Ritchie Valens

Unlike Buddy Holly, with whom Ritchie Valens is forever linked by virtue of the 1959 plane crash that claimed their lives and that of the Big Bopper, Valens didn't leave behind a treasure trove of unreleased recordings; like Holly, though, what Valens did leave gives only a tantalizing hint of where he might have taken his music. While Holly may well have become the quintessential American pop artist and a producer of note, Valens seemed headed for more exotic turf, where he would have made explicit the connection between Afro-Cuban and Mexican song forms and rhythms and those of the then-nascent style called rock & roll. Valens remains a touchstone for Mexican-American artists who have followed him -- you can't get to Los Lobos without going through Ritchie Valens. To get an idea of his indelible contribution to rock & roll, consider the critic Lester Bangs' citation of Valens as the prototypical punk guitarist whose signature "La Bamba" riff links Valens to a hard-edged, no-frills style of rock & roll later advanced by the Kingsmen, the Kinks, the Stooges, and the Ramones.

Born of Mexican Indian–American parents, Valens (né Richard Stephen Valenzuela) cherished the tradition of the Mexican song and honored it. By the time he entered Pacoima Junior High he was a competent instrumentalist and, like many of his peers, was fired up by the first blasts of rock & roll radio. At age 16 he joined a local band, the Silhouettes, as a guitarist, and in short order was also handling lead vocals. Eventually Valens met producer-manager Bob Keane, who began the painstaking process of shaping promising-but-primitive ideas into professional sounding, radio-friendly songs that captured the energy and hormone-driven passions of the archetypal '50s teen all at once. (This process is documented on disc two of the Come On, Let's Go box set and The Lost Tapes, both of which provide a cavalcade of previously missing material).

The slow-hushed "Donna" became Valens' biggest hit, peaking at #2 in December 1958. Valens' best-known song, "La Bamba," is based on a Mexican wedding huapango said to have as many as 500 verses in its original, ancient form (it dates back at least to the 14th century), and although it rose no higher than #22 in January 1959, its impact musically and culturally far outstrips any considerations of chart performance. (The song title also served as the title of a 1987 film bio of Valens, starring Lou Diamond Phillips as Ritchie, that reignited interest in his life and music. Los Lobos' recreations of Valens' music were nothing short of stunning.) Those who would rather bypass the history and go straight to the music without any alternate-take offroads will find the 22-track Rockin' All Night the best bang for the buck. Of the 23 total cuts on Valens' two officially released studio albums, only two are missing from this disc: "My Darling Is Gone" and a beautiful heartbreaker, "Now You're Gone" (the title sentiment is taken from a discarded lyric to "Donna"). For those who want maybe a dollop of history, The Ritchie Valens Story fits the bill nicely. Opening with a 21-minute narration by Valens' producer-manager, Bob Keane, who offers a fine thumbnail sketch of Ritchie's life and career and insights on the recording process, the album offers both the incomplete demo recording of "Come On, Let's Go" and the official release, as well as a demo and official version of "Donna," a demo of "Malaguena," the live cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" recorded at the Pacoima Jr. High concert, and the official release of "La Bamba," plus an eerie commercial Valens made promoting the Winter Dance Party tour followed by a radio air check from Des Moines, IA, announcing the deaths of Holly, Valens, and Richardson in a plane crash. Disc one of the Come On, Let's Go box contains all the tracks on Valens' two studio albums, titled Ritchie and Ritchie Valens, along with an alternate take of "Cry Cry Cry" and stereo recordings of "That's My Little Suzie" and "La Bamba."

Responding in 1960 to fans' requests for more Valens material, Keane released In Concert at Pacoima Jr. High, a live recording made in December 1958 and included now in the Come On, Let's Go box set. Given that the show seems to have been recorded by someone sitting in the audience, the sound on the original vinyl release was thin and cheesy; recent developments in audio restoration technology have allowed Keane to bring up Valens' performance in the mix, although he's mixed down the fierce audience reaction as well. Accompanied only by drummer Don Phillips ("a real swingin' cat," as Valens says in introducing him), Valens turns in an engaging performance, kicking off with a version of "Come On, Let's Go" with almost completely different lyrics than those on the official single, segueing into a lovely take on "Donna" and then rocking the house with a ferocious reading of his new buddy Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues." The live portion of the album encompasses only six cuts; the original side two of the vinyl edition featured some of the demos that have now shown up on The Lost Tapes and the Come On, Let's Go box (such material appearing on a 1960 release is almost unheard of, given that the labels had no interest in the historical merit of alternate takes and demos). In addition to "Malaguena," these tracks include a fragment titled "Rhythm Song," which is a Valens homage to Bo Diddley, with whom he had shared the bill (along with Eddie Cochran -- imagine) at an Alan Freed Christmas show in New York. The CD version of the live album includes seven tracks unavailable on the vinyl version, two of them Keane's home-studio recordings, four of them Gold Star outtakes (including the band track of "La Bamba" and the "Ooh My Soul" fragment), plus the Winter Dance Party commercial.

With so much legit Valens material available, the Original Sound disc, La Bamba '87 and Other Great Rock n' Roll Classics, is rendered even more useless than it was in 1987. It purports to be a sampling of how Valens might have tailored his music for another era. Four versions of "La Bamba" are thus transfigured with an eye toward the contemporary dance market, including a Latino Power Mix and a Hi-tone Rock Box Mix, all of which add up to a rather arrogant dissing of an artist unable to defend himself. You can put all manner of maracas, horns, and sampled vocals on a disc, and tell us "this is how 'La Bamba' would have sounded had Ritchie Valens lived to record it today," and the question remains, "Sez who?" (DAVID MCGEE)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide