| Cover: | Songs by Ricky.jpg |
| Songs by Ricky | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Ricky Nelson |
| Released: | November 1959 |
| Genre: |
|
| Length: | 32:24 |
| Label: | Imperial |
| Producer: | Charles "Bud" Dant |
| Prev Title: | Ricky Sings Again |
| Prev Year: | 1959 |
| Year: | 1959 |
| Next Title: | Ricky Sings Spirituals |
| Next Year: | 1960 |
| Chronology: | Ricky Nelson |
Songs by Ricky is the fourth rock and roll album by Ricky Nelson, released in November 1959. The Jordanaires provide vocal accompaniment, the last Nelson album on which they do so. it features a group of songs from The Burnettes, Baker Knight, & His Uncle Don Nelson.[1] Jimmie Haskell was the arranger, and Charles "Bud" Dant produced the album.
The album debuted on the Billboard Best Selling LPs chart in the issue dated September 29, 1959, remaining on the chart for 26 weeks and peaking at number 22. It reached No. 9 on the Cashbox albums chart during a 19-week stay on the chart. Successful singles from the album include "Just a Little Too Much" and "Sweeter Than You", both of which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. They reached numbers 11 and 18, respectively, on the Cashbox Singles Chart and peaked at numbers 11 and 65 in the UK[2]
The album was released on compact disc by Capitol Records on June 19, 2001, as tracks 18 through 29 on a pairing of two albums on one disc with tracks 1 through 12 consisting of Nelson's other Imperial album from January 1959, Ricky Sings Again.[3] Bear Family included also the album in the 2001 The American Dream box set.[4]
Variety notes "Nelson has a pleasnt set of pipes which he uses well within the relatively norrow vocal and emotional range of songs"[5], Cashbox gave the album a postive reviews, describing the album as a "Great teen merchandise"[6]
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic thought "The result was a consistent record by a writing and performing team at the peak of its powers, everyone contributing to an overall sound that was a rhythmic, smooth development on the kind of raw rockabilly invented in Memphis by the original artists at Sun Records. and Nelson had turned into a supple vocalist with a sure sense of the material."
| Chart (1959) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Best Selling LPs (Billboard)[7] | 22 | |
| U.S. Cashbox[8] | 9 |
| Year | Title | U.S. Hot 100[9] [10] | U.S. Cashbox[11] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | "Just a Little Too Much" | 9 | 11 |
| "Sweeter Than You | 18 | ||
| 1963 | "That's All" | 48 | 53 |
| "A Long Vaction | 120 | 107 |