lean, clean guitar/bass/drums sound, with a texture only a half-generation removed from their rockabilly roots on songs like "A Fool Never Learns"; the rendition of "Slippin' and Slidin'," and their covers of Doc Pomus' "Lonely Avenue," and the Motown standard "Money" could have been done by the classic (i.e. original) lineup. As for the Beatles covers, they're a mixed bag -- "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is done too much like the original, with Curtis emulating George Harrison's and John Lennon's guitar parts too closely to add much; "She Loves You" is better, Curtis' playing very exposed with all of its embellishments, and Allison's extraordinary drumming nicely delineated as well; "I Saw Her Standing There" isn't quite inventive enough to be more than a fairly routine cover, only the spirited vocals standing out along with elements of Curtis' playing; "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You," by contrast, are made into de facto Crickets numbers, with the kind of timbre that recalls the original band, and singing that manages to invoke the memory of Buddy Holly -- had he lived, it would be easy to imagine him doing versions of either of these songs (perhaps in return for the Beatles' recording of "Words of Love") that would be very much like what we hear on this album. Among the originals, the Jerry Allison co-authored "You Can't Be in Between" is a first-rate piece of British Invasion-style rock & roll, with strong playing and singing, a catchy melody and chorus, and a great beat, and the album closer, "Come On," is a rousing and catchy rocker that shows this group to be as contemporary-sounding a band as there was in 1964.
© Bruce Eder /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:27:27
- Main artists: The Crickets
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92)
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock
© 1964 Capitol Records, LLC ℗ 1964 Capitol Records, LLC
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