Tuesday 9 January 2018

Roy Orbison




When I was a teenager I had lots of lovely LPs with their beautiful covers and one of my favourite singers was Roy Orbison. I was lucky enough to see him a few times and probably the most memorable time was October 1963 at the City Hall in Newcastle when he appeared with the Beatles. We had bought the tickets to see Roy Orbison but by the time the concert came around the Beatles had risen to great fame.

I loved the Beatles & their performance was great, well what you could hear of it. The girls were screaming and jumping on their seats but still I enjoyed the experience.  However when Roy Orbison sang you could a pin drop. The audience just sat throughout his performance watching & listening. It was on that tour that he struck up the friendship with The Beatles which lasted & he eventually joined the Travelling Wilbury's with George Harrison.

Well I bought a Roy Orbison CD quite a long time ago which I have enjoyed but recently I haven't been listening to much music other than on the car radio. A few weeks before Christmas I was driving along listening to Radio 2 (I abandoned Radio 1 a long time ago, you do as you get older) and I heard Roy Orbison singing I Drove All Night but there was something different about the recording. The magnificent voice was the same but there was a longer orchestral introduction and the background music was much better than I remembered. It was from a new recording of Roy Orbison songs on a CD, A Love So Beautiful, produced with Roy Orbison's sons and featuring the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra. I remembered they had made a record last year with Elvis' songs which was really good. They've made a brilliant job of this one too with all my favourite songs. Strangely enough I Drove All Night wasn't one of my favourites but it is now.

So the CD was my Christmas present and a fantastic one it is too. The orchestra doesn't overpower the wonderful singing it just adds another layer to it and really enhances all the songs. I love it and I bet Roy Orbison would have too.

What I'm not so sure about is the holographic tour they are doing. I think it would be lovely to see him again performing with the orchestra but I'm not so sure how I would feel afterwards knowing it wasn't real. It's thirty years since he died and maybe it would be quite upsetting, almost like going back in time to when you were a teenager and then suddenly you're back to the present and ancient!


7 comments:

  1. I too enjoy listening to Roy Orbison, he lived with his wife five miles down the road from our home.
    He had a lovely personality, and it was a great loss when he passed away.
    The album looks like a great one, with the Royal Philharmonic no less :)
    Happy New Year Winifred !
    Hugs,
    ~Jo

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    1. Happy New Year to you & ypur family Jo. How amazing that he lived so close to you. He seemed a lovely person not the usual rock star type and it was so sad that he died so young. His music was great and has stood the test of time, what a composer & performer he was.

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  2. I love Roy Orbison's early rockabilly tracks, and do love some of his later tracks too. I'm a massive Elvis fan, but I have to admit I don't really enjoy the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's versions of his hits. This year they released an album of all Elvis's Christmas tracks and gospel songs and I just don't feel they work as as the originals. They all sound a bit cluttered. Saying that, I think I Drove all Night works quite well.

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    1. I can understand that. I have to say that I Drove all Night is probably the best track on the new CD as I said it wasn't one of my favourites but I do enjoy the newer version, it much more dramatic. The other songs don't seem quite so different.
      I used to be a great Elvis fan but not so much his earlier stuff, it was Cliff & The Shadows I liked better. However I loved the stuff he did from GI Blues onwards. I still have the original GI Blues LP. Gorgeous! I really miss having such great tangible stuf we got with LPs. I didn't buy the Elvis & the Philarmonic for some reason. Might have a look for it to check it out.
      Hope you are well on the road to recovery.

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    2. GI Blues is one of my favourite albums of his from the movies, and didn't he look handsome at that time too!

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  3. Love this so much. Roy Orbison was a favorite of mine. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Roy Orbison had a fantastic voice. If I had to pick a favorite song of his, it would be "California Blue"

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