Roy Orbison: The MGM Years - New boxset Dec. 2015

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by RKMiller, Aug 17, 2015.

  1. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    This sequencing shows the absence of the single version of "Blue Rain (Coming Down)", so I suspect that the single version of "Cry Softly Lonely Lonely" will probably will be missing too.

    I was waiting for this boxset since many years, so this is a little deception, altought these two cuts are available elsewhere!
     
  2. Thanks for posting this. I tried to make out the tracks on the video but my eyes were not up to the task. I have not heard a single track from the B-face of the unreleased album. I wonder if "I Got Nothing?" was pulled from this unreleased album?
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2015
  3. ...and truth be told, they are not much different from the album versions.

    "Sooner or Later" is the "b" side to "Blue Rain Coming Down" so maybe the "a" side will be included in this set after all.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2015
  4. Interesting observation. Did label promotion in England exceed what his releases were given in the USA by MGM?
     
  5. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    That's really good...thanks for pointing that out...

    I like it a lot more than the A side, Penny Arcade.
     
  6. Me too.
     
  7. melstapler

    melstapler Reissue Activist

    Hopefully this set will include the Eddy Raven songs Roy recorded during the 1970s, which were never officially released. A couple years ago, I saw Eddy perform live in concert and he talked about the experience and this material in question. The Orbison estate has copies of some of those songs in their archives, although Orbison collectors and experts I contacted had noted that they probably aren't the original master tapes.

    A while back, Eddy Raven had discovered a box of old recordings containing a 1973 master of Roy Orbison covering “The Days That I Love You,” one of the unreleased recordings in question.

    As a longtime fan of Roy Orbison, the possibility of some new releases is very exciting. It is estimated there are some 300 unreleased Orbison songs. I'm not sure how many of those are owned outright by the estate or belong to MGM/Polygram.
     
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  8. The rare MGM non-album b-sides we should be getting with this set:
    Shy Away
    Flowers
    Sugar Man
    My Friend (only available on The Love Album CD)
    Tennessee Owns My Soul
    How Do You Start Over Again? (only available on the Best of His Rare Classics CD)
    If I Had a Woman Like You
    Close Again
    I Can Read Between The Lines
    Sooner or Later

    And here's hoping they include the alternate version of Twinkle Toes which I like more than the relaesed single version.
     
  9. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    MGM/Polygram are long gone. I wonder who owns the rights to Roy's MGM recordings now; Sony reissued his MGM albums on CD in 2008, but as far as I know MGM Records (like Polygram) are part of Universal. The answer could be that the recordings are owned by the estate, not Universal.
     
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  10. melstapler

    melstapler Reissue Activist

    That's very reassuring. I have the utmost respect for Roy Jr. and the Orbison estate. They've done a terrific job of delivering on promises with other releases. Box sets can be very controversial, so I'm trying to remain optimistic about this one.
     
  11. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    Note that I'm not saying that Roy's MGM recordings are owned by the estate, I was merely suggesting it.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2015
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  12. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    In the case of "Cry Softly Lonely One", you are right. Personally, I can't know which version is which when hearing them. ;-)

    But in the case of "Blue Rain" they are very different, and honnestly I always preferred the Single version, and by FAR!

    Then, as a purist and expert in some artists discographies, and specially when we talk about "complete" original studio boxsets, my thoughts are always not to try to rewrite history.

    You do a Complete studio recordings boxset? Ok, so put ALL the material that came out on Singles and LPs. :)

    Don't begin to omit this title, but not this one... That's always a bad idea. Always :)

    And for the alternate takes and rarities? Well, they have to be put on a separate CD, because in my sense they don't belongs to a Complete Original Studio Recordings boxset.

    ___

    About "I Got Nothing", it's possible that it will be on the new album, I don't know :)

    There are several titles to choose from, if we talk about the 1969 MGM unreleased recordings (I maybe don't have all of them in my catalog)!

    I Love You Because [1969/unreleased MGM track]
    Laurie [1969/unreleased MGM track]
    Leavin' [1969/unreleased MGM track]
    Lilian [1969/unreleased MGM track]
    Say no more [1969/unreleased MGM track]
    Singing The Blues [1969/unreleased MGM track]
    When I Stop Dreaming [1969/unreleased MGM track/Nashville studio version]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 27, 2015
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  13. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    Right, and so the complete tracking for the "Singles" album of this boxset should be:

    So Good
    Cry Softly Lonely One
    Born To Be Loved By You
    Shy Away
    Flowers
    Sugar Man
    My Friend
    Southbound Jericho Parkway
    Tennesse Owns My Soul
    How Do You Start Over Again
    She Cheats on Me
    So Young
    If I Had A Woman Like You
    (Love Me Like You Did) Last Night
    Close Again
    I Can Read Between The Lines
    Blue Rain (Coming Down)
    Sooner Or Later
     
  14. I thought they would put the a sides on 1 disk and the b sides on the other, but now I'm not so sure.
    But I think you are correct that there will be no rarities as the 153 song count is all the album tracks plus the non-album singles and b-sides.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2015
  15. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    No because "(Love Me Like You Did) Last Night" and "Close Again" are the A & B sides of the same single.

    And I like it better like this!

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but we still don't know if the boxset will be remastered from the masters or remixed from the multitracks.

    I hope that the tapes are still in shape. They where in the 2004 Edsel releases... but we are now 11 years later. It's a very long time for these old tapes...
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 27, 2015
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  16. The video makes it appear that these will be remixed (from multi-track transfers), otherwise why mention the 'mixing' engineer? It does still need to be clarified. I am actually hoping for a remix to be honest as it will help justify the purchase. I already have the songs in the original mixes, except for the unreleased b-sides and the new album. I am crossing my fingers the new mixes are not crap and that some of the over produced (primarily intrusive orchestration) can be tamed as needed.
     
  17. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    Yes the video, you are right.

    In fact, like you said, all we don't have for now is few songs: a good transfer of "Fastest Guitar Alive" and some B-sides, the rest was issued in 2004 and was top notch.

    I wonder of they will restore the Big O album in it's original form, I mean without the awefull chorists (air movement or something like this) added at the last time. I always felted that the choir tracks was not mixed at the exact same speed as the one with Orbison's voice, and so some tracks, especialy "Break My Mind" sounds horribly out of tune. I don't have a perfect pitch, but a relative one... and that album always sounded problematic to me.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 28, 2015
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  18. Great list of unreleased '69 tracks, I am only familiar with Say No More' which was released on a cd comp, something like the big o sings his hits. It's a great song!
     
  19. I hope they can make the Big O a better sounding album, but unfortunately there is much wrong with this one -including several weak covers.

    Break my mind is one of the good tracks on this one so I hope they can remix it to better effect. The backing band was named the art movement.
     
  20. Joni H

    Joni H Member

    Location:
    Finland
    I wonder how "revisionist" the new mixes will be. A lot can be done especially in the 8-track era recordings and beyond.
     
  21. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    All is possible :)
     
  22. I finally had a chance to compare the single versions of these two tracks to their album versions to see if my memory is accurate regarding the differences. The single version of 'Cry Softly Lonely One' has a much narrower stereo separation and other than that is not much different than the album version (they are different vocal takes, but are very close to each other). I compared the version of Blue Rain Coming Down from the MGM 65-73 Singles disk, which I had assumed was the single version, with the version on the Milestones CD. I can't hear any significant difference between these two versions beyond the mastering. It makes me wonder if I don't have the true single version on CD.
     
  23. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    Well, I've always assumed that they've putted the "Single version" on the 2002 MGM Singles CD... but after checking few minutes ago... it's not the case! This is why you always thought that the two versions were identical :)

    It seems the version we usually call the "Single Version" (whether rightly or wrongly) is now very rare...

    I have to update my catalog like this (http://www.goplanete.com/orbison/orbison catalog.htm):

    - Blue Rain (Coming Down) [1973] – The Singles Collection 1965-1973, Polygram (1989); Single (1973, MGM, K-14452)
    - Blue Rain (Coming Down) [1973/LP version] – Roy Orbison 1965-1973, Vol. 5 (Sings/Memphis/Milestones) (2004, Edsel); MGM Singles CD, Orbison Records (2002);Milestone (1973, MGM, SE 4934)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 1, 2015
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  24. I just checked the wave forms in audacity of Blue Rain Coming Down and the version on the MGM Singles CD is the single mix as it matches the the wave forms of the single mix that is posted on Youtube and it does differ measurably from the Milestones CD version, so I guess I just had a hard time noticing the differences. Now for the differences: The LP version is about 4 seconds longer (cause it is a wee bit slower apparently) and the single version has a falsetto that is a slightly higher key. Not much else that really grabs my ear regarding differences.
     
  25. Bespin74

    Bespin74 Forum Resident

    I will check that tonight... I did this catalog so many years ago... and didn't listen to these recordings for a long time, it's so confusing ;-)
     

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