Ricky Nelson - Sings Rare Tracks (1995)

A mysterious, and quite possibly unauthorized, CD release of 23 hard-to-find tracks from Nelson's early career. It's actually debatable how "rare" some of these items are; there are seven songs from his 1962 LP Album Seven By Rick, which made the Top 30 and can probably still be found today without breaking a leg. For those who want some more Rick than the greatest-hits collections offer, this does have the three fairly unremarkable tracks he released on Verve in 1957 before hooking up with Imperial, all of which were hits ("Teenagers Romance," "I'm Walking," "You're My One and Only Love"). The Album Seven cuts are respectable rockabilly-pop, and there are "single versions" of the hits "Believe What You Say" and "Be Bop Baby," although the version of "Be Bop Baby" here sounds different (and inferior) to the one you usually hear on oldies stations, and which was released by Rhino as "the single version" back in the 1980s. There are the four substandard gospel-rock outings from his rare 1960 EP Ricky Sings Spirituals, and a few more lukewarm items that, at a guess (there are no liner notes), come from the Rio Bravo soundtrack, including a couple of Dean Martin tunes (and a Nelson Riddle instrumental) with no Ricky Nelson involvement at all.