Rick Nelson - Stay Young: The Epic Recordings

by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 6 / 12 / 2011

Rick Nelson - Stay Young: The Epic Recordings

Label: Floating World Records
Format: CD

Poorly presented compilation of American singer Rick Nelson's mid 1970's recordings for the Epic label

Review

For most people, Rick Nelson is the guy behind 50’s hits like 'Hello Mary Lou', 'It’s Late' and 'Poor Little Fool', and of course the 70’s classic 'Garden Party'. After the release of that latter single, in 1972, Nelson tried to make a real comeback, but more or less failed miserably. In the mid-70’s, major label Epic signed him, and probably hoped that they had struck gold. Well, they didn’t. The result of the collaboration was the album 'Intakes', released in 1977, and three singles, the most successful being Rick’s cover of Bobby Darin’s hit 'Dream Lover'. Now all of Nelson’s recordings for Epic are released on CD for the first time, by Floating World/Retroworld, and all in all we are treated to 18 tracks. Or is treated the correct word here? Well, in some cases – yes. There are some great songs here, like the opener 'One x One' and 'Wings', but there are far too many covers here to make me happy. Some of them are okay, including 'Gimme A Little Sign' (originally by Brenton Wood), 'Lay Back in the Arms of Someone' (originally recorded by Smokie) and the aforementioned 'Dream Lover', but I really don’t need another recording of 'That’s Alright Mama” or 'Rave On'. Generally speaking, I prefer Nelson in his country mood, and think that he can leave the rock’n’roll behind, at least at this point of his career. And I find it amusing to hear him try to sound like Ron Sexsmith on “'Lay Back in the Arms of Someone'. Or should I say that Ron sounds like Rick Nelson? As was the case with Floating World's recent JD Souther re-release, this is a good re-release, but frankly it looks like crap. They really should hire a new sleeve designer, as this one is made up by a picture in low resolution too, and the track listing on the back is so blurry that I wonder if I have forgotten to put my glasses on. They do get a bonus point though for once again providing excellent sleeve notes, this time about Rick’s adventures with Epic. If you’re a great Rick Nelson fan, this is for you. If not, I really don’t think you’re missing out on that much.

Track Listing:-

1 One X One
2 You Can't Dance
3 Wings
4 Five Minutes More
5 Something You Can't Buy
6 Gimme a Little Sign
7 Stay Young
8 Mama, You've Been on My Mind
9 Carl of the Jungle
10 Conversation
11 New Delhi Freight Train
12 That's All Right Mama (Album Version)
13 Dream Lover
14 Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone (Alternate Mix)
15 Almost Saturday Night (Alternate Mix)
16 Rave On (Alternate Mix)
17 Send Me Somebody to Love (Alternate Mix)
18 That Ain't the Way Love Supposed to Be