Few remember now, but Ricky Nelson had another career sandwiched between his early days as The Clean-Cut Elvis and his latter-day transformation into a country-rock pioneer (minus the "y"). In the early 1960s, realizing teen idoldom could only carry him so far, he transformed himself into a smooth, "adult" pop crooner, delivering everything from "You Don't Know Me" to "The Nearness Of You" in that low, smoky, soulful, yet somehow still innocent baritone.
So there were plenty of options in assembling this disc, which licenses songs right up to 1979's soft-rock cover of Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover" (shades of James Taylor). But Capitol instead decided to fill in the cracks between Ricky and Rick with covers better known by rock lovers, which means that both Nelsons get lost in the giant shadows of Buddy Holly ("True Love Ways"), The Righteous Brothers ("Unchained Melody") and Bobby Darin ("That's All"). Nelson was a solid voice but not a great interpreter, which is why the hits work best -- although you have to wonder why the compilers decided to break the mood by including uptempo numbers like Ricky's cover of "Tryin' To Get To You" or his own "Hello Mary Lou." Songs about love aren't enough when you're dealing with a "Teenage Idol."
Speaking of which, that song retains much of its lonely-at-the-top novelty appeal, and Rick's own gentle classics -- "Young World," "It's Up To You," "Never Be Anyone Else But You," and "Lonesome Town" (which did the trick for Mia Wallace and Vince Vega in Pulp Fiction) -- also stand the test of time. There are even a few pleasant surprises, most shockingly a take on "Gloomy Sunday" from the Ozzie and Harriet years that stayed unreleased until the year 2000. Was Rick capable of even more than we've finally given him credit for? Not really. But this comp does remind us why he's in the Hall of Fame to begin with.
