The Essential Roy Orbison | ||||
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Compilation album by | ||||
Released | March 28, 2006 | |||
Recorded | 1955–1988 | |||
Genre | Pop rock, rock and roll, country | |||
Length | 1:57:46 | |||
Label |
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Producer | ||||
Roy Orbison chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
PopMatters | [2] |
The Music Box | [3] |
The Essential Roy Orbison is a compilation album by American singer-songwriter Roy Orbison, released on March 28, 2006. [4] It is part of Sony BMG's Essential series of compilation albums and includes tracks of Orbison's biggest hits from 1956 to 1992.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally from | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Ooby Dooby" | Wade Moore, Dick Penner | Non-album single A-side (1956), later included on Roy Orbison at the Rock House (1961) | 2:12 |
2. | "Go Go Go" | Roy Orbison | Non-album single (1956), B-side of "Ooby Dooby" | 2:08 |
3. | "Rock House" | Harold Jenkins, Roy Orbison [5] (attributed to Harold Jenkins, Sam Phillips) | Non-album single (1956), later included on Roy Orbison at the Rock House (1961) | 2:05 |
4. | "Uptown" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Non-album single (1960), later included on Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1962) | 2:08 |
5. | "Only the Lonely" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Lonely and Blue (1961) | 2:26 |
6. | "Blue Angel" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Lonely and Blue (1961) | 2:52 |
7. | "I'm Hurting" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Lonely and Blue (1961) | 2:44 |
8. | "Lana" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Crying (1962) | 2:18 |
9. | "Love Hurts" | Boudleaux Bryant | Crying (1962) | 2:28 |
10. | "Crying" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Crying (1962) | 2:47 |
11. | "Candy Man" | Beverly Ross, Fred Neil | Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1962) | 2:45 |
12. | "Dream Baby" | Cindy Walker | Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1962) | 2:33 |
13. | "The Crowd" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1962) | 2:23 |
14. | "Leah" | Roy Orbison | More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1964) | 2:40 |
15. | "Falling" | Roy Orbison | In Dreams (Bonus Tracks) (1963) | 2:23 |
16. | "Working for the Man" | Roy Orbison | More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1964) | 2:26 |
17. | "Mean Woman Blues" | Claude Demetrius | In Dreams (Bonus Tracks) (1963) | 2:25 |
18. | "Blue Bayou" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | In Dreams (1963) | 2:31 |
19. | "Pretty Paper" | Willie Nelson | In Dreams (Bonus Tracks) (1963) | 2:45 |
20. | "It's Over" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1964) | 2:48 |
21. | "Oh, Pretty Woman" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | Orbisongs (1965) | 2:56 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Originally from | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "You Got It" | Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty | Mystery Girl (1989) | 3:31 |
2. | "She's a Mystery to Me" | Bono, The Edge | Mystery Girl (1989) | 4:16 |
3. | "California Blue" | Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty | Mystery Girl (1989) | 3:57 |
4. | "The Only One" | Wesley Orbison, Craig Wiseman | Mystery Girl (1989) | 3:28 |
5. | "Ride Away" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | There Is Only One Roy Orbison (1965) | 3:52 |
6. | "Crawling Back" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | The Orbison Way (1966) | 3:14 |
7. | "Best Friend" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967) | 2:37 |
8. | "Communication Breakdown" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | Cry Softly Lonely One (1967) | 3:38 |
9. | "Walk On" | Roy Orbison, Bill Dees | Roy Orbison's Many Moods (1969) | 2:53 |
10. | "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" (featuring Emmylou Harris) | Roy Orbison, Chris Price | Roadie soundtrack (1980) | 4:01 |
11. | "Running Scared [1985 Version]" | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | In Dreams: The Greatest Hits (1987) | 2:14 |
12. | "In Dreams [1987 Version]" | Roy Orbison | In Dreams: The Greatest Hits (1987) | 2:50 |
13. | "A Love So Beautiful" | Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne | Mystery Girl (1989) | 3:33 |
14. | "The Comedians (Live)" | Elvis Costello | A Black & White Night Live (1989) | 3:32 |
15. | "Claudette (Live)" | Roy Orbison | A Black & White Night Live (1999 reissue) | 3:02 |
16. | "I Drove All Night" | Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly | King of Hearts (1992) | 3:46 |
17. | "Wild Hearts Run Out of Time" | Roy Orbison, Will Jennings | Non-album single (1985), later included on King of Hearts (1992) | 3:33 |
18. | "Coming Home" | Roy Orbison, Will Jennings, J.D. Souther | Class of '55 (1986), later included on King of Hearts (1992) | 4:02 |
19. | "Life Fades Away" | Roy Orbison, Glenn Danzig | Less than Zero (1987) | 3:41 |
Chart (2006) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard 200 | 62 |
Australian Albums (ARIA) [6] | 39 |
Belgium Ultratop [7] | 45 |
Dutch Album Top 100 [8] | 35 |
Norway VG-lista [9] | 6 |
Swedish Sverigetopplistan [10] | 5 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA) [11] | 2× Platinum | 140,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
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United States | March 28, 2006 | Orbison Records, Monument Records, Legacy Records, Sony Music [4] [12] | CD, digital download | 1060521507 |
Australia | July 29, 2006 [13] | Sony Music, Legacy Records [14] | CD | 2008653/169836 |
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's music is mostly in the rock genre and his most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s. He was nicknamed "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O". Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers projected machismo. He performed with minimal motion and in black clothes, matching his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.
"I Drove All Night" is a song written and composed by American songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and originally intended for Roy Orbison. Orbison recorded the song in 1987, the year before his death, but his version was not released until 1992. Cyndi Lauper recorded the song and released it as a single for her A Night to Remember album. Her version became a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1989 and was also her final top 40 hit on the American pop charts. Lauper still regularly performs the song in her live concerts. The song has also been covered by Canadian singer Celine Dion, whose version topped the Canadian Singles Chart and reached number 7 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 2003.
Mystery Girl is the twenty-second album by American singer Roy Orbison. It was his last album to be recorded during his lifetime, as he completed the album in November 1988, a month before his death at the age of 52, and it was released posthumously by Virgin Records on January 31, 1989. It includes the hit singles "You Got It", which was co-written by Orbison and his Traveling Wilburys bandmates Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, and "She's a Mystery to Me", written by Bono and The Edge. The album was a critical and commercial success; it peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, the highest position Orbison had achieved on that chart, and number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.
King of Hearts is a posthumous album of Roy Orbison songs put together from master sessions and demos by Jeff Lynne for Virgin Records, and Orbison's 23rd album overall. According to the authorized Roy Orbison biography, the collection was originally released in October 1992 on CD, music cassette, and LP.
"Blue Bayou" is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. It was originally sung and recorded by Orbison, who had an international hit with his version in 1963. It later became Linda Ronstadt's signature song, with which she scored a Top 5 hit with her cover in 1977. Many others have since recorded the song.
"Crying" is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson for Orbison's third studio album of the same name (1962). Released in 1961, it was a number 2 hit in the US for Orbison and was covered in 1978 by Don McLean, whose version went to number 1 in the UK in 1980.
"Running Scared" is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson and sung by Orbison. An operatic rock ballad, the recording of the song was overseen by audio engineer Bill Porter and released as a 45 rpm single by Monument Records in March 1961 and went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Running Scared" also reached No.9 in the UK Singles Chart. It sold over one million copies in the US alone. The song was included on Orbison's 1962 album Crying as the final track on the album.
"In Dreams" is a song composed and sung by singer Roy Orbison. An operatic rock ballad of lost love, it was released as a single on Monument Records in February 1963. It became the title track of the album In Dreams, released in July of the same year. The song has a unique through-composed structure in seven movements in which Orbison sings through two octaves, beyond the range of most rock singers.
"It's Over" is an American song composed by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees and sung by Orbison. The single was produced by Fred Foster and engineered by Bill Porter.
Roy Orbison was an American singer-songwriter who found the most success in the early rock and roll era from 1956 to 1964. He later enjoyed a resurgence in the late 1980s with chart success as a member of the Traveling Wilburys and with his Mystery Girl album, which included the posthumous hit single "You Got It". At the height of his popularity, 22 of Orbison's songs placed on the US Billboard Top 40 chart, and six peaked in the top five, including two number-one hits. In the UK, Orbison scored ten top-10 hits between 1960 and 1966, including three number-one singles.
"All I Have to Do Is Dream" is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and published in 1958. The song is ranked No. 141 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is in AABA form.
"Love Hurts" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is most well known in two hit versions by UK artists; by Scottish hard rock band Nazareth in 1974 and by English singer-songwriter Jim Capaldi in 1975.
Damien Leo Leith is an Irish-Australian singer–songwriter. He was the winner of the Network Ten music contest Australian Idol in 2006. Since winning the title, Leith has released nine studio albums, four of which peaked in the top two of the ARIA Charts, including two number ones. He has been awarded seven platinum and one gold certification for albums and singles by ARIA, which equates to sales of just over half a million.
"Let the Good Times Roll" is a song that was recorded by Shirley and Lee in 1956. This song was written by the duo, Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee.
"Oh, Pretty Woman", or simply "Pretty Woman", is a song recorded by Roy Orbison, written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from September 26, 1964, the second and final single by Orbison (after "Running Scared" to top the US charts. It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart.
"Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)" is a song written by Cindy Walker which was first recorded and released by Roy Orbison originally as a non-album single in 1962. It was a big international hit for Orbison, reaching number 2 in both the Australian and the UK singles charts and number 4 in the U.S. Billboard. It was also a top ten hit in Canada and Norway. Five months later, "Dream Baby" was included on Orbison's Greatest Hits compilation LP.
Roy: A Tribute to Roy Orbison is the fourth studio album by Damien Leith. It was released by Sony BMG in Australia on 15 April 2011 to coincide with Roy Orbison's 75th birthday.
The Legendary Roy Orbison is a greatest hits album by Roy Orbison. It was released by Telstar Records in 1988 and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart in 1989, where it was a posthumous number one.
"Pretty Paper" is a song written by country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson in 1963. After being signed to Monument Records, Nelson played the song for producer Fred Foster. Foster pitched the song to Roy Orbison, who turned it into a hit. Nelson later recorded his own version of the song in November 1964.
"Working for the Man" is a song composed and sung by rock and roll performer Roy Orbison. Released in 1962 as a double A-side with "Leah", it reached number one in Australia, number thirty-three in the US, and the top 50 in Canada and England.