Graham Reid | | <1 min read
It goes without saying, surely, that everyone should own some cornestone Roy Orbison songs, if not the excellent Monument Years box set.
Orbison was a genius when it came to conveying pain, hurt and even self-pity (but without the lachrymose overkill of someone like Johnny Ray).
Orbison's hurts were mature and deep, but also just below the surface. And with his dramatic voice he conveyed them like few others.
"Roy Orbison singing for the lonely", as Springsteen so aptly put it.
This non-chronological 24-song collection scoops up hits from the Fifites through to his career resurrection with the Traveling Wilburys.
It's a fair swathe of Roy, but then again you can never really get too much.
Here's your starter course anyway.
Have tissues handy.
And why do we mention it now?
Not because he has been dead almost 30 years (really, almost 30 years?) but because this disc is one of an absurdly cheap deal at JB Hi-Fi stores right now.
You can pick this up and something else (the Flashdance soundtrack; the best of Hall and Oates, Aerosmith or Elton John etc) for just $15.
Now that is a Bargain Buy!
Graham Dunster - Oct 10, 2017
Had the pleasure of a free Roy Orbison tribute singer in the local SE London curry house on a recent visit. (First Tuesday of every month - the second act was 'Cher', very enthusiastic.) The wig was better than the singing, but interesting to note that there is a market big enough to support such a thing. GRAHAM REPLIES: I saw an excellent English guy do Roy here (he opened for a very mediocre Beatles tribute band, noit a patch on the Bootleg Beatles. I spent time once with a Neil Diamond, Tina Turner and Rod Stewart show backstage, winners of that Stars is Their Eyes show.
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