| Perspective | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Rick Nelson |
| Cover: | Perspective (Rick Nelson album).JPG |
| Released: | February 2, 1969 |
| Genre: |
|
| Length: | 30:56 |
| Label: | Decca |
| Producer: | John Boylan |
| Prev Title: | Another Side of Rick |
| Prev Year: | 1967 |
| Next Title: | In Concert at the Troubadour, 1969 |
| Next Year: | 1970 |
Perspective is the eighteenth studio album by American singer Rick Nelson, and his eleventh for Decca Records.
The album was a departure from Nelson's previous rockabilly records and an experiment in a more contemporary orchestral style.[1] Like Nelson's prior album Another Side of Rick, it was produced by John Boylan.[2] Boylan selected a number of contemporary songs for the album, including four by Randy Newman, who was not yet a well known songwriter.[3] He also contributed two of his own songs, while Nelson's wife Kris performed vocals on "Hello to the Wind" (a joint Boylan/Nelson composition) and supplied album artwork. The album was recorded in California in 1968, Nelson's only recording that year. It was not released until nearly a year later.
Neither of the two Boylan-produced albums were a commercial success. Although Nelson grew to dislike Perspective
Richie Unterberger of AllMusic said that "Nelson did have good taste in selecting material, covering songs by Paul Simon, Richie Havens, Harry Nilsson, and Randy Newman, all of whom (except Simon) were little known by most of the public in 1967; indeed, Nelson covers five Newman songs in a row to end the album, creating the effect of an aborted "Nelson Sings Newman" concept record.
Historian John Einarson stated that Nelson's albums "Perspective and Another Side of Rick embraced both folk and pop, with covers of Eric Andersen, Nilsson, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman. The eclectic choices reveal an artist still searching for a style that would reconcile his past and give him a future."[4]
. Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock. John Einarson. 2001. Cooper Square Press. 9781461607335.