For The Lonely: 18 Greatest Hits

Roy Orbison

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00000334M
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,760 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ooby Dooby

2. Rock House

3. Uptown

4. Only the Lonely

5. Blue Angel

6. I'm Hurtin'

7. Running Scared

8. Crying

9. Candy Man

10. Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)

11. Leah

12. Working for the Man

13. In Dreams

14. Mean Woman Blues

15. Blue Bayou

16. Pretty Paper

17. It's Over

18. Oh, Pretty Woman

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There's been a flood of compilations and reissues since his death in 1988, but Rhino's terrific package remains one of the best single discs of Orbison material. Opening with his two regional rockabilly hits for Sun Records and spanning the huge Monument hits, it reinforces why Elvis Presley viewed the Big O as his biggest competition during the Army years and why Orbison was the first '50s rocker to join the Traveling Wilburys. No compilation yet available covers his entire career, but this one certainly represents the hit years. One quibble: the stereo mixes, especially on "Blue Angel," are beautiful yet radically different from the mixes you may be more familiar with. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock-solid collection, February 7, 2002

By	Zub "Zubenelgenubi" (Forks Twp., PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

Equally adept with rockabilly, plaintive ballads and drum-pounding rock, Roy Orbison stayed on the charts for thirty years from the very beginning of the rock era. His greatest legacy though, comes from his soaring, gut-wrenching musical melodramas. Other than Gene Pitney, only Roy Orbison was able to achieve this kind of incredible power and pathos flowing from his songs, examplified by "Only the Lonely", "In Dreams", "It's Over" and the incomparable "Crying". This early CD-era release from Rhino brings together most of Orbison's biggest chart successes from his early years. With more than two dozen charted records to his credit, this can hardly be comprehensive but does offer a condensed cream-of-the-crop collection of hits. As it does not go beyond his Monument Records years, it includes none of his MGM recordings. And, having been produced in 1988, it does not include his 1989 revival hit, "You Got It". What it does offer, it presents superbly in excellent sound quality with tracks having been taken from the original mono (tracks one and two) or multitrack masters. Orbison's vocals and the instrumental backrounds come through in startling clarity. The musical backround provided by way of the liner notes booklet follows the period of the recordings on the CD but could have had a bit more backround on more of the tracks included on the CD. Of all the numerous Orbison Greatest-Hits CDs available, this is among the best and an excellent piece around which to build a more comprehensive Orbison CD collection.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rhino Does It Right by the Big 'O'!, July 10, 2003

By	keds999 (Richmond, CA USA) - See all my reviews

When Rhino introduced this collection a few months before Roy's passing in 1988, It was recognized as an instant classic collection. I and my parents were floored when we first heard the CD. I've always known that Rhino does a fantastic job with oldies reissues like Dionne Warwick, Jerry Butler, the entire TK Records catalog, and the ENTIRE Atlantic Records catalog among others.

Each song is done with care and been remastered from 3 track tapes(mono)and 4 track stereo tapes and mixed it directly to digital. Which means to us that the tracks you hear are at their sonic and accurate peak. I've never heard the background instruments that clearly before, even down to the xylophone on "Crying", not to mention the fact that Roy's voice was even more distinct and at his best.

Even the liner notes are good enough to give you an insight to the man behind the shades. Although I wish that Rhino would give a better listing to which take was the 'hit' and if it was presented in stereo for the first time. Although there are at least one or two greater compilations out there if you want his MGM and RCA years, but it's kinda pricey. If you just want his hits, then you don't need to look any further than this disc. It has all his best from his Sun years through his Monument years. From "Ooby Dooby"(Sun 1956) to "Oh Pretty Woman"(Monument 1964), you'll hear why he was known as a 'Singer's singer'. He also influences a lot of artists to this day.

I would highly recommend this disc because of the GREAT sound and the price is just right for a collection 15 years after its release, is STILL considered one of the finest around. Great job, Rhino!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The cassette and vinyl version gets the five star rating, September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This 4 star rating might seem shocking, especially when 5 stars has seemed to be the rule. However, let's remember that this a truncated version of the 25 track vinyl and cassette release. Tracks such as Go!Go!Go!, Falling, and The Crowd are missing. And while the 18 tracks offered here are indeed his very best, and this is the only release that includes Sun recordings, with Roy Orbison less is not better.

What makes this infuriating is the fact that the entire album and cassette could fit on one CD!

The CD was to be the alternative to vinyl and cassette by having more disc space for bonus tracks. What's the point of this reverse rule-of-thumb by having the cassette verion be superior to the CD? Is it to force people to buy the cassette also, so they can get the seven bonus tracks?

Note to Rhino: Why not rerelease the longer version on CD, newly remastered by CD sound wiz Bill Inglot.

For now: Get the DCC version of All Time Greatest Hits, which includes superior sound, additional liner notes, and pics!!