Perspective

Perspective is the seventeenth studio album by American singer Ricky 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. Like Nelson's prior album Another Side of Rick, it was produced by John Boylan. Boylan selected a number of contemporary songs for the album, including four by Randy Newman, who was not yet a well known songwriter. 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's overproduced style, he credits the album with clarifying his future musical direction. "Perspective with those songs was a complete experiment and those Steve Miller type sound effects between tracks were my idea.... I'm not sorry I did those things because, if anything, it made up my mind as to the way I wanted to go... I just simplified the whole thing and went back to the formula of drums, bass, and guitar. That's where I'd always been most effective." Track listing