Review: '80s Rockers Nelson Release Career Spanning Compilation

Nelson released their Greatest Hits (And Near Misses) album on July 8^th. The album is a compilation of songs spanning their 30-year career. It is the first to include songs from both the Stone Canyon Records and Geffen record labels.

“This is the very first time in history that we have been able to deliver a comprehensive career-spanning collection of NELSON’s most shining moments,” says Gunnar “Now that our own Stone Canyon Records label has officially joined forces with Universal, we can finally pull out all the stops. Start to finish, this is an album that we’re truly proud of… and the very first thing any music fan should pick up if they ever wondered what NELSON is all about.”

My teen years were in the early ’70s and ’80s but I grew up listening to music from the ’50s and ’60 by artists like the Beatles, Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Elvis and other greats. However, my favorite musical artist pre-Beatles was Rick Nelson.

Some events are so impactful they stick with you forever. New Year’s Eve 1985 was a dark day. That evening news broke that Rick Nelson had died in a plane crash in Texas. It had been less than a year since I sat in the front row of his concert at the Macomb Community Center just outside Detroit. I was in total shock that one of my heroes was gone. It was the same feeling I felt five years earlier when Howard Cosell announced during Monday Night Football that John Lennon had been shot.

The following month was the first time most of the country saw Rick Nelson’s twin sons Gunnar and Matthew Nelson perform. It was at the 1986 American Music Awards on Jan. 27 during which they paid tribute to their father and performed an acoustic version of the song “Be Still” which has stuck with me to this day. Four years later Gunnar and Matthew, now known as Nelson burst on to the music scene with their smash album, After The Rain. The album went on to sell over two million copies and spawned four top 40 hits including the number one song “Love and Affection”.

After their debut album, Nelson toured extensively but seemed to disappear from the airwaves. It was another five years before their follow up album, Because They Can, was released. The album never gained the same traction as their debut and the band lost momentum. Over the next two decades they released several albums on their own label, Stone Canyon Records none of which charted.

Greatest Hits (And Near Misses) is an opportunity for fans of Nelson who lost touch to reconnect with the band. There are songs from After The Rain including “Love and Affection”, “After the Rain”, “More Than Ever”, “Only Time Can Tell”, and “I Can Hardly Wait” which most fans are familiar. Also included are “(You Got Me) All Shook Up,” “Won’t Walk Away,” and “Cross My Broken Heart” from Because They Can.

The real value however are the remaining tracks on the album. There is very little separation in quality between these songs and the ones from After The Rain. “Two Heads Are Better Than One” is from the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure soundtrack. The track pre-dates After The Rain and was credited to Power Tool because Geffen wanted After The Rain to be the first music people heard from Nelson.

“What About Me?” from their Brother Harmony album is a country song that would have been a perfect fit for one of their father’s late ‘60s or early ‘70s albums. If you close your eyes and listen, it’s easy to visualize Rick singing the song.

Three tracks from the 2010’s Lightning Strikes Twice, “Take Me There,” “You’re All I Need Tonight” and “Call Me”, possess that classic ‘80s rock sound that drew fans to the band twenty years before.

“Keep One Heart” is a new acoustic version of the song which appeared on the Perfect Storm live album. The mellow acoustic style is a better fit for the song than its previous rock version. One of the rarer songs on the album is “Too Many Dreams” which had previously only been officially available in 1991 Japan as a single and as an After The Rain (Japanese Edition) bonus track.

“I know that saying, ‘having a Greatest Hits record is a dream come true’ sounds trite, but in this case, it’s totally accurate,” describes Gunnar. “I’m just another songwriter/artist whose dream of having a Greatest Hits record one day began in earnest at the age of 6. I truly love music, and I never rest until my work is the very best that it can be. Out of respect for my fellow music lovers and my musical mentors, I’ve always put everything I have into the songs that I hope will turn into the soundtrack of peoples’ lives. I am SO proud of this Greatest Hits record, and all of the blood, sweat, and tears that it took through the decades to bring it to you now. It is the very best of the best that I have to give you.”

It can be easy to get left behind in the music industry with the constant influx of new artists and evolving musical styles. This was particularly true in the ’80s and ’90s. There were no streaming services. No social media to promote yourself. It was all about MTV, getting airplay on the radio, and promotion by the label. I wonder what Nelson’s career trajectory would have been if their follow-up to After the Rain would have been released in 1992 instead of 1995. This album shows the music was always there, but the band just couldn’t seem to regain the momentum lost in those five years.

This is an album that warrants a listen by anyone that was a fan of the glam rock and hair bands of the ’80s. It spotlights some of Nelson’s lesser-known work that may be new to a lot of fans. This is only a small sample however from the band’s ten studio albums. Hopefully this will motivate people to check out all their albums in their entirety. There is a link on Nelson’s website to all the band’s music.

Greatest Hits (and Near Misses) can be streamed or purchased here.

Tracklist