Roy Orbison: The Monument Singles Collection (2 CD/1 DVD)

Roy Orbison | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 26, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Sony Legacy
• ASIN: B004K7M6TC
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,219 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Uptown

2. Only The Lonely

3. Blue Angel

4. I'm Hurtin'

5. Running Scared

6. Lana

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Pretty One

2. Here Comes That Song Again

3. Today's Teardrops

4. I Can't Stop Loving You

5. Love Hurts

6. Summer Song

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Only the Lonely

2. Running Scared

3. Crying

4. What'd I Say

5. Dream Baby

6. Mean Woman Blues

See all 9 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Celebrating the 75th birthday year of Roy Orbison with the long-awaited release of Roy Orbison: The Monument Singles Collection. A 2 CD/1 DVD set including all the A&B sides recorded by Roy Orbison for the groundbreaking Monument label during an electrifying peak from 1959-1966. Restored to pristine mono mixes for the first time since their original 7" vinyl releases, Roy Orbison: The Monument Singles Collection presents The Big O's core classic catalog the way it's meant to sound.plus the first-ever DVD release of Orbison performing nine songs from "The Monument Concert 1965." Roy Orbison signed with the newly emerging independent label Monument Records in mid-1959. Orbison's third single for the label, "Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel)," which announced to the world the true artistry of Roy Orbison. The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and rocketed up to #1 on the UK charts.Orbison followed up the breakthrough with a pair of respectfully charting singles before knocking it out of the park with "Running Scared," his first US #1. After that came an unbroken four-year string of Top 40 hits during which Roy Orbison became America's top-selling recording artist and one of the world's most celebrated entertainers. Roy Orbison was one of the few established hit-makers from the late 1950s and early 1960s to not only hold his ground, but to actually increase his popularity in the wake of the British Invasion. He maintained his popularity through music which displayed an extraordinary variety of content, structure, tempo and rhythm and an authentic emotional connection that transcended mere craft, exemplified in his signature classic, "Oh Pretty Woman," recorded on August 1st, 1964. Written by Orbison with his new writing partner Bill Dees, "Oh Pretty Woman" became Roy's biggest hit and is one of the most immediately recognized and popular rock songs of all time. Released in August 1964 in the US and in September of that year in the UK, the song hit the #1 slot in virtually every country in the world where people had record players, selling some seven million copies that year.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sonically perfect May 2, 2011

By John A. Lindquist

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Having these songs beautifully processed in digital sound - and in mono! - is such a revelation compared to how I heard the original 45s back in my high school and college days. Roy's voice was made for this technology.

I suppose a completist/perfectionist would quibble about the order of things (why the first Monument single is the last track on each CD, why a number of songs are "out of place," what consitutes a "bonus track," etc.) - but one can go find a multiple CD player and program it according to the actual release dates of the singles. Having the original sequence (playing A, B, A, B, etc.) on this set would actually be instructive, but it would only be extra icing on this birthday cake. Bottom line: These songs are finally heard on CD the way they were originally intended on those 45s, and (on that note) the sequence is quite reasonable.

Hopefully soon Orbison Records will see fit to re-release the MGM LP "The Fastest Guitar Alive." The nine or so B sides that never made it to an MGM LP could then fill out that CD. If that doesn't sound sellable, perhaps having all the MGM tracks as mp3 downloads could happen. That's just an idea from this Orbison fan who has been appreciating his music for over 50 years.

The concert video is great. Takes me back to Regis High School in Eau Claire, Wis. where he played two shows on November 11, 1964. They carried their own amps from the first show (the auditorium) to the second (the gym, underneath the basketball hoop) and even had a reel-to-reel recorder going on stage for the second show.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A rock `n' roll legend's legendary mono singles + a vintage concert film May 3, 2011

By hyperbolium

Format:Audio CD

Roy Orbison's five year blaze of musical glory on Monument Records is distilled here to the singles that rocketed up the chart over and over again. This 2-CD/1-DVD set collects all twenty singles released in the U.S. on the Monument label, dividing the A- and B-sides between the CDs. Disc one is an intense concentration of hits and valiant misses that digs deeper than the regularly anthologized chestnuts. All of the A's, save "Lana" and "Paper Boy," made the pop chart, offering up lesser known sides that include the pained "I'm Hurtin'," despondent "The Crowd," blue-collar "Working for the Man," and a bluesy cover of "Let the Good Times Roll" that features harmonica from Charlie McCoy.

Nashville A-listers McCoy, Boots Randolph, Floyd Cramer, Buddy Harmon, Hank Garland and the Anita Kerr Singers were regulars on Orbison's sessions in RCA's legendary Studio B. These mono singles, remastered by Vic Anesini, are incredibly fine in both detail and cohesion - much like the great recordings of Blue Note. They're a real testament to the work of session engineer Bill Porter, who often captured the big productions and Orbison's incredible dynamic range live-to-tape on only two tracks. Disc two shows that Orbison and his production team didn't just slap together the flipsides; the B's were polished productions with full arrangements that often featured strings and backing chorus. Orbison charted three of his B-sides ("Candy Man," "Mean Woman Blues" and "Leah") and recorded some great material, including "Love Hurts" and Cindy Walker's "Shahdaroba," for the flips.

The set's DVD features a 25-minute black-and-white film of a 1965 live date recorded for a Dutch television station. Orbison was in Holland to pick up an award for "Oh, Pretty Woman," his last chart-topper, and nearly his last single on Monument before decamping for MGM. He didn't know it, but he was entering a twenty-five year Top 10 drought that only ended when his mid-80s induction into the Rock `n' Roll Hall of Fame, the taping of A Black & White Night and the formation of the Traveling Wilburys resuscitated his recording career. But in 1965 he'd recently delivered "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "Goodnight," both of which are featured in the live performance, and with a new contract in hand, things must have looked rosy.

The video is grainy, but the sound quality is surprisingly good. Orbison is backed by a six-piece band in sharp suits and Beatle boots, and "Pretty Woman" co-writer Bill Dees can be seen playing keyboards and singing background vocals. The performance is tightly contained, with Orbison moving little and hiding his eyes behind trademark sunglasses; it's as if he's channeling every bit of his emotion into his superb vocals. Without the instrumental grandeur of strings, a backing chorus or RCA's Studio B, Orbison still wrings every ounce of emotion from the lyrics, and despite his lack of physical performance, he still grabs you with how good these songs could sound live. Whatever dialog there may have been with the audience has been clipped from this video, and though the crowd is surprisingly sedate, the band still cooks as they play "What'd I Say."

Disc one, which is available separately, turns out to be a nearly complete greatest hits anthology. Were you to substitute three B-sides for less successful A's, you'd have all of Orbison's key chart history at Monument. The track sequencing, on the other hand, is a mystery, as it doesn't follow either the recording or chart dates, and three singles are inexplicably designated as bonus traks. Splitting the A- and B-sides onto separate discs seems to favor the marketing department's ability to sell the A-sides separately over giving package buyers an opportunity to listen to the singles in order. The separately is a nit really, given that consumers can easily rearrange the track sequence to their liking.

The four-panel digipack and 36-page booklet includes recording (but not release or chart) dates, chart position, and (where known) recording personnel. Also included are photos, picture sleeve and label reproductions, and short liner notes that provide an overview of Orbison's time at Monument but no song-by-song rundown. These recordings have been released many times on compilations such as The Big O, The Essential Roy Orbison, The Soul of Rock and Roll and the omnibus Orbison: 1955-1965, but this is the first time that all of the mono mixes have been brought together in digital form. The video is worth watching once or twice, but the original singles are worth keeping forever. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars ****1/2 Near Perfect Orbison Singles Collection May 5, 2011

By Brian O'Marra

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great mastering by Vic and nicely packaged with a colorful booklet featuring artwork of the labels of the singles and the sleeves.

Great to have the true single mix of Oh Pretty Woman with the "Come to me baby" line.

However, alot of these singles (45 mixes and edits) comps seem to have missteps. This one does, too, regrettably. Blue Angel seems to run a tad faster than the 45 (by about 5 seconds). In Dreams is the mono lp mix with the rerecorded vocal ending. The single has the word "goodbye" held a second shorter followed by a very audible "it's" than the lp mono mix found here. Some may feel that this is nitpicking, but if you're going to do a singles comp, it should have all the single mixes.

Still all in all a nice comprehensive collection of Roy Orbison's Monument years.