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Rating:  -
These two Imperial LPs from late 1958/early 1959 were among the album best-sellers in their time, and here you get both with wonderful digital sound improvements - Ricky Sings Again (tracks 1 to 12) and Songs By Ricky (tracks 18 to 29), with 8 bonus tracks thrown in for good measure, five of them alternate takes on the album cuts.
Some of his best hit singles are also represented here, four of them from double-sided hits in 1959 - Never Be Anyone Else But You (# 6 Hot 100) b/w It's Late (# 9 Hot 100/# 30 R&B) and Just A Little Too Much (# 9 Hot 100 in summer 1959 b/w Sweeter Than You (also a # 9) - as well as Believe What You Say (# 4 Hot 100/# 6 R&B in May 1958), Lonesome Town (# 7 Hot 100 in November 1958 and, written by the great Baker Knight, said by one fan as "the place where Heartbreak Hotel is located," Old Enough To Love (# 94 Hot 100 when released as a single in 1963), and That's All (# 48 Hot 100 when released as a single in 1963).
Other Baker Knight tunes are at tracks 10, 18, 21 and 25), while the Burnette brothers, Johnny and Dorsey are represented in tracks 1, 2, 23, 24 and 26 for Dorsey, tracks 20 and 29 for Johnny, and track 3 by both brothers. A johnny cash-penned tune is also here, Restless Kid, and the arrangement is pure Cash.
The booklet contains the original LP notes (although you might need a magnifying glass to read them) along with six new pages written by actor/writer/producer James Ritz in February 2001. There is also a half a page titled Jimmie Haskell - A View From The Inside (Haskell is an arranger/orchestra leader who nacked, among others, Bobby Darin on many of his hits).
Several more great photos of Ricky are included as well. All in all, a beautiful compilation of the music of the man inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987 - its second year of existence.
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Ricky Sings Again/Songs by Ricky is a single CD that gives us all the tracks from two of Ricky Nelson's record albums entitled Ricky Sings Again and Songs By Ricky. The liner notes give us the original liner notes alongside new liner notes and very accurate replicas of the artwork for both record albums. The quality of the sound is quite good and the CD artwork impresses me.
"It's Late" starts the track set with Ricky sounding great and his backup vocalists harmonize so well. The tune has a type of country flavor mixed in with an early rock and roll beat that combined makes an awesome melody. "Believe What You Say" really showcases Ricky's vocals squarely in the spotlight; and the musical jamming on this number is very well done. "Believe What You Say" has awesome guitar work! "Be True To Me" has Ricky crooning like the best of them ever could; and he sings this with great sensitivity. I really like "Be True To Me."
"Old Enough To Love" features Ricky singing this with all his heart; and the guitars mixed with the backup vocalists make this a strong number for Ricky. "Never Be Anyone Else But You" lets Ricky prove his ability once again; this country flavored ballad works well and Ricky sings well of his love for his sweetheart. "It's All In The Game" is a fine cover by Ricky that will make you want to slow dance with your special someone; even though some of the lines in this song are a tad melancholy the overall mood of the song is distinctly romantic.
"That's All" has Ricky singing sweetly about his character's affection for his one true love; "That's All" gets a slightly slower than usual tempo but it all works very well. "Half Breed" is another country type of ballad that Ricky sings with good accompaniment; and listen for "You're So Fine." "You're So Fine" has a strong early rock and roll beat to it that sounds so good; "You're So Fine" captures the energy and enthusiasm of young love blossoming and it's really a cool tune.
"So Long" gives us Ricky crooning again with a fine arrangement for the guitar; and "I've Been Thinkin'" is a bouncy number that shows Ricky could sing this type of ballad better than almost all of them!
In addition, we get several additional tracks of alternate versions of songs including "Just A Little Too Much" and "Lonesome Town." Sure, they may have been added to add length to the CD; but Ricky Nelson fans will enjoy hearing these alternate renditions of these numbers.
Overall, this CD is a must-have for Ricky Nelson fans; this showcases Ricky's fine artistry when he was a younger performer in the late 1950s. It's also a great way to get all of the tracks from two record albums on one single CD. Enjoy!
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I am very happy with this cd I loved his music since I was a teenager'
I do have old albums of his, and I was very happy to know that I could get
the same music on cd's, because you know thats what it's all about these days.The smaller the better
Rating: -
Back in the 50's, albums were considered secondary to singles. Many artists of that time put out albums that were merely both sides of their current hit, surrounded by a bunch of filler. Ricky Nelson was among the few (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino) who gave us an entire album of quality material. In fact, Ricky was the only rock and roll artist besides Elvis to have a #1 album in the 50's. This CD contains two of his best, both from 1959. "Ricky Sings Again" is one of his most popular albums, partly because it contains 4 of his top ten hits, "Believe What You Say", "Lonesome Town", "Never Be Anyone Else But You", and "It's Late", all among the best tracks he ever recorded, but the other songs should not be overlooked. "One of These Mornings" is classic rockabilly, with a great slap bass break by James Kirkland, and James Burton imitating the sound of a train on his guitar. "Restless Kid" was written for Ricky by Johnny Cash, about his "Rio Bravo" role as "Colorado". "Old Enough to Love", a very pretty ballad, is typical of the teen oriented material Ricky often did. "You Tear Me Up" is another classic rocker. The second album, "Songs By Ricky", contains 2 more top 10 hits, "Sweeter Than You" and "Just a Little Too Much", and again, there are plenty of forgotten gems on the album. There's a hint of jazzy pop in "That's All" and "So Long", while "Half Breed", a John Loudermilk song, is pure country and western. James Burton practically steals the show with his guitar work on faster songs like "One Minute to One", "You're So Fine", 'You'll Never Know What You're Missing". Ricky's voice is smoother and richer here than on his first album, he really had one of the finest voices in all of rock and roll. He never overemotes, never tries to oversell the material, just delivers it smooth and sincere. The sound on these tracks is phenominal, and a lot of the credit for that goes to arranger/producer Jimmie Haskell, and Ozzie Nelson (Ozzie used to tell Haskell "give me too much bass and too much high end, because we lose it all when the songs are shown on television"). Kudos also to Capitol for the excellent remastering. Was nice to hear these albums in stereo, as my vinyl of both is mono. As for the bonus tracks, the most interesting is "Gloomy Sunday". Think of it as an even more depressed "Lonesome Town".
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Years ago when Ricky Nelson was THE singer to listen to and to see every week on TV, I was given these two 33 1/3 rpm LPs. They went everywhere with me, to parties, dances, sleepovers, and proms. That was a long time ago and I still have the LPs, albeit very worn out by now. So I was delighted to received a brand new CD of these same songs. The re-master is excellent! And the CD includes excellent biography/contents sheets with background info on all of the songs with rare photos. The sound quality of this CD is excellent! But one must remember that even back in Ricky Nelson's beginnings he had some of the best background musicians and singers and studios to surround him. The Nelson Sound was one of the best in the business! So if you can't afford the large 6 disc set at $[...] bucks, this is THE one to get. With a double disc and many of Nelson's best songs, a Rick Nelson fan must have this one. Some of my personal favorites were backed by the Jordonaires (who backed Elvis). So get your very own CD and enjoy them all over again! Joyce allienejoy@yahoo.com
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