Ritchie Valens was only 17 when he died in 1959. His musical legacy rests on about an album-and-a-half of completed studio material, a poorly recorded high school concert, and a handful of demos and rehearsal tapes, all of which present a problem for collections of this sort. If you include a full disc's worth of music, you need to dip into unfinished or badly recorded material, which is a quality issue. On the other hand, if you only include finished studio projects, then you've got an extremely brief sequence on your hands. In the particular case of Valens, who had no real time to refine or develop his obvious talents, less is best, and that's the route taken by the makers of this anthology. It includes Valens' big hit, "La Bamba," its flip side, "Donna" (which was actually the A-side, but "La Bamba" has emerged over time as Valens' signature tune), a halting, beautiful version of "Bluebirds Over the Mountain," and the oddly haunting "In a Turkish Town." The sound here is as good as you're going to get it, making this compilation an excellent purchase if you want to hear this young musician at his best. Collectors and serious fans should probably pick up one of the longer anthologies, since the demos and unfinished tracks most of them feature are certainly interesting, if hardly essential.Ritchie Valens was only 17 when he died in 1959. His musical legacy rests on about an album-and-a-half of completed studio material, a poorly recorded high school concert, and a handful of demos and rehearsal tapes, all of which present a problem for collections of this sort. If you include a full disc's worth of music, you need to dip into unfinished or badly recorded material, which is a quality issue. On the other hand, if you only include finished studio projects, then you've got an extremely brief sequence on your hands. In the particular case of Valens, who had no real time to refine or develop his obvious talents, less is best, and that's the route taken by the makers of this anthology. It includes Valens' big hit, "La Bamba," its flip side, "Donna" (which was actually the A-side, but "La Bamba" has emerged over time as Valens' signature tune), a halting, beautiful version of "Bluebirds Over the Mountain," and the oddly haunting "In a Turkish Town." The sound here is as good as you're going to get it, making this compilation an excellent purchase if you want to hear this young musician at his best. Collectors and serious fans should probably pick up one of the longer anthologies, since the demos and unfinished tracks most of them feature are certainly interesting, if hardly essential.false2023-07-15 15:30:05Greatest Hits20032003-03-252003-03-259PopRock And Roll12893822787834dc27ed5-eafd-4db7-9cdb-22b6a7e715c75222714d-21ee-4061-87f7-c749f1586790453d5b76-2b27-4e09-a79a-bb601d493f12/media/data/media4/Music/Ritchie Valens/Greatest Hits/folder.jpgRitchie ValensRitchie ValensRichard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), better known by his stage name Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens died in a plane crash just eight months after his breakthrough.
Valens had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had an American number-two hit with "Donna".
On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as "The Day the Music Died", Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa, an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was 17 years old at the time of his death. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame, the California Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.