The Ballads of Ricky Nelson in Bloomington, MN

As a TV teen idol,
Ricky Nelson
sang more than his fair share of ballads and they're almost all collected on the 30-track 2013
Bear Family
compilation
The Ballads of Ricky Nelson
. The title here bills "Ricky," not "Rick," and that's an important distinction: after he left
Imperial
in 1962, he shortened his name to "Rick" and made a bid as a serious country-rocker. None of that material is here; this focuses entirely on the years between 1957 and 1962, when he was starring on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and cutting records on
. There are plenty of hits here -- "Poor Little Fool," "Lonesome Town," "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You," "Never Be Anyone Else But You," "You're My One and Only Love," "A Teenager's Romance" -- and there are also covers of hits from other singers (
Elvis
' "Trying to Get to You," Jimmie Rodgers' "Honeycomb," the standard "Unchained Melody"), a few originals, and a bunch of solid examples of L.A. studio craft. Naturally,
Nelson
had much more to offer than ballads -- he was a terrific rock & roller -- so this can't be seen as a thorough overview of his early years as it's missing those classic rockers "Waitin' in School," "It's Late," "I'm Walking," "Be-Bop Baby," "Stood Up," and "Believe What You Say" -- but as a portrait of his sweet side,
is thoroughly enchanting. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine