The second installment in Capitol's twofer reissue program of early Imperial albums by Ricky Nelson illustrates why Ricky Sings Again stands as one of the best rock & roll albums of the 1950s, when LPs were built aroun... more »d a hit single. Sings Again includes the hits "Lonesome Town," "Never Be Anyone Else but You," "It's Late," and "Believe What You Say," but every song here is strong. Here the teen idol connects with his new band, one of the best rockabilly units ever assembled and headed by the great James Burton, who later backed Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello, and Gram Parsons. Bonus tracks include alternate versions of the hits, as well as a previously unreleased track called "Gloomy Sunday," which dad Ozzie Nelson refused to release due to its theme of suicide. Songs By finds the artist in both a more pop (the opening "You'll Never Know What You're Missing") and mature mode (the second cut is a strings-coated version of the old standard "That's All"). It's somewhat uneven, but it produced another big hit in the beautiful "Sweeter Than You." --Bill Holdship« less
The second installment in Capitol's twofer reissue program of early Imperial albums by Ricky Nelson illustrates why Ricky Sings Again stands as one of the best rock & roll albums of the 1950s, when LPs were built around a hit single. Sings Again includes the hits "Lonesome Town," "Never Be Anyone Else but You," "It's Late," and "Believe What You Say," but every song here is strong. Here the teen idol connects with his new band, one of the best rockabilly units ever assembled and headed by the great James Burton, who later backed Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello, and Gram Parsons. Bonus tracks include alternate versions of the hits, as well as a previously unreleased track called "Gloomy Sunday," which dad Ozzie Nelson refused to release due to its theme of suicide. Songs By finds the artist in both a more pop (the opening "You'll Never Know What You're Missing") and mature mode (the second cut is a strings-coated version of the old standard "That's All"). It's somewhat uneven, but it produced another big hit in the beautiful "Sweeter Than You." --Bill Holdship
CD Reviews
Golden voice in two-minute masterpieces in a great year...
William E. Adams | Midland, Texas USA | 05/10/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Two Ricky Nelson records from late 1958 on one CD, with sensational sound quality. The reissue also has the original label design, the original artwork reproduced, original liner notes (sappy but sweet) and new liner notes (excellently done.)This is the way to reissue great stuff from the past...exact except for the addition of a handful of alternate takes tacked on at the end to add value and running time. Ricky wasn't the innovator Elvis was, and he wasn't the songwriter Buddy Holly was, but he was a fine vocalist and he chose superb sidemen and songs. If you care about "Fifties Rock 'N Roll" you cannot leave him out of your collection. He is great fun to hear, even today."
Ricky Sings Rockabilly!!!
B. Baldwin | 07/07/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Capitol has done a wonderful job remastering & re-issuing Ricky's complete Imperial Records catalog on a series of "two-fer" cd's (2 Albums on 1 CD). This particular release finds Ricky at his best. He had matured vocally since the release of his 1st LP in '57, had assembled an outstanding band that included the legendary James Burton on lead guitar, & had a cache of songs that define original rock-n-roll.Ricky has a magnificent catalog of material that holds its own next to Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, or any other of his 1950's contemporaries. In many instances, he surpasses these artists thanks to the consistency of his band, superior production work, an amazing ability to find/write some truly outstanding songs, and had the counsel of his father Ozzie, a musician and entertainment pioneer himself, who truly had Ricky's interests as a artist in mind rather than worrying about his 10 percent.Ricky is without question one of the true founding fathers of Rock-n-Roll, & maybe with Capitol's great job on reissuing his best material (Imperial Years 1957 - 1962), he will begin to receive the attention he rightly deserves. All of the cd's in this series come with the original artwork, as well as several bonus tracks and feature outstanding essays by James Ritz."
Whew!!! Been waiting for this one!!!
Mouseketeer | Midwest | 06/22/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I had this LP as a little girl and wore it out! It has the great song penned by Johnny Cash, "Restless Kid", sung by a young Ricky and rumor has it that it may have been considered for the wonderful Western Movie, RIO BRAVO, and was, of course, left out. Ricky did sing in the movie and was great. (If you haven't seen the movie in a while, take another look!) All tracks here are digitally remastered and sound great!!! You even get the old Tommy Edwards tune "It's All In The Game" and Ricky does a super job on that one,too. The photo of Ricky on the cover is as dreamy as I remember, too. And here, you get two original albums for one great price!"
There Will Never Ever Be Anyone Else Like Rick Nelson
Ken Douglas | Landlocked in Reno | 02/19/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I remember watching Rick Nelson on "Ozzie and Harriet" when he was Ricky and I liked his music. I liked it a lot, bought his records. Both of these came out in 1959 and if they were packaged separately they'd both have made my list, but since Capitol has seen fit to re-package them together, I'm putting them on my list as a single record. Two excellent records for the price of one. You can't beat that.
The set opens with the rocking "It's Late", a song you gotta love. How many guys have found themselves out too late with a girl and now have to face her dad's wrath. I know that happened to me on more than one occasion. Lucky for me Vesta's dad liked me. And I did marry his daughter.
This set also includes "Lonesome Town" which, I believe is one of the best songs Rick has ever done. "Half Breed" is also on this set, a song that gets left off all those Rick Nelson compilations. The song is only two minutes, two seconds long, but it's got a message. Everybody, no matter the color of their skin, is equal, but sometimes you gotta stand up for your rights. A man is a man as long as long as he can stand and think straight.
Listening to this set you can see why Rick Nelson became the rocker he did. It's too bad his career was cut short. There'll never ever be anyone else like Rick Nelson.
This Record is Number 7 on my list of the Best Thirteen Records of 1959."
"I wholeheartedly agree with all the reviews below! Ricky Sings Again was his first stereo LP and one of his best in my opinion! I don't particularly care for Gloomy Sunday but I do love his version of It's All In The Game and one of my all time favorites, Sweeter Than You. I don't like the alternate fast version of this song at all but I love the original plus his version of the old Hank Williams hit, I Can't Help It. His version of Restless Kid is also very interesting! I have Johnny's version on a great box set of his early Columbia stuff from 1959-62. I have all of these songs by Rick on the 6 CD set of his complete Imperial/Verv recordings by Bear so I don't really need these albums. However if you are unable to afford the box set I would recommend this album and all the others such as his first two albums Ricky/Ricky Nelson. Great stuff indeed and a true rock and roll pioneer!"
Track Listings (32) - Disc #1