Lonely & Blue - ROY ORBISON****

Only The Lonely/Bye Bye Love/Cry/Blue Avenue/I Can’t Stop Loving You/Come Back To Me/Blue Angel/ Raindrops/I’d Be A Legend In My Time/I’m Hurtin’/22 Days/I’ll Say Its My Fault

Dramatic US vocalist Roy Orbison enjoyed a string of hit singles during the 1960s. Lonely & Blue was his first LP on the Monument label and includes the chart topping Only The Lonely plus the top twenty follow up Blue Angel. (UK:15)

“Roy hit his stride upon arriving at Monument records. Only The Lonely immediately sets out his musical stall - tragic and romantic ballads impeccably sung. What an immense voice and that falsetto tugs at the heart strings so effectively. Lonely & Blue is such a well rounded album, we've a few of those wonderful ballads, we've pop hits, we've rock and we've rockabilly and country. We've the voice of big Roy Orbison, and string arrangements, very much of their day, that perfectly complement the material.”

“This is the profound era of Roy Orbison coming into his own as an artist - he'd honed his sound to perfection and was at the summit of a decade long plateau peak.”

“After breaking-in as a proto-rock 'n' roll and rockabilly singer at Sun Records in the '50s, Orbison found his calling with the intense operatic pop ballads for which he's so fondly remembered. This debut LP for Monument hit the ground running at full speed. With his signature Only The Lonely Orbison lays out the bittersweet sorrow that would mark many of his greatest works, with an orchestral arrangement whose dramatic starts and stops propel the vocal to a stratospheric falsetto.”

“It would always be his voice that would set Roy Orbison apart from anyone else in music. It had a power, range and clarity that few could match. Lonely & Blue was his first album release and finds Orbison consolidating his pop sound. He would interpret some of the hit songs of the day, some better than others. Only The Lonely was his first hit and would be representative of what was to follow. It featured a catchy melody with Orbison's vocals floating above the mix.”

"Orbison croons in his enormous, dramatic, operatic voice over the string-driven orchestra and whispering background singers."