''Ricky Sings Again'' is the third studio album by

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he began a ...

, released in January 1959 by

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

. It features a group of songs from the Burnettes and Baker Knight, including covers of Elvis Presley and Hank Williams.

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

provide vocal accompaniment. The album debuted on the ''Billboard'' Best Selling LPs chart in the issue dated February 2, 1959, remaining on the chart for 19 weeks and peaking at number 14. It debuted on the '' Cashbox'' albums chart in the issue dated January 10, 1959, and remained on the chart for in a total of 27 weeks, spending a week at number one. Five singles were released from the album: "

Lonesome Town "Lonesome Town" is a song written by Baker Knight. A version sung by Ricky Nelson became a hit single in the United States, reaching No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 15 on the R&B chart in 1958. The song was featured on his 1959 albu ...

", " It's Late", "

Never Be Anyone Else But You "Never Be Anyone Else But You" is a song written by Baker Knight and recorded by Ricky Nelson with the vocal backing of the Jordanaires. The song reached #6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #14 in the UK in 1959. It reached #3 in Norway. The so ...

", " Believe What You Say" and "Old Enough to Love". The album was released on compact disc by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

on June 19, 2001, as tracks 1 through 12 on a pairing of two albums on one disc with tracks 18 through 29 consisting of Nelson's other Imperial album from November 1959, ''

Songs by Ricky ''Songs by Ricky'' is the fourth album by Ricky Nelson, released in November 1959 by Imperial Records. The Jordanaires provide vocal accompaniment, the last Nelson album on which they do so. It contains songs from the Burnettes, Baker Knight, and ...

''.

Bear Family Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging primarily in country music but varying in everything from 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History T ...

included the album in the 2001 ''The American Dream'' box set. ''Ricky Sings Again'' was included in a box set entitled ''Four Classic Albums Plus Box Set,'' which contains all 4 of his studio albums, and was released on July 1, 2016''.''

Reception

William Ruhlmann of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said that the album showed off Nelson's "much more confident vocals" but with more original songs and fewer covers, he "still sounded like a carbon copy of his betters." Ruhlmann concludes that ''Ricky Sings Again'' "did not live up to his star status." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' notes "Nelson packs plenty of heart and sales savvy into his rendition of a group of teen-appeal tunes". '' Cashbox'' described the songs from the album as "uptempo and ballad beat Nelson sessions". ''Variety'' menitons "it pegged for the younger set with titles such as "Old Engough to Love", "Restless Kid", and "You Tear Me Up" Gary Graff, & Daniel Durchholz of ''

MusicHound MusicHound (often stylized as musicHound) was a compiler of genre-specific music guides published in the United States by Visible Ink Press between 1996 and 2002. After publishing eleven album guides, the MusicHound series was sold to London-based ...

'' described the album as "one of the great, unheralded rock 'n' roll albums of the '50s"

Reception

Track listing

Side one

Side two

Charts

Album

Singles

References