I absolutely love this song... the arrangement, the vocal, the crisp guitar bits, the backing vocals, the lyrics... everything! But it just never gets played. Rod Stewart covered the B side on his great "Every Picture Tells A Story" LP, and "Shorty" is a terrific rockabilly number, for sure. But someone should play "Three Steps To Heaven" now and then. One of the interesting things about this recording is how much like a Buddy Holly & the Crickets arrangement it seems. It's sobering to recall that "Heaven" was released shortly after Cochran died in a U.K. car crash, which also injured fellow rockabilly rocker Gene Vincent. All of this occurred just a little over a year after Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper went down in that fateful plane crash. No wonder it looked like rock'n'roll was coming to an end in 1960. Note: This copy comes in a vintage Liberty Records factory sleeve. It has dark green labels, which grade EX to reflect some ringwear (see scan). The vinyl looks VG with a fair amount of scuffing and tiny scratches. The audio grades EX on the A side and a strong EX on the flip, reflecting various degrees of light surface noise, but no distortion, in the audio.
