Customer Reviews

Ricky Sings Again / Songs Ricky

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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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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!

All the Rick Nelson albums contain excellent selections, but I am really interested in obtaining a cd or something that contains the song "Your kind of lovin" which was recorded in the late sixties. The flip side to the recording had a song titled "Fire Breathing Dragon". Can you help me find this recording??

Genuine gems don't lose their lustre. Ricky Sings Again is possibly the best album of the fifties, and here you get the added value of Songs By Ricky plus some alternate takes practically for the price of one. Great value and a must for anyone remotely interested in that era!

Ricky Nelson`s 3rd and 4th album for Imperial compiled on one CD. The albums were originally released at a very short interval in 1958/1959. And it`s really impressive that some many great recordings were made in such a short period of time.

In my opinion these are the most consistent albums Nelson did for Imperial.

Filled with great tunes by some Rick`s favorite songwriters like Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, Baker Knight and even one by Johnny Cash!

The guitar playing by James Burton is terrific; varied and innovative. Have a listen to the guitar break in "One Minute to One", the Burnette rockers "Believe What You Say", "Just a Little Too Much", "I`ve Been Thinking" and Baker Knight`s "You Tear Me Up" and "You`ll Never Know What You`re Missing"

Great ballads that fit Ricks`s soft voice perfectly like "Lonesome Town", "Sweeter Than You" (fine alt. version), "Be True To Me", "Never Be Anyone Else But You" and "Halfbreed"

These recordings equals those of Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran as some of the best of the late 1950`s.

I never cared much for Elvis, sorry!