Review: Orbison box set is beautiful compilation

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BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star

There won’t be a better, more deserved or more important boxed set this year than “Roy Orbison: The Soul of Rock And Roll.”

Orbison, who was just 52 when he died in 1988, had THE voice in rock ’n’ roll: operatic, but possessed with a haunting, almost unearthly quality that has been imitated (see Isaak, Chris) but never equaled. But he, especially early on, was an underrated guitarist and was always a great songwriter.

Lovingly assembled by Barbara, Roy’s wife the last two decades of his life, and their son Roy Jr., the four-disc, 107-song set covers Orbison’s career from his first recording in 1955 to a live version of “It’s Over” from his final concert.

The set opens with his 1955 recording of “Ooby Dooby” back when he was living in Wink, Texas, and playing with his band, The Teen Kings. Then came his move to Memphis and Sun Records, where he was the last big star to come through Sam Phillips’ studio.

The disc, packed with 32 songs, shows Orbison to be every bit as good a rockabilly artist as any who worked with Phillips, which includes Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. A set of demos and a guitar pull display his songwriting and playing in the most intimate form.

The most touching of the latter is the demo of “Claudette,” the song about Roy’s first love that was turned into a hit by the Everly Brothers. Claudette was killed in car accident, the first of many personal tragedies to befall Orbison, who also lost two sons in a fire.

Disc two of the set finds Orbison at his early ’60s zenith with great song followed by great song; “Only The Lonely,” “In Dreams,” “Running Scared,” “Blue Bayou,” “Crying,” “All I Have To Do Is Dream” were the big hits. But the remainder of the cuts, from “Love Hurts” and “Falling” to “Pretty Paper,” were just as good and make for 75 minutes of incomparable listening: romantic and heartbroken soaring ballads almost seamlessly connecting one into the other.

The third disc contains Orbison’s most enduring song, “Oh, Pretty Woman.” But it is also filled with songs he recorded for MGM as he slipped away from the charts in the 1970s while raising his family and touring.

However, live covers of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say” and Chris Kenner’s “Land of 1,000 Dances” with “Working For The Man,” a song from disc two that echoes Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang,” make the title of the set: “The Soul Of Rock And Roll”

Disc four gorgeously captures Orbison’s ’80s renaissance. His operatic voice fit ’80s production styles beautifully, and he never sang better than he did on songs like “In Dreams” and his “Crying” duet with k.d. lang.

Rockers who grew up on Roy’s music joined him on “A Black and White Night,” a killer televised concert from which “All I Can Do Is Dream You” and the set’s third  runthrough of “Oh, Pretty Woman” are included — this one with Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and James Burton on guitars and Tom Waits on organ. And “Not Alone Any More” represents his collaboration with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and George Harrison in the Traveling Wilburys.

“Roy Orbison: The Soul Of Rock And Roll” contains 12 previously unreleased songs. They alone aren’t worth the hefty boxed-set price. But the whole package certainly is.

“Roy Orbison: The Soul Of Rock And Roll” comes in a white linen box adorned with a black image of Roy playing guitar, his trademark sunglasses and jet black hair. To forever dash a misconception, Roy was not blind.

It’s hard to believe Orbison has been dead for 20 years. That means an entire generation has already missed him. But his songs endure, both in his versions and in covers.

For those who grew up in the ’50s through the ’80s and loved his music, “Roy Orbison: The Soul Of Rock And Roll” is a must-have set. But just as important, it is the comprehensive retrospective that will introduce generation after generation to one of the greats of post-World War II popular music.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.