Another Side of Rick

By 1967, Nelson's records were out of step with contemporary trends and no longer selling. So why not, someone must have reasoned, try to put Nelson in step with contemporary trends? It was about as good a strategy as any, considering his tried-and-true rock-a-ballad format wasn't working. But giving him fruity psychedelic Baroque production wasn't the answer, either, indeed yielding rather embarrassing results. Nelson showed good taste by covering three Tim Hardin songs, but producer John Boylan's five songs (one co-written with Nelson) not only weren't that good, they weren't a good match for the vocalist. Nelson wasn't totally blameless, penning one of the album's crummiest songs, the overdone pop-psychedelic "Marshmallow Skies," with James Burton. At one point during the cover of "Georgia on My Mind," the musicians suddenly slip into double-time, as if they can't wait to get the obviously doomed-to-failure album over with.