Say Something Interesting about: Roy Orbison

"Blue Bayou" is a force of nature.

Well...how do I say this...I find him kind of overrated in a way. I like him, I stupidly let go of this great Monument 2-LP set of his hits a while back and now I wish I had not. But my taste does not run to that particular style of singing and record-making. I like "Uptown" and "Running Scared" fine, "Pretty Woman" is one of the all-time riffs, etc. The thing I find interesting is that he really wasn't all that popular in his heyday, he was rediscovered later on. For whatever reason he doesn't move me; he sings great but it's not something I put on, you know. One of my literature teachers at the U. of Tenn. in Knoxville, Dick Penner, co-wrote "Ooby Dooby" and after I mentioned this to him I got even better grades. The Big O is someone I probably need to go back to and re-assess, he's one of the few Founding Rock Daddies I just don't quite get.

Yeah, I'm with that. I always thought "You Got It" was striking for being on a continuum with the earlier hits that worked just fine on radio and elsewhere. Still does.

Search: "Life Fades Away," from the 'Less Than Zero' soundtrack. He cowrote it with Danzig. Great one.

George Harrison said that Roy was deeply conversant with the work of Monty Python. I love that.

Two of my favorite things about Roy, these. ("Life Fades Away" is really great and I'm wondering if it was ever anthologized properly, as otherwise I guess it would be missed.)

now that's bizarre. {insert dan perry-esque quip here}

Same here. Still.

"THE DARK ELVIS!!"

...........Chuck E. don't like him much though.

I think I'm right in saying he was much more popular in the UK than the USA? Or he had hits for a longer period in the UK?

Anyway, y'all should rent this unexpectedly terrific documentary called Roy Orbison: In Dreams, released in 2003, featuring rather good interviews with Robert Plant, Jeff Lynne, Emmylou Harris, and a surprisingly un-twat-ish Bono, among others. The last 15 minutes, as the Mystery Girl-Traveling Wilburys triumphs approach, is so wonderful and sad that I had to pause the DVD. I forgot how much great stuff he recorded before he died: the k.d. lang remake of "Crying," the Danzig collab, "You Got It."

Fuck Johnny Cash -- he was the only artist who could have made one of those Rick Rubin album-length collabs work.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the fact that half the music business seemed to be behind him, determined to give him a hit.

-- scott seward (skotro...), March 26th, 2006. (scott seward)

That is interesting though - just by sheer odds it seems impossible.

He's part of the best anagram ever :

The Traveling Wilburys: Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison

An angry jew, the Beatle, blond boy, sorry prat in ELO, stiff guy, in short: very boring old men

Funny how they never managed to make a decent song after Big Roy's passing though.

YOU GOT IT

Is there any better sounding echo than on Roy Orbison's early 60s hits? I'm not familiar with music terms so I don't know if you would exactly call it "echo", but what I'm talkin about is the sound of his voice specifically on "In Dreams" when he starts singing "I close my eyes and drift away...". God I love that song.

reverb, I imagine

and yeah, it's pretty much the best reverb

He wore those big sunnies 'cause he was shy.

album recommendations?

The original In Dreams if you mean non-compilations.

The two-disc comp released a few years ago collects a lot of worthwhile one-off tracks from various eighties soundtracks ("Wild Hearts Run Out of Time," "Life Fades Away"), but the track list is frustratingly out of sequence.

There's a new 4xCD set called The Soul of Rock and Roll. It's out next month and it's very good.

does Roy Orbison join Al Green as the artist with universal ILE acclaim?

I like him a lot more than I do like Al Green. Al Green is, well, OK, but not at all up there with peers such as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Roy Orbison was one of the very few great pre-Beatles acts.

As for original albums, I guess "Crying" may be the most essential. The title track in particular, but also contains "Running Scared" among others.

Generally, original albums by pre-Beatles acts are not really recommended though. They were typical singles acts and should be treated as such. Also the case with Orbison.

Thanks for the education.

Had a look at the tracklisting for the box set - no "Southbound Jericho Parkway," no "definitive" I'm afraid.