Jerry Fuller Teenage Love - A Golden Classics Edition

Personnel: Jerry Fuller (vocals).

Liner Note Author: Mark Marymont.

Jerry Fuller is remembered as the songwriter behind big hits like Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man" and Gary Puckett & the Union Gap's "Young Girl," but as a recording artist he made several minor hits over a span of three decades. Teenage Love is a reissue of Fuller's 1960 album for the Lin label, with his four Challenge hits from 1959-1961 added as bonus tracks. Fuller's biggest pop hit was a teenybopper remake of "Tennessee Waltz" in 4/4 time, and even that came nowhere close to the Top 40. The Lin album tracks are, with a couple of exceptions, mild rockers and teen ballads comparable in style to Ricky Nelson, while the Challenge singles are more overtly imitative, from the Bobby Vee sound-alike "Shy Away" to the Sam Cooke-influenced "Guilty of Loving You." Teenage Love is an interesting footnote to the career of a successful songwriter and producer, custom-made for the most dedicated collectors of early rock & roll ephemera. ~ Greg Adams