Product Description
“Orbison…transcended all the genres–folk, country, rock and roll or just about anything. His stuff mixed all the styles and some that hadn’t even been invented yet…. He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop and he meant business.” – Bob Dylan, Chronicles Vol. 1

“Roy’s ballads were always best when you were alone in the dark. They were scary. His voice was unearthly…. I always wanted to sing like Roy Orbison…” – Bruce Springsteen

“But Roy Orbison! It was only because we were with Roy Orbison that we were there at all. He was definitely top of the bill… What a beacon in the southernmost gloom. The amazing Roy Orbison.” – Keith Richards, Life

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, is celebrating the 75th birthday (April 23, 1936) 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 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.

A small independent record label enjoying modest successes in the late 1950s, Monument Records grew to become a major force in American rock and roll, country, jazz and rhythm & blues, its label identity synonymous with its biggest star, Roy Orbison. Other artists on the Monument label have included Kris Kristofferson, Boots Randolph, Dolly Parton, Ray Stevens, Tony Joe White, Charlie McCoy, Willie Nelson and others.

The Commemorative release includes the first-ever DVD release of Orbison performing nine songs from “The Monument Concert 1965,” including the official video for “Oh Pretty Woman,” digitally restored for especially for this collection. It also features liner notes by Roy Orbison Jr. featuring new interviews with Fred Foster, Joe Melson, Bob Moore and others.

Best recognized around the world for his otherworldly voice, Roy Orbison was both rock & roll pioneer and prototypical singer-songwriter, beginning with his first high school band (the Wink Westerners/Teen Kings) and shifting into mass consciousness in the 1960s with a string of singles for the Monument label that defined an artist and helped launch a label.

Orbison–along with a short list that included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins–was one of the undisputed originators and architects of rock & roll at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records. Orbison cut his first chart hit (it reached #56), “Ooby Dooby,” for Sun in 1956, staying with the label for two years before a brief stint at RCA in 1958.

Roy Orbison signed with the newly emerging independent label Monument Records in mid-1959. While his second single for Monument, “Uptown,” became his biggest hit as a performer since “Ooby Dooby,” it was 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, crossed over to #14 on the Billboard Black Singles chart, and rocketed up to #1 on the UK charts.

Orbison followed up the breakthrough with a pair of respectfully charting singles — “Blue Angel” (#9 Pop, #23 Black) and “I’m Hurtin’” (#27 Pop) — before knocking it out of the park with “I’m Hurtin’,” his first US #1.

After that came an unbroken four-year string of Top 40 hits — “Crying,” “Candy Man,” “Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream),” “Working for the Man,” “Leah,” “In Dreams,” “Pretty Paper,” “Blue Bayou,” “Mean Woman Blues, “It’s Over” — during which Roy Orbison became America’s top-selling recording artist and one of the world’s most celebrated entertainers.

In May 1963, Roy Orbison accepted an invitation to tour England on a bill with the Beatles, a group then-unknown in the United States. The tour sold-out in a single afternoon. On the tour’s opening night, Roy Orbison was called back for 14 encores before the Beatles could get on-stage.

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.

CD 1: The A-Sides
1. Uptown
2. Only The Lonely
3. Blue Angel
4. I'm Hurtin'
5. Running Scared
6. Lana
7. Crying
8. Let The Good Times Roll
9. Blue Bayou
10. Dream Baby
11. The Crowd
12. Working For The Man
13. In Dreams
14. Falling
15. It's Over
16. Oh, Pretty Woman
17. Goodnight

— Bonus Tracks —
18. Pretty Paper
19. (Say) You're My Girl
20. Paper Boy

CD 2: The B-Sides
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
7. Candy Man
8. Mean Woman Blues
9. The Actress
10. Mama
11. Leah
12. Shahdaroba
13. Distant Drums
14. Indian Wedding
15. Yo Te Amo Maria
16. Only With You

— Bonus Tracks —
17. Beautiful Dreamer
18. Sleepy Hollow
19. With The Bug

DVD: The Monument Concert 1965
1. Only The Lonely
2. Running Scared
3. Crying
4. What'd I Say
5. Dream Baby
6. Mean Woman Blues
7. It's Over
8. Oh, Pretty Woman
9. Goodnight

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004K7M6TC/?tag=imwan-20

Oh goody, I don't have enough Roy Orbison comps already.

Everything I have by Roy is in stereo. This could be fun!

What's worse is that he actually means it.

Oh, this is a definitely on my list...

My copy of the new Roy Orbison Monument Singles arrived yesterday. The sound on this CD set is AWESOME! I was um-ing and ah-ing whether to order this release, however as I enjoy having both the mono and stereo versions of my favorite artists, I took the plunge. I was a bit wary when I first heard of this release that Sony would take the easy way out and simply fold the 3 track stereo versions into mono, which would have been disastrous. As is now well publicised, that process does NOT create original mono mixes and results in the center channel rising 3db in volume and the vocal accordingly too far forward in the mix.

This release comes in a fold-out digipack with a thick richly illustrated color booklet. Session details for each song are set out on each page, along with label shots and period pics of Roy. I just finished a back-to-back comparison with the stereo versions on Sony's 1998 dbl CD "The Original Singles Collection" (which is also comparable with Bear's Orby box set). Although the stereos sound great, they sound surprisingly a bit limp compared to these mono versions. I am amazed at how much more depth and bottom end there is to the monos. This set has been remastered by Vic Anesini - (he also did the recent 'Elvis Is Back' legacy issue which was a standout).

I haven't watched the accompanying DVD yet, however on the audio side it is outstanding. Thoroughly recommended!

Thanks for the heads up on this one. I was gonna pass cuz I have several of his collections on both CD and LP. his is by far the best sounding one yet.

Well Jimbo, Robert M. is right here. I have quite a collection of Roy and this Mono Singles set is the best yet. Jimbo, you need this (but you knew that anyway).

Rick A.

Already got it, my friend.

Why do I ever doubt you, can you ever forgive me?

Rick A.

The video is excellent also -

Even live his voice was the best ever...I give him the edge over Harry Nilsson because HN never toured or performed live...

Too bad Roy did almost nothing between these releases and his "re-discovery" just before his untimely death.

One of the top 3 releases so far this year.