15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
No roy Orbison fan should be without this!, November 3, 1999
This review is from: Roy Orbison: Authorized Bootleg Collection (Audio CD)
First of all, Roy's studio recordings of the 60's were absolute marvels, production masterpieces of their time, and all time. But Roy was also no slouch live, as Black and White Night proved, once and for all. These recordings are of surprisingly good sound quality, and Roy is in good form throughout. If you're a Roy fan, don't hesitate; the price is great and it's all very listenable. Given an extra star because it's NOT overpriced. I wish the corporate giants would take note: it is not necessary to gauge the buyer on old reissues or old "found" material. You'll sell more, which means in the long run, make more. Get it?
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
reasonably priced. reasonably worth it., April 3, 2002
This review is from: Roy Orbison: Authorized Bootleg Collection (Audio CD)
i was leary of this set. if you look at the track listing, you'll notice that there's is an awful lot of repeated material. if you read between the lines, the boxed set warns you of this, boasting that each concert contains "all of orbison's biggest hits," and it is the case that just over half of each cd is repeated material. with boxed sets, i usually like to go disc-by-disc and discuss the merits and flaws of each one, but that seems sort of unnecessary here. suffice to say, there are a few things to keep in mind with this set:
first of all, keep in mind that these are "authorized BOOTLEGS", which means that the recordings don't have the most exceptional sound quality. this is the time when having bought that really nice stereo is going to pay off. listening to these bootlegs through a nice big set of speakers with an equalizer and whatnot is going to buy you some extra quality that just isn't there when you're listening through three inch computer speakers (as i'm doing now). that being said, only one of the shows sounds certifiably dreadful (the 1980 show at Stockton) and that is forgivable since there's another disc in the set from the very same year. oddly, the two earlier shows ('69 and '75) are best sounding, though logic dictates that advances in bootleg technology would happen the same way that advances in everything else does.
secondly, remember that roy's songs were - typically - heavy on string arrangements that it would have been difficult to duplicate in a live show. the two 1980 concerts feature some lame keyboard parts, but the hokey electronics aren't really overpowering and are easy to look past. for the most part, the arrangements relied on a couple of guitars, bass, piano, and drums. consequently, the songs always sound much more stripped down to their bones than the studio recordings. this isn't a bad thing, necessarily, but one could argue that the "orbison sound" was indebted to those heavy, dramatic, orchestral arrangements, and that the songs lack some of their majesty when played as a five-piece.
thirdly, as mentioned before, look at the track listing. EVERY disc contains "only the lonely". every one contains "pretty woman". every one has "crying". you may or may not think that you need that many versions of the same songs, especially since orbison's delivery of them rarely deviates (in form or quality). ask yourself, "will i listen to 'candyman' over and over again, or is this maybe just a little excessive?"
fourth, orbison was a steady performer, but not terribly charismatic. furthermore, his music didn't lend itself to wild eyed pandamonium or frantic rock and roll shenanigans. he performs every show with a kind of austere dignity, never giving a bad performance, but also never getting too caught up in the songs that he's singing.
fifth, the liner notes here are sparse, but adequate. each disc contains a little bit of information about the particular show, but nothing to involved about orbison's life, or why his live performances were unique or special. that being said, the set is lovingly packaged, with unifying artwork and design between each individual disc. it's obvious that this set - packaged and distributed by the orbison estate - was designed to look professional and respectful of an artist of orbison's caliber (unlike the 4-disc "Legendary Roy Orbison" set which sony carelessly assembled and tossed off without interest an interest in orbison's legacy).
finally there's the price. this is where the set is absolved of all of it's flaws. amazon claims that the set lists for something like [price], but i found my copy at a national chain store ... for [price], which means that even if there were only two discs worth of listenable material, i'd still only be paying about [price] per cd, which is pretty normal. my only real complaint about the purchase was that the earliest show was from '69, and that there were two shows from '80. i would've preferred something more varied: after all, that's only 11 years for a man whose career was practically three times as long as that.
dedicated orbison fans shouldn't miss this one. he was pop's master balladeer, and he's always in exquisite form here, even when the other factors (recording quality, repetition of material, etc.) don't do him justice. there was never a singer like him before, and there hasn't been once since.
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