This 25-track release features Roy Orbison's best work on the Monument record label. The five years (1960-65) he spent recording for this label were among his most productive, and yielded classics such as "Only the Lonely," "Crying," "Blue Bayou," "Running Scared," and "Oh, Pretty Woman."

All tracks originally recorded for Monument Records.

Recorded between 1960 & 1965. Includes liner notes Nick Shaffran.

Liner Note Author: Nick Shaffran.

Recording information: 1960-1965.

Collectables Records' Roy Orbison compilation Monumental Hits, issued at a discount price, compares favorably with other single-disc Orbison hits collections. As the title suggests, these are original Monument Records recordings licensed from Monument's corporate parent, Sony Music. Orbison recorded for the label between 1960 and 1965, and scored all his early major hits there. All of those Top 20 singles are included -- "Only the Lonely (Know How I Feel)," "Blue Angel," "Running Scared," "Crying," "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)," "In Dreams," "Mean Woman Blues," "Pretty Paper," "It's Over," and "Oh, Pretty Woman" -- along with most of Orbison's Top 40 hits of the period. A few of those lesser hits are missing ("Falling," "Goodnight," and "[Say] You're My Girl"), and, oddly, the album concludes with eight B-sides of the hit singles, including the B-sides of the missing A-side hits. None of them are great lost songs. ("Love Hurts," a B-side, heard earlier in the collection, is, however.) As a hits collection, the album would have been better if it had been sequenced chronologically, if it had included such non-Monument Orbison favorites as "Ooby Dooby" and "You Got It," and if there were fewer obscurities. But the sound is good, all the big Monument hits are here, and the price is right. ~ William Ruhlmann

Genre:

• Pop / Rock

Labels:

• Collectables Records

Music Categories:

• Oldies: Rock 'N' Roll

Product Groupings:

• Clearance CDs
• Collectables Records - Audio CDs