TRACK LIST:
| Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel) | 2:24 | ||
| Borne On The Wind | 2:51 | ||
| Pretty One | 2:17 | ||
| Indian Wedding | 3:03 | ||
| Blue Avenue | 2:19 | ||
| Workin’ For The Man | 2:25 | ||
| The Crowd | 2:22 | ||
| Blue Bayou | 2:29 | ||
| I’ll Say It’s My Fault | 2:20 | ||
| Oh, Pretty Woman | 2:56 |
TRACK LIST:
| Only the Lonely Written-By – Melson*, Orbison* | 2:25 | ||
| A2 | Leah Written-By – Orbison | 2:43 | |
| A3 | In Dreams Written-By – Orbison | 2:51 | |
| A4 | Uptown Written-By – Orbison | 2:07 | |
| A5 | It’s Over Written-By – Dees*, Orbison | 2:49 | |
| A6 | Crying Written-By – Melson*, Orbison | 2:45 | |
| A7 | Dream Baby Written-By – C. Walker* | 2:44 | |
| A8 | Blue Ange lWritten-By – Melson*, Orbison | 2:45 | |
| A9 | Working For The Man Written-By – Orbison | 2:39 | |
| A10 | Candy Man Written-By – R. Neal | 2:56 | |
| B1 | Running Scared Written-By – Melson*, Orbison | 2:10 | |
| B2 | Falling Written-By – Orbison | 2:22 | |
| B3 | Claudette Written-By – Orbison | 2:30 | |
| B4 | Ooby Dooby Written-By – D. Penner*, W. Moors | 2:20 | |
| B5 | I’m Hurting Written-By – Melson*, Orbison | 2:44 | |
| B6 | Mean Woman Blues Written-By – C. De Metrius | 2:23 | |
| B7 | Lana Written-By – Melson*, Orbison | 2:45 | |
| B8 | Blue Bayou Written-By – Melson*, Orbison | 2:47 | |
| B9 | Oh, Pretty Woman Written-By – Dees*, Orbison | 3:00 |
- Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Dean Parks
- Art Direction – Bob Wynne
- Backing Vocals – Gene Morford, Jim Haas, Joe Chemay, Jon Joyce, Linda Dillard, Rita Coolidge
- Backing Vocals, Directed By [Vocal Director] – Carol Parks
- Bass – Dennis Belfield
- Drums – Paul Leim
- Electric Guitar – Roy Orbison (tracks: B4)
- Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Arthur Kelm
- Engineer [Assistant] – Duane Seykora, Julie Last
- Harmonica – Tommy Morgan
- Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Roy Orbison
- Photography By [Cover] – Peter Darley Miller
- Producer, Arranged By, Keyboards – Michael Utley
- Programmed By [Synthesizer Programming] – Robert Irving
- Recorded By, Mixed By – Richard Bosworth
- Saxophone [Saxaphones] – David Woodford
- Strings – Sid Page
I was in the mood to listen to Roy Orbison and I dug out these two collections that have some overlap but with some differences.
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) sang songs that were described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames “The Caruso of Rock” and “The Big O.” Roy Orbison performed while standing motionless and wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses, which he wore to counter his shyness and stage fright.
It’s amazing that 22 of Orbison’s singles reached the Billboard Top 40. He wrote most of those songs. In 1988, Orbison co-founded the Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. Orbison died of a heart attack in December 1988 at age 52. One month later, his song “You Got It” (1989) was released as a solo single, becoming his first hit to reach the US & UK Top 10 in nearly 25 years. Are you a Roy Orbison fan? Any favorite songs? GRADE: A (for both)
Great distinctive voice. Especially like Pretty Woman, Blue Bayou and Crying.
Steve, I knew Roy Orbison wrote songs…but I didn’t realize how many!
My favorite Orbison song is the ethereal “Blue Angel”, but I like many of his other songs including “She’s A Mystery” which was a late-career hit written & produced with U2’s Bono. Orbison had a tragic life (including losing two children in a house fire), and I’m glad he had a 1980s presurgence with the Wilburys and the aforementioned collaboration with Bono. If you get a chance, check out Orbison’s Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame concert with Springsteen, Elvis Costello, JD Souther (whose 1970s hit, “You’re Only Lonely”, is an obvious homage to “Only the Lonely”), and many others. Great stuff!
Resurgence. What the hell is presurgence??
Deb, welcome to my world of having WORDPRESS change my words without permission all the time!
Deb, great stuff indeed! I have JD Souther’s re-released first album on order–a 50 year Anniversary edition. I enjoyed Orbison’s work with the Wilburys. Yes, Orbison endured a lot of tragedy…and died young.
In the Fifties and pre-British Invasion Sixties there was nobody I liked more than Orbison–not Elvis or Buddy Holly or the Everlys or Jerry Lee Lewis–just name anyone. Then he seemed to fade out for a while only to emerge again in the Eighties with that great scene in David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET where Dean Stockwell lip syncs one of his greatest songs, “In Dreams”. Shortly thereafter came a resurgence of fame with the Traveling Wilburys. There’s nobody who started out in the Fifties that I still listen to more often.
Michael, I bought Roy Orbison’s albums in the 1960s and played them often. In the 1980s, I bought Orbison CDs and loved them. And, listening to these two greatest hits CDs brought all that wonderful music I grew up listening back into focus!
How can anyone not be a Roy Orbison fan? Everything he did was pure gold, with the singular exception of THE FASTEST GUITAR ALIVE.
Jerry, Bill Crider loved Roy Orbison and we would occasionally debate which was Orbison’s Greatest Song. But, in the end, we loved Orbison’s body of work. Great songs by a great performer! Pure gold indeed!
All respect to Jerry, I even like THE FASTEST GUITAR ALIVE, the poster child for mid-’60s, low-budget, drive-in-destined camp. And Sam the Sham Samudio in a bit role!
Fred, between your and Jerry’s comments…I’m going to have to watch THE FASTEST GUITAR ALIVE!
I’m with Jerry. Who doesn’t like Roy Orbison???
My favorite is Crying, followed closely by Blue Bayou, Only the Lonely, and Pretty Woman.
My favourites are the same as Beth’s.
And I remember hearing a Wilburys’ song and Thinking:
Who is this?
Sounds like Roy???
When I found out immediately bought the Traveling W. record.
I think the concert that Beth mentions is Black and White Night, lots of the songs (in black and white pictures) available on youtube – great!
Wolf, love BLACK AND WHITE NIGHT! Here’s my review: http://georgekelley.org/black-white-night-with-roy-orbison-and-friends-deluxe-edition/
George, I really should try to read all your postings here from the time before I discovered your blog – but there just isn’t enough time …
I’m already spending many hours a day in front of my laptop.
Wolf, I know the feeling…
Beth, I totally agree with you! Roy Orbison was a unique singer and songwriter!
Let me put in one vote for a great song no one has mentioned, which to me is a quintessential Orbison song, “It’s Over.” EVer since we’ve beomce fans of The Mavericks, I keep wishing to have heard Roy do “I Should Have Been True” by them.
We saw Roy in concert at the Pier on the West Side of Manhattan on July 27 1988 (opening act: Southside Johnny), a little over four months before he died. He was absolutely great, did every song and hit every note. I think Bill Crider used to put in a vote for “Ooby Dooby” (which they used to good effect in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT).
I agree with Michael about the great lip syncing scene with “In Dreams” in BLUE VELVET.
If I had to pick favorites, and I listen to his Greatest Hits and BLACK & WHITE NIGHT live concert often, I’d have to go with It’s Over, Crying, In Dreams, Blue Bayou, and Only the Lonely, plus the Wilburys’ “You Got It.”
Jeff, I agree with all of your Orbison song picks! Bill Crider loved the Big O and listened to his music on a regular basis.
Jackie said she likes the livelier, less depressing songs – Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, and Mean Woman Blues.