Holly Days is the second album by singer and guitarist Denny Laine, released in 1977. It was recorded by him with fellow Wings members Paul and Linda McCartney. The album is a tribute to singer-songwriter Buddy Holly and comprises eleven cover versions of songs originally recorded (and in some cases written or co-written) by Holly, most of them lesser-known.
Paul McCartney's MPL Communications had recently bought the publishing rights to Holly's catalogue,[2] and – Laine told the press at the time – it was McCartney's father-in-law, John Eastman, who suggested that Laine record an album of tracks from this acquisition.[3]
Paul McCartney laid down the basic tracks, including some overdubs, on his four-track recorder. Laine and Linda McCartney added some instrumental parts and all three joined in on the vocals; Laine sang lead and the McCartneys harmonised,[4] making Holly Days an unofficial Wings album of sorts. This was also the first time the core trio of Laine and the McCartneys had played by themselves on a studio album since Band on the Run, although that album included other players on overdubs.[a] Due to the rudimentary recording methods used to capture the "Buddy Holly style", only tracks 2 and 3 are actually in stereo.
^Wings were slated to tour in 1977, but due to two members having left and Linda being pregnant with her and Paul's third child, the tour with the trio lineup did not happen.
^Sanjek, t. l. R. (1988). American Popular Music and Its Business: The First Four Hundred Years, Volume III: From 1900-1984. United States: Oxford University Press. p.539
^Joe Earle, 'The Holiday Album', Greenville (South Carolina) News, June 19, 1977, p. 4
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