Hank Williams: The Roy Orbison Way
Hank Williams the Roy Orbison Way | ||||
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Studio album by Roy Orbison | ||||
Released | August 1970 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Label | MGM | |||
Producer | Don Gant | |||
Roy Orbison chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
Hank Williams: The Roy Orbison Way is the fourteenth album recorded by Roy Orbison, and the eighth for MGM Records, released in August 1970. It is a tribute album to the songs of Country Music Hall of Fame honky tonk singer Hank Williams, whom Orbison listed among his influences. The album was a critical failure and it sold poorly—Fred Foster said it was "an exercise in futility." It remained relatively unknown to Orbison fans until it was repackaged on Compact Disc in 2009 along with the popular 1967 Don Gibson tribute album Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson.[3]
Reception
Critics found fault with arranger Jim Hall putting too much of pop rock tone on the album, obscuring the country roots of the songs with a string section, rock-style instrumentation, and a choir of backing vocalists. Orbison's familiar "soaring tenor" vocal style also reduced the connection to Hank Williams. Very few listeners were interested in this kind of mixture in 1970.[1] In a retrospective review, singer-songwriter John Kruth wrote that the album's "kitschy aesthetic was decades ahead of its time and would have made a splash in the late '80s with hipsters who revered Les Baxter's exotic soundtracks and Juan Esquivel's retro bachelor pad music."[3]
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic showed "Orbison takes ten Williams songs and applies to them musical arrangements by Jim Hall that are typical of the singer, works best when Orbison is addressing a lesser-known Williams song like "(Last Night) I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep" or "A Mansion on the Hill," so that the tune seems more his own ."[1]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Hank Williams, except where indicated. This album was only released in North America.
Side one
- "Kaw-Liga" (Williams, Fred Rose)
- "Hey Good Lookin'"
- "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
- "(Last Night) I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep"
- "You Win Again"
- "Your Cheatin' Heart"
Side two
- "Cold, Cold Heart"
- "A Mansion on the Hill" (Williams, Rose)
- "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)"
- "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight"
- "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
Produced by Don Gant Arranged by Jim Hall
References
- ^ a b c Hank Williams: The Roy Orbison Way at AllMusic
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 1062. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ a b Kruth, John (2013). Rhapsody in Black: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison. Hal Leonard. p. 156. ISBN 9781480354920.
- v
- t
- e
- Lonely and Blue (1961)
- Roy Orbison at the Rock House (1961)
- Crying (1962)
- In Dreams (1963)
- There Is Only One Roy Orbison (1965)
- Orbisongs (1965)
- The Orbison Way (1966)
- The Classic Roy Orbison (1966)
- Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson (1967)
- The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967)
- Cry Softly Lonely One (1967)
- Roy Orbison's Many Moods (1969)
- Big O (1970)
- Hank Williams: The Roy Orbison Way (1970)
- Roy Orbison Sings (1972)
- Memphis (1972)
- Milestones (1973)
- I'm Still in Love With You (1975)
- Regeneration (1976)
- Laminar Flow (1979)
- In Dreams: The Greatest Hits (1987 – studio re-recordings of earlier hits)
- Mystery Girl (1989)
- King of Hearts (1992)
- One of the Lonely Ones (2015)
- Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1962)
- More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1964)
- Early Orbison (1964)
- The Great Songs of Roy Orbison (1970)
- The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison (1972)
- In Dreams: The Greatest Hits (1987)
- The Legendary Roy Orbison (1989)
- 16 Biggest Hits (1999)
- Greatest Hits Live (2006)
- The Essential Roy Orbison (2006)
- A Love So Beautiful (2017)
- Unchained Melodies (2018)
- Class of '55 (1986)
- Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 (1988)
- Roadie (1980)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Less than Zero (1987)
- A Black & White Night Live (1989)
- "Tryin' to Get to You"
- "Ooby Dooby"
- "Go Go Go"
- "Only the Lonely"
- "Blue Angel"
- "Running Scared"
- "Crying" / "Candy Man"
- "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)"
- "Working for the Man"
- "In Dreams"
- "Blue Bayou"
- "Pretty Paper"
- "It's Over"
- "Oh, Pretty Woman"
- "Memphis, Tennessee"
- "You Got It"
- "She's a Mystery to Me"
- "I Drove All Night"
- Traveling Wilburys
- Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour
- Fred Foster
- In Dreams (musical)
- Category