Boppin' the blues (Ricky Nelson) (LP 555 - 561)

Ricky Nelson Ricky (CD, MCPS, 1957) *****

Ricky Nelson Ricky Nelson (CD, MCPS, 1958) **** 

Ricky Nelson Ricky Sings Again (CD, MCPS, 1959) ****

Ricky Nelson Songs By Ricky (CD, MCPS, 1959) ****

Ricky Nelson More Songs By Ricky (CD, MCPS, 1960) *** 

Rick Nelson Rick is 21 (CD, MCPS, 1961) *** 

Rick Nelson Album Seven by Rick (CD, MCPS, 19) ***

Genre: Rock and Roll 

Places I remember: The Warehouse (Palmerston North)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Down The Line (from Ricky Nelson); One Minute To One (Songs By Ricky)

Gear costume: Poor Little Fool (from Ricky Nelson); Travelin' Man, Hello Mary Lou (both Ricky is 21)

Active compensatory factors: Ricky was certainly prolific, and extremely talented, but definitely poorly served by album titles. Yikes! These display a severe lack of imagination!

The debut establishes the classic Ricky sound - relaxed, smooth, assured, dreamy! It's 63 years old (like me) and still sounds terrific!

The quality is really high throughout these first four albums. I've struggled with the ratings to be honest -  Ricky Sings Again has many of the hits and Lonesome Town is on there as well but there are a couple of slower songs that sound like they were made for the slow dance segment at the senior prom, so four stars for these albums is about right for the first four.

By 1960 Ricky was looking to branch out into other areas so strings and less rock'n'roll arrangements enter the picture. There are still diamonds amongst each album but the all around entertainer was starting to replace the rock and roll kid.

Where do they all belong? I've already blogged about his albums with the Stone Canyon Band (here and here) that I have on vinyl, and so I have only Garden Party to go on CD to complete the Rick Nelson collection. It's worth the wait! 

I wish I was an Apple, a-hanging on a tree (Ricky Nelson)

I came across a Ricky Nelson double CD compilation that I just had to buy this week. It's a weird one -some of the big hits are on it but so is Ricky's first album in its entirety and his first single released in 1957 (a fantastic year!).

A Teenager's Romance was backed by his version of the Fats Domino song I'm Walkin' and it set the template for some great fifties and sixties music by Ricky.

Between 1957 and 1962 Ricky had an amazing 30 Top 40 hits. In 1959  he helped out John Wayne, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan in the Howard Hawks' western classic Rio Bravo. I just love this cosy singalong with Deno and Walter. Thankfully The Duke stays silent. A man's gotta know his limitations.

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles...(The 'Oo)

I've reorganised my collection again and moved all the Greatest Hits compilations into their own section.

These compilations are often record company marketing decisions rather than artistic statements by musicians so I (mostly) feel justified in separating them.

There are always exceptions, though, where either the artist has an input or the collection just clicks or else the band is so great that every song is a must have. These are the ones I want to focus on. Here are some of my favourites.

The Who - Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy. When Pete Townshend reviewed the album for Rolling Stone magazine in 1971 he called it 'the greatest of Who albums'. As a celebration of 'Oo singles it is without peer. Hit after hit after hit after hit...

Favourite moment: My name is Bill and I'm a headcase (from I'm A Boy)

Neil Young - Decade. A bespoke collection from Mr Shakey himself. A perfect collection of his best moments, a lot of which were first released on this triple album!

Favourite moment: Winterlong.

The Raspberries - The Raspberries. Capitol put this out in 1991 under their Collectors Series banner and it scoops up all the hits by the best U.S. power pop band (Badfinger are, of course, the U.K.'s representative). Twenty tracks and every one delivers.

Favourite moment: Baby don't go!! Eric Carmen's heart felt cries (from If You Should Change Your Mind).

The Beach Boys - Ballads. The number of Beach Boys compilations must easily exceed the studio albums as repackaging of hits has continued throughout the years in a helter skelter fashion. Ballads contains twelve tracks and it goes without saying that all twelve are superb creations. The thematic idea of just including twelve ballads works brilliantly, much better that the Beatles' Ballads collection which had far too many tracks (20).

Favourite moment: Warmth Of The Sun captures the feeling of the warm rays in song. Everything great about the group is right there - the unique blend of voices, Brian's musical genius, Mike Love's succinct lyrics.



Mary Chapin Carpenter - Party Doll and Other Favorites. I've bought quite a few of her albums and so far none can compare to this compilation. It really shouldn't hold together as well as it does - there are live tracks, studio tracks including Jagger's weird title song and her brilliant version of Lennon's Grow Old With Me mixed in with the hits and album tracks.

Favourite moment: This shirt.



Ricky Nelson - 22 Golden Greats. This compilation is perfect - all the timeless hits from the whole of Ricky Nelson's career. Often because bands appear on different labels their career best collections fail to include all the good bits, frinstance I've not yet found a good Small Faces compilation. This one is a thorough and brilliant collection.

Favourite moment: Lonesome Town.



Lindisfarne - The Best of Lindisfarne. There are 16 reasons why Lindisfarne are an important band on this CD. Sixteen tracks is about perfect. I really much prefer a succinct CD like this to double CD bloated efforts.

Favourite moment: Lady Eleanor.



The Hollies - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. Like The Beach Boys, The Hollies have been compiled to death. I have a number of them and this is the best somehow. I think it's the sequencing of songs (it's definitely not a 'hits' collection). Again it shouldn't work - there is no chronology or even reason behind some of the selections and there are some notable omissions, instead, it's that unpredictability and depth that I like.

Favourite moment: The kitchen sink drama of Too Young To Be Married

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I said hello to "Mary Lou", she belongs to me.

14 Ricky Nelson, ‘Garden Party’

I’m not sure why I have such a deep fascination and affinity for Ricky (aka Rick) Nelson. I was too young to see the TV sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet that he acted in with his parents and brother, not that TVNZ would have run it, even if they had been on the air at the time. And you thought ‘The Osbournes’ was a new idea?

I was born in 1957, the year he started having hits. I don’t remember hearing any of his hits between then and when I started collecting records. It wasn’t until his mention of ‘Yoko and her Walrus’ in the seventies song, Garden Party, that my interest was piqued and I was finally aware of his existence. Incidentally, I loved that song at first hearing – I’m a real sucker for this kind of ballad.

Since then, though, I’ve come back to him again and again. I think it’s the smooth, warm, almost conversational tone he sings in. A lot, maybe 98%, of old rock ‘n’ roll songs have dated badly, including all of the Elvis catalogue. Sorry, but the bloat and bombast of Elvis did/does nothing for me. But Ricky (he was Ricky until he turned 21) has a body of work that still sounds incredibly fresh. And he didn’t seem to age even in the 1980s, until he died in a plane crash in 1985 (the same year of this version of Garden Party). Now he'll remain, forever young.