Original Released on LP Imperial IR LP 9048
(US, November 1957)
RICK NELSON (born May 8, 1940; died December 31, 1985)
He was an early teen idol who had a considerable amount of talent to complement his blue-eyed good looks. On television, he and his older brother David acted out their real-life roles as the sons of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. As a rock-and-rolling teenager on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Rick Nelson practically grew up in the nation’s living rooms. For a period of years, beginning in 1957, each episode would conclude with a song by Ricky and his band. Many teenagers tuned into the show because of him, and these performances - a harbinger of the kind of impact MTV would have decades later by bringing popular music to TV - helped keep Ozzie and Harriet on the air until 1966. Nelson was a handsome Fifties teen idol who wore his hair in a fashionable flat-top with a ducktail. For his musical debut, he did an Elvis Presley impersonation on Ozzie and Harriet in order to impress a high-school sweetheart who had a crush on Presley. Thereafter, Nelson became a self-contained rock and roller in his own right. His principal influences were Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. On Presley’s side, the feeling was apparently mutual, as he told guitarist James Burton that he never missed an episode. For his first recording, Ricky cut a double-sided smash: “A Teenager’s Romance” backed with Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’". Both songs made the Top Five shortly after the single’s release in April 1957, instantly launching Nelson’s musical career. He was all of sixteen years old, and this was just the beginning.
All totaled, Nelson would score three dozen hits, making him one of the most successfully prolific of all rock and rollers. Even though his role on TV had been the launch pad, he more than made the grade as a rock and roller. As unlikely as it may seem, he turned out to be the real thing: a mellow-voiced singer/guitarist with an instinctive feel for the country-rooted side of rockabilly. Moreover, he had good taste in musicians, hiring guitarist extraordinaire James Burton as the mainstay of his band. With his arsenal of expert rockabilly licks, Burton brought serious credibility to Nelson’s musical endeavors. His less frantic brand, more poppy brand of rockabilly went down easily with America’s suburban teenagers. After the success of his first two singles on Verve, Nelson quickly signed to the Imperial label, where his hit streak extended into the early Sixties. This is Rick Nelson's first album for the new label with 11 bonus tracks, which includes the singles he recorded for Verve.
