I love most of the Big O's songs, especially In Dreams and Penny Arcade from the 60's. The latter is very rarely on any of his hits compilations but no-one seems to know why. :( My fave song of his though is California Blue from his superb 1988 Mystery Girl comeback album. It's a brilliant album so you should give it a listen if you've not heard it. Funnily enough, his most played and best-known song Pretty Woman, is one of my least favourites. So over-played. I have several CD compilations and also Mystery Girl.

 

Rob said that Tom Jones "impressed Elvis". Well Elvis once said that Roy Orbison was the best male singer ever.

 

Most compilations since the late 80's have re-recorded versions of many of his popular songs due to a copyright dispute he had over his originals. They said they'd never release them again then on CD so he just re-recorded them! Not bad but the 60's originals are the best.

 

When we moved down to London in 1994 we saw Only The Lonely, the musical story of his life, wife's death, house fire etc. Great stuff with all the songs but strangely it closed after a few months.

 

Any other fans here?

Edited August 8, 201014 yr by Common Sense

Well not a huge fan of his but saw the I Drove All Night video a couple of months ago.. I love his version which I think is the original (not Cyndi's)

 

His comeback in the late 80s was impressive. He was definitely underrated and still is and definitely better singer than Elvis.

Edited August 8, 201014 yr by SKOB

Well not a huge fan of his but saw the I Drove All Night video a couple of months ago.. I love his version which I think is the original (not Cyndi's)

 

Now you've got me thinking as I'm not sure who's was the original version. :huh:

I might be wrong but I think Cyndi released it first but Roy recorded it first

Wiki is our friend today.

 

"I Drove All Night" is a song written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly for Roy Orbison. Orbison first recorded the song in 1987, but his rendition was not released until 1992, after the song had become a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic for Cyndi Lauper in 1989. The song has been covered by Pinmonkey (2002) and Céline Dion (2003). John Waite recorded the song in 1986-87 while recording tracks for the CD Rovers Return but decided not to release it"

 

 

EDIT. You're spot on. Well done!

Edited August 8, 201014 yr by Common Sense

As much as I love Cyndi Lauper, Roy's version is just perfect

He had such a lot of tragedy in his life. His first wife died in a Motorcycle accident then his second wife and children died in a fire.

 

I loved his 60s songs but don't like his 80s offerings

 

My faves are In Dreams, Crying (in 1980 a #1 for Don McLean), It's Over, It's Too Soon To Know and So Good (the last one never seems to be available on any compilations).

Edited August 9, 201014 yr by euro music

Agree with the above, superb singer, love the Mystery Girl album, and this

is my fav track, which was a hit for Michael Bolton in 1995.

 

A Love So Beautiful