ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 280 ROY ORBISON - CRYING (1962)

[RJhog (Admin)]

Artist: Roy Orbison

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Member: Yes (1987)

Album: Crying

Producer: Fred Foster

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

**Note to constituency, I totally forgot that this was supposed to be an anniversary week.  I remembered at 3:39 AM Eastern Time this morning.  But I already had all of this written up, so there is no anniversary album this week.  Sorry.

Would You consider me posting a Roy Orbison album a "curve"?  After Chuck Berry's posting a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't think so.  I know Orbison is probably not something most of us around here listen to very often, but he was an early building block of rock and roll music. Anyway, this week's album is Crying, Orbison's sophomore album from 1962.

The album included the well known song Crying, which was released in 1961 as a single (it reached number 2 on the Billboard chart, number 1 on the Cashbox chart). It's funny how people could release 3 or 4 songs as singles, then group them all together and put 'em on an album a year or two later, but that's how they did it back in the early sixties.  There are also covers of The Great Pretender and Love Hurts (yes, the same song Nazareth eventually covered on Hair Of The Dog).  

This was an interesting listen for me.  I really like the first three tracks, but it's really just background music for me after that.  The CD is available for just $4.99 on Amazon, brand new, and it contains 4 bonus tracks as well.

Side One:

1. Crying

2. The Great Pretender

3. Love Hurts

4. She Wears My Ring

5. Wedding Day

6. Summer Song

Side Two:

7. Dance

8. Lana

9. Loneliness

10. Let's Make A Memory

11. Nite Life

12. Running Scared

[Niels (Mod)]

I've bought one RO-album, and it was the one, that was released a month or so after his death, in January 1989, I think it was. I didn't really buy it because I was a fan of Orbinson, but because I was a fan of U2, and Bono wrote a song for him for that album, as far as I remember. I only listened to it once or twice.

A few months before, I had bought the first Travelling Vilbury's, and that was a great party-album.

I've heard some say, that Elvis and Orbison are the greatest singers of all time. I do NOT agree at all. But if I had to pick between Elvis and Orbison, I would go with Orbinson, not because he's a better singer, but because he's an excellent song-writer. I wonder, why he then do covers like The Great Pretender and Love Hurts?

Crying is a great song.

She wears my ring, is apparently also a cover.

Truth be told, the rest of the songs are "in through one ear, and out the next". It's all too sweet and nice for me.

Exceptions: Dance sounds like a Ray Charles-song. Who stole from who? I bet Charles was first on these kinds of tunes.

Lana sounds like a Neil Sedaka-song. This time, I think Orbinson was the first, though.

Running Scared is a classic Orbinson-track.

Interesting, and I certainly like, that you keep up posting unfamiliar albums, at least for me. 1962 is a bit to far back in time for me, though. The real fun started with The Beatles.

[Jon]

For some strange reason, some of these songs made me want to watch "Grease" and that's a good thing!

"Crying" plays and even though I've heard that song many times before, I had a flashback to Godley & Creme. Granted, there's no "ing" in their song title, but I kept expecting that song to play.

Anyway I really dug this. I liked side two better than side one, it seemed to rock a bit more. Side one is fine, but side two was almost METAL (or not).

Doesn't the font on the cover look like caveman font? I wonder why that is, or was. 

Freddie Mercury covered "The Great Pretender"! If you didn't know that, now you do. 

Nice post but have to dock it a point since it's not an anniversary album EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE TOLD WHEN THE ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND WOULD BE A WEEK AGO.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I know, right?

[Jon]

[Scott]

A curve?  Yes...  Gotta admit that I've never been much of a fan of his vocal style.  Though I do have respect for his contributions to Rock and Roll.  This is a) older than me, b) left of center to anybody's musical tastes that I grew up with, and 4) He wrote some killer tunes for Van Halen and The Traveling Wilburys!

Someone has done some serious work on this  The production is really very nice for the time period.  Love Hurts is really weird to hear.  Ive been so tuned into Nazareths version that its weird to hear differently.

I'm struggling to listen, though there's some real quality here.  Its just stylistically not in my wheelhouse (whatever that is).  I can actually hear my dad humming in my ear while this is playing, and that's cool.  But just like he used to yell down to me when I had my music on too loud - "Turn that screamin'-meemy crap down!"  - hahaha... 

Nice slice of history boss!  Now stop humming in my ear!