Customer Reviews

Laminar Flow

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is really something different! Most people who haven't heard these songs will be shocked. This is not a good album by Roy Orbison's standards. He actually apologized for this album after it's release. I can understand why.. Roy Orbison wrote only 3 of the 11 songs. Many of the songs has a kind of disco-flavour. But this album is a must for Orbison fans and for those who want to collect albums by one of rock's greatest...

Kjetil Hansen NORWAY

Is the cd "Laminar Flow" as bad as people say. In my opion I don't think it is. Sure, it isn't Roy's best work coming less than two yrs after his triple by pass, the cd has it's Flaw's. But it also has some great songs on, for instance the beautiful tribute to Elvis-"Hound Dog Man".There are 4 great ballads on as well- "Poor Baby", "Tears", "Love Is A Cold Wind" and "Easy Way Out". "Movin'" & "Friday Night" are two rockin' tunes. While the flaws are in "Warm Hot Spot ", "Lay It Down " & "We're Into Something Good". Of cource the tunes don't match upto Roy's Monument tunes but so what, the fact is that as Roy fans we should be grateful that Elektra have reissued the disc unlike the "I'm Still In Love With You"cd which is longer avabile, this one is. I would recommended people to purchase the disc not only because who knows when it will be deleatd but because Roy recorded it for us fans and there though we should take the disc to keep his memory alive.

Yes, this album can't compare to his early 60's work with Monument. Almost nothing, short of Mystery Girl, would compare with his greatest hits. This album, though, has a lot of good songs on it and remains an album I carry around on my iPod, along with his greatest hits. My favorites are Easy Way Out, Lay It Down and Tears. Orbison said in an interview he felt the album was unfinished to some extent, and it was recorded very close to the time he was recovering from the bypass. So while I understand the other reviewers' "take" on this album, I am not ready to say it was completely without merit. On the contrary, it is probably better than the many "cover" albums he recorded with MGM, even though those, too, had many fine songs on them. Somehow RO doing "Help Me, Rhonda," however, never quite registered high on a scale of songs I'd want the Big O to do!

I really do not understand the reviews about this not being a good CD. It shows Roy Orbison ready to get back to work after all his health issues and that he could still churn out a good song and his voice was intact. Hound Dog Man is the song that stands out on this set and worth the price of the whole cd. He performed this song at his concerts right up to the end. I feel lucky enough enough to have seen Roy one last time about 2 months before his passing and the show was fantastic.

This album is many years removed from the string of great 45s (and, truth be told, spottier LPs) that Roy Orbison released in the '50s and '60s, not only chronologically, but also in content. Which, here, can only be described as wretched. There cannot be any question that this represents the nadir of Orbison's recorded career. Though his mid '70s efforts for Monument were nothing to write home about, at least they remained several steps above dismal. This does not. Roy was in the midst of recovery from a heart attack when this was recorded, and one has trouble imagining what might have "inspired" him to hop back on the recording track for this dreck. Bad songs, lousy performances, hideous cover photo. This album manages to do just about everything wrong. Why Elektra chose to put this one back into print when so many classic early Elektra titles remain unavailable on CD is anyone's guess.

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