Search - Roy Orbison :: Crying (Reis) (Rpkg)

Diverse Entertaining Collection

HUGO | HOUSTON, TEXAS United States | 09/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The timbre of Roy Orbison's operatic like singing voice and impressive range, instantly commanded your undivided attention and reeled you into an etheral world of sound and vision unequalled by any other singer before or after him. The orchestra and band playing behind him contributed small complement to his colorfully impacting and imposing instrument. Roy's voice painted the songs he chose to sing to memorable excellence. Nobody else could sing or sounded like Roy - he was one of a kind. In film footage of him in "live" performance and radiating his dark mysterious presence, you never saw Roy desperately clutching his microphone, much less throw his head back to gasp for a hurricane sized inhale as he sang to hit all the notes perfectly, he stood there almost motionless, exercising his unique vocal instrument with incredible ease to full power and effect. Simply breathtaking and resounding. Like his female counterpart, Patsy Cline, Roy sang quite expressively with little effort, as though it hurt terribly bad inside, all over["Crying"]with the pain being too unbearable to withstand. In "Running Scared", he encapsulates the gut wrenching feeling of fear laced with unfathomed insecurity on what might be his finest performance - this single hit #1. You not only understood the point of his lyrical message, but, felt it deep inside - you related very well. In a recording studio, Orbison seemed to easily allow his emotions to flow freely from his heart and soul into his recording efforts to astounding results and success. He never seemed to have his guard up, as they say, you could just hear his tears well up in his eyes and run down his face throughout his vocalizing. You can also feel and be inspired by his overjoyed thrills and excitement["Oh, Pretty Woman"] at the sight of the object of his attraction. Roy simply sung a perfect little soundtracks for the many positive and negative emotions we all experience throughout our everyday lives. Even so, Roy could also make you wanna jump up, dance your tail off and move about to many of his other lively tracks["Dance"-"Mean Woman Blues"]- oh yeah(!) - he could take a song such as "LONELINESS" and turn it into a fun, energetic, rollicking dance track. Very diverse that Roy Orbison! 1962's "CRYING", reissued here exclusively in remastered glory with four "bonus" tracks, 16 tracks total, [including some of the noted above]original liner notes, studio musician and chart position listings - is one of three classic ROY ORBISON albums from his much heralded and coveted MONUMENT RECORDS era[1960-65], when Roy was king of radio and record charts. "CRYING" is the most diverse set of tunes from the trio of Orbison reissues which includes his signature ballads and rockers. In celebration of Roy's 70th Birthday, Barbara Orbison, in partnership with Sony, has issued an impressive trio of her husband's classic hit albums which will certainly ignite long time fans' memories and win many new ones. This is music that needs to be heard, never forgotten or left to gather dust in a vault. Roy remains a highly regarded musician with mass public interest and these albums will satisfy the neverending demand for his Monument Records recordings."

What a voice!

Charles Blume | 01/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Roy Orbison outshines most artists. His vocal range is outstanding and fresh today as in the late 50's and 60's. This CD is a real treat because you have some of Roy's most impressive hits along with other songs that are not heard as often. Sure wish the powers that be would release all those unreleased songs that he recorded. As many songs as have been released have never seen the light of day.

C. Blume"

Second Monument LP follows template of debut

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 10/22/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Orbison's second album for Monument followed the template of his debut, "Lonely and Blue," with several key singles leading an album full of decidedly lesser works. Which isn't to suggest that the album tracks are uninteresting; they simply don't match the magnificence of the hits.



Orbison continued to construct dramatic operettas of pain and loneliness, but unlike the previous Monument hits, his new batch followed arcs that end in breathless emotional and aural crescendos. Such is the album's opener, "Crying," with Orbison transitioning from cast-aside to mortally wounded in a mere 2'49. The bookend closing to the original album, "Running Scared," has a similar architecture, and an emotional arc that takes Orbison from apprehension and paranoia to a surprisingly happy ending.



The album tracks include a couple of covers, "The Great Pretender," "She Wears My Ring," and "Love Hurts," none of which eclipse the better known hit singles. The rest of the originals from the pen of Orbison and his writing partner Joe Melson. The upbeat "Dance" shows off a soulful side, "Loneliness" has a lightly Latinized twist-beat, "Let's Make a Memory" is catch mid-tempo pop tune, and "Nite Life" has a jazzy horn chart.



Legacy's reissue adds a quartet of bonus tracks to the original dozen, including the saucy hit single "Candy Man," a bluesy cover of Shirley & Lee's "Let the Good Times Roll," the top-5 "Dream Baby" and its obscure B-side, "The Actress." Sound quality is top-notch stereo, and the booklet reproduces both the front and back cover (with Boudleaux Bryant's original liner notes also rendered more readably within the booklet). Like most of Orbison's seminal recordings, the album tracks don't measure up to the hits, but this will still be of great interest to anyone who wants to go beyond the typical anthology. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]"