Search - Rick Nelson :: Rick Nelson - Greatest Hits

Original recordings of twenty classic hits

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ricky had more than twenty hits in America but all the important ones are in this collection. Ricky's hottest period was from May 1957 to June 1959, during which time he scored many American top ten hits including several double-sided singles that yielded two top ten hits. Ricky was much less successful in the UK although it's not clear why as he didn't suffer from competition by British cover versions as (for example) the Drifters did. During this period, Ricky made the UK top ten with Poor little fool (an American number one hit), Someday and It's late, although Someday is omitted from this compilation. Ricky's American top ten hits from this period included I'm walking, Be-bop baby, Stood up and Believe what you say, all of which made the top five, as well as Never be anyone else but you, which may well be the most-covered of all Ricky's songs. Saying that, covers of Ricky's songs are far less common than covers of some of his contemporaries' songs, such as Buddy Holly or the Everly Brothers.



Following the double-sided American top ten hit, Just a little too much / Sweeter than you, Ricky's career went into a bit of a decline. All that changed in 1961 when he had another double-sided hit - the biggest of his career. On one side was Travelin' man, which gave him his second and last American number one hit, selling over six million copies. On the other side was Hello Mary Lou, written by Gene Pitney who (at the time) was known only as a songwriter. It was also an American top ten hit, but it made number two in the UK, where it became his biggest ever hit.



The revival in Ricky's career was short-lived. He scored two further American top five hits (Young world, Teenage idol) before changing record labels, when he also changed his name from Ricky to Rick. After a promising start in which he nearly made the American top ten with a cover of Fools rush in (Glenn Miller) and did even better with For you, the hits dried up.



With his hit-making days over, Rick tried various things including country music. He eventually formed the Stone Canyon Band. Two of their American hits are included here, the most notable of which is Garden party, in which Rick sings about how his audiences are only interested in his old songs while he wants to sing contemporary material.



While this collection omits the UK top ten hit Someday and also omits some notable American hits that didn't make the top ten there, the twenty tracks here represent Ricky's career fairly and include all the essential. It's particularly satisfying to see that this compilation encompasses the whole range of his hits from the fifties to the seventies - and they are all original recordings."