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.