Rick Nelson - Ricky/Ricky Nelson

Rock & roll was still a novelty and singles ruled the record market when 17-year-old Ricky Nelson released his debut album in 1957; it immediately jumped to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. That's why Capitol fleshes out some of its twofer releases of Nelson's Imperial albums with non-album hit singles. It's stunning to hear how well Nelson's debut and sophomore LPs hold up long after their original appearances. Aside from "Be Bop Baby" (and its "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" B-side), most of the cuts on Ricky are covers, including a wonderfully sedate take on Jimmie Rodgers's "Honeycomb," proving Nelson was indeed the Perry Como of early rockers. It also includes two Carl Perkins covers, including the definitive "Your True Love." The second LP displays growth and rocks harder, concluding with the sublime "Poor Little Fool." --Bill Holdship Amazon.com

Ricky's first

It's unfortunate, in a way, that Capitol chose to do these two-fer cd's strictly in chronological order, because Ricky Nelson's first album, "Ricky", is much weaker than his second, "Ricky Nelson" (Imperial were not very good with album titles, lol). These two albums are like day and night. The first album features 17 year old Ricky crooning - without much conviction - his way through a mixture of rock and roll covers and standards probably chosen by his dad. Songs like "Baby I'm Sorry", "If You Can't Rock Me", "Be Bop Baby", "Teenage Doll", and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" sound like Pat Boone's attempts at rock and roll. They don't rock, and they don't roll! His version of Carl Perkins' "Boppin' the Blues" pales next to the original. Ricky does a little better with ballads like "I'm Confessin'". None of this would prepare listeners for the blast of full tilt rock and roll that kicks of the second album, "Shirley Lee". What happened to Ricky between the first and second albums? Suddenly, he's on fire vocally, full of confidence, just like the Sun Records artists he admired. Maybe the difference was having his own band behind him, instead of the sessions pros of the first album. James Burton is one of the greatest rock and country guitarists ever, and his playing is awesome on this album. Can't ignore James Kirkland on bass, Richie Frost on drums, and Gene Garth on piano, either. They nail every song, whether it's an uptempo rockabilly raver like "There's Good Rockin' Tonight", or a ballad like Someday". Their extended jam on "My Babe" may be the highlight of this disc. Ricky's first self penned number, "Don't Leave Me This Way", is an excellent ballad, with a tasty acoustic guitar solo by James Burton. "Poor Little Fool" was Ricky's first #1 single, and is still a favorite. The backing vocals by the Jordanaires add a lot to this and the other songs. Ricky also does a swaggering take on Fats Domino's hit "I'm in Love Again" that could have been a hit if released as a single back then. The sound on this disc can't be faulted, either. These sides sound like they could have been recorded yesterday. Informative liner notes by James Ritz, and several bonus tracks also add value to this release. If you buy this one, though, you gotta buy the others - the music only gets better on the next cd, "Ricky Sings Again"/"Songs by Ricky"! November 5, 2007

Ricky

Call me Rick! Why? Once the name was shortened, the songs seemed to lack the certain something evident in this album.
This album is a CLASSIC.
Excluding ELVIS, who was (and still is!) alone up there in the upper-upper-upper stratosphere, RICKY was the epitome of "white-boy" rock&roll, music intended to be fun, simple, danceable, devil-may-care (damn the adults!!) and without message. Ricky was excellent at this as this album proves. A long overdue item. A tremendous example of the KISS principle ("Keep it simple, stupid!", for the uninitiated!).
At under $12.00, take a truckload! July 28, 2007

There's an even better release out there...

The two-fer reissue "Ricky Sings Again/Songs by Ricky" is significantly better than this CD, which features his first two LP's from 1957. The other disc offers his third and fourth albums, and the improvement in his vocals, in his band, in his choice of material are all evident. This one is not bad, of course. Rick's talent at age 17 was surprisingly high, but his first two records were mostly rockabilly covers and as good as Nelson was, he wasn't as good performing Jerry Lee Lewis songs as The Killer himself. So if you are nostalgic or a rock historian, I'd add "Rick Sings Again" ahead of his maiden LP and its sequel. June 8, 2006

Young Nelson!

This is a CD containing Ricky Nelson's first two albums both released in 1957. Nelson was only 17 at the time, and considering his young age, he sounds musically surprisingly mature on many of these early recordings. On the first album Nelson is backed by seasoned, but excellent studio-musicians like guitarist Joe Maphis and with the Jordanaires backing him vocally on several tracks. The songs are a mixture of Nelson's own rockabilly favourites and softer ballads to please a larger audience and his father Ossie, who played a big role during Nelson's early years as a recording artist. The bubblegum rocker "Be Bop Baby" which was his first Imperial hit-single is one my favourite early Nelson recordings; especially the slightly rougher single version. The Carl Perkins cover "Boppin'the Blues" is also quite good. Among the ballads "I'm Confessin" and "Honeycomb" stand out.

On his second album "Ricky Nelson", Rick is backed by a bunch of younger talented musicians with guitar legend James Burton as the most prominent; most solos though, were still played by Joe Maphis.

It contains a handful of pretty wild rockers featuring great playing by Nelson's "house band"; unfortunately Rick's voice often sound strained or even shrill. This may be due to poor production, but could also indicate that his voice wasn't yet ready for this kind of material. Interesting that one of these rockers, "There Goes My Bay", was written by guitarist James Burton and bassist James Kirkland.

Among the ballads "Someday" has become an all-time Nelson favourite. It was later released as a single and became a no. 9 hit in 1958. Sharon Sheeley's up-beat pop ballad would also be released as a single, and to Rick's big surprise become his first no 1 hit-single. Another outstanding track is Rick's own song "Don't Leave Me This Way" ( my personal favourite on the album ). This was the first recording of a Rick Nelson original and it's interesting that his song-writing is so close to that of Baker Knight's, who would contribute many songs to Nelson's later singles and albums; among them hits like "Lonesome Town", "Never Be Anyone Else" and "Sweeter Than You". A great melodic acoustic guitar-solo from Burton makes this track an even greater recording.

The song-writing Burnette brothers, who also were regular song contributers to Nelson, appear here as writers of the two bonus-track rockers "Waiting in School" and "Believe What You Say"; both hit-singles in 1958. On "Believe What You Say" Rick sounds much more confident than on the album's rockers, and the song features a terrific Burton guitar-solo.

All in all a fine release with informative 12 pages booklet. September 23, 2005

Really Great

It's really about the collection of four cds, which contain all of Ricky's work for Imperial. I'm suprised they weren't released as a boxed set. The re-mastering was absoutely perfect. If these same people produce Rick's Decca work on CD, I'll buy it, even though I already have a cd version. The re-mastering is just that good. I have another cd of "Rick is 21", and it's not even close. An absoute MUST HAVE for Ricky/Rick Nelson fans! September 25, 2001

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