One Of The Earliest CDs Since Picked Up By Collectables
09/22/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"When this came out in 1989 from EMI-USA, a division of Capitol Records, it was like most CDs of the day - 12 selections, adequate sound reproduction, and virtually nothing in the way of liner notes - in this case one eight-line paragraph on the reverse.
They were also free and easy with their titles back then, and this one was no exception. Neither of I'm In Love Again (# 67 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in March 1963 as the B-side to That's All, # 49 and NOT here), and If You Can't Rock Me (# 100 Hot 100 April 1963 as the flip to Old Enough To Love - itself a minor hit at # 94 and also NOT here!) can hardly be described as among his all-time greatest.
To be sure, tracks 1 to 6 and 8 were among his very best, each making the Top 10. But while tracks 9, 11, and 12 were all Top 40 [reaching # 25, 29, and 18 respectively], these were far behind the likes of his first double-sided hit for Verve in 1957, A Teenager's Romance [# 2] b/w I'm Walking [# 4], Poor Little Fool [# 1 in 1958], I Got A Feeling [the flip of track 4 and a # 10 on its own], Never Be anyone Else But You [the A-side of It's Late and a # 6], Sweeter Than You [the flip of track 6 and a # 9 on its own], and Travelin' Man [the A-side of track 2 and a # 1].
There are many more similar examples, all of which is to say that any attempt to put out a 12-selection CD for Rick Nelson with this title is futile. When he started out as 17-year-old Ricky Nelson in 1957 [he changed his billing to Rick with the release of A Wonder Like You/Everlovin' in 1961], everyone initially regarded him as a flash-in-the-pan taking advantage of his good looks, famous parents' name, and their hit TV show. But he soon demonstrated he was anything but
From 1957 to 1974 he churned out 54 Top/Hot 100 singles, including nineteen Top 10s and 34 Top 40s, in addition to millions in LP/EP sales. Twelve, eight, and six of those hit singles crossed over to the R&B, Adult Contemporary [AC], and Country charts respectively. And, for good measure, he added another four to the Country and three to the AC charts, including his last hit, Dream Lover. This reached # 29 AC/# 59 Country in May 1979, and charted again at # 88 Country in 1986, several months following his untimely death in a plane crash on New Years Eve 1985.
Right now it's a real chore to try and pull together all his hits, but there are a couple of better import multi-track compilations available than this one."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1