Ritchie Valens

La Bamba (Recorded At Gold Star- The B-Side Of "Donna")
$0.99

Ritchie Valens
$15.98
I'm guessing everybody knows about the day the music died. The day Richie Valen perished in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Richie was only eighteen years old, his musical career only eight months old. He only had one album. This is it. It came out in 1959 and it is rock and roll.

Richie took a Mexican folk song, added a beat and became a star for the ages. Who knows how far he'd have gone with a voice like that, with a beat like that. I've heard Bob Keanes say that Ritchie, born Ricardo Steven Valenzuela, never wrote anything down, never sang the same words twice. He made it up as he went along. If that's true, that's really something. And I believe it, because Mr. Keane was Ritchie's manager and producer.

This album opens with a rocking "That's My Little Suzie". "She rocks all day and she rocks all night." A classic rocker with an infectious guitar. "Donna, Donna", is still played on the radio today and they'll be playing it a hundred years from now. "La Bamba", that Mexican folk song I mentioned above, will make you get up and dance. It's a rocker. But this album offers more than rockers. "In a Turkish Town" is a short ballad that sadly shows us the voice we've lost, the voice that could have graced so many ballads.

I'm guessing that everything Ritchie ever put on tape has been released in one form, or another, but this is his first album, his best album. Thirty-four days after this record came out Ritchie flipped a coin and won a seat on an airplane and we lost a star.

This Record is Number 6 on my list of the Best Thirteen Records of 1959.

La Bamba
$14.94
I don't recall how many times I've viewed "La Bamba," or even if it's a true depiction of Valens' life, but it never fails to move me. The brilliance of the performances and direction aside, Ritchie's story, as told, the film never fails to move me and inspire respect for the pioneers of 50's rock. If you are not moved by this brilliant film and all it stand for, I can only wonder. with regret, when you, not Ritchie, died. Essential viewing, a classic -- timeless and a cinematic wonder.

The Ritchie Valens Story
$11.98
This is a great CD. It has his greatest hits but also several songs that were unknown to me. Some of them I like, some of them I don't. Overall, the songs I originally purchased this for are of excellent quality.