ROY’S Boys LLC, the Nashville-based company founded by the sons of Roy Orbison to administer their late father’s catalog and safeguard his legacy, has teamed up with Legacy Recordings, the catalogue division of Sony Music Entertainment, to release Roy Orbison – The Ultimate Collection.
The 26-track anthology, out October 28, will be available as a single CD and as a double vinyl LP set, spans four decades, from his start at Sun Records in the mid 1950s, all the way through his massive comeback in the late ‘80s.
The collection chronicles Orbison’s work both as a solo artist and with super-group Traveling Wilburys until his tragic death at the age of 52. The Ultimate Collection marks the first time ever that any Roy Orbison compilation album has incorporated tracks from all of the aforementioned sources.
Roy Orbison – The Ultimate Collection is available for pre-order now.
Roy’s son, Alex Orbison, painstakingly selected songs that were most representational of his father’s vast catalog, which totals 27 studio albums, four live albums, and over 60 singles, 22 of which placed in the U.S. Billboard Top 40 chart. Narrowing it down was no easy task.
“It is a great honour for me and my brothers, Wesley and Roy Jr., to finally and definitively distil our father’s entire career onto a single disc as best one can possibly do and, certainly, as never done before,” said Alex.
“It is the result of years of research, archiving and listening, and it is with supreme and heartfelt pleasure that we will be able to share it with the world.”
Born in north Texas and raised in the western part of the state, Roy Orbison first made his mark on the national music scene when he recorded for Sam Phillips’ fabled Sun Records in 1956.
It was during this era that the label was the launching pad for the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Orbison connected with the rockabilly flavored “Ooby Dooby” for Sun, but his truly significant commercial breakthrough came with his string of hits on the Monument label, starting in the early ‘60s.
Around this time Roy adopted his trademark sunglasses and performed ballads and rockers with equal aplomb. He toured constantly both in the US and abroad, including a UK tour on which he headlined over the Beatles.
Top 10 hits of the era included Crying, Only The Lonely, In Dreams, Dream Baby, the number one single Running Scared and the massive international chart topper, Oh, Pretty Woman, all of which are represented on The Ultimate Collection.
The set also includes Love Hurts, Blue Bayou, Falling, Leah, Mean Woman Blues, Blue Angel and It’s Over, all from the Monument era.
Starting in 1965, Roy Orbison’s eight-year stint with MGM Records continued to yield hits, particularly overseas. Among these present on The Ultimate Collection are Walk On, Crawling Back, Ride Away and Too Soon To Know.
These came out at the most emotionally turbulent time in Roy’s life, when his wife Claudette died in a motorcycle accident and his sons Roy DeWayne Orbison and Anthony King Orbison perished in a house fire. Towards the latter part of this period he met and married the German-born Barbara Anne Marie Wellhöner Jakobs, who is the mother of Roy Jr. and Alex.
After Roy’s career went through a fallow spell, David Lynch’s showcasing of his music in the surreal 1986 film Blue Velvet sparked new interest in the icon.
By the following year, Roy’s career was in the midst of a renaissance, which led to his celebrity-studded live television concert special A Black & White Night. Taken from that performance is Claudette, a song written by Roy about his first wife, that had been a huge hit for the Everly Brothers.
Soon after, a super-group was formed consisting of Roy and his friends Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison with whom he had first bonded back when he toured with the Beatles. In 1988, the Traveling Wilburys released their debut album that went triple platinum.
Not Alone Anymore and Handle With Care from Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 are featured on The Ultimate Collection, the first time any of the group’s songs have appeared on a Roy Orbison release.
The Ultimate Collection was produced by Alex Orbison, Chuck Fleckenstein and John Jackson, and mastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in New York.
Win Roy Orbison: The Ultimate Collection on CD
To celebrate the release of Roy Orbison: The Ultimate Collection on CD from Friday, October 28, 2016, IndieLondon is offering readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies. Simply answer the following question…
Q. In what year did The Traveling Wilburys release their debut album?
Simply send the answer to Roy Orbison Ultimate competition and include your name, address, telephone number and email
Track listing:
Oh, Pretty Woman
I Drove All Night
You Got It
Crying
Only The Lonely
In Dreams
Love Hurts
Claudette
Blue Bayou
Dream Baby
Walk On
Falling
Running Scared
California Blue
Leah
Mean Woman Blues
Crawling Back
Ride Away
Too Soon To Know
She’s A Mystery to Me
Blue Angel
It’s Over
Ooby Dooby
Heartbreak Radio
Not Alone Anymore (Traveling Wilburys)
Handle With Care (Traveling Wilburys)