Big Hits from the Big "O"

BIG HITS FROM THE BIG O compiles Roy Orbison's 1985 re-recordings of his most famous works, along with '60s studio sessions cut for MGM and Sun Records (including the unreleased "Say No More").
"Twenty-four classics from Roy Orbison," reads a legend on the cover of this British compilation. What it doesn't say is that many of those classics are re-recordings of Orbison hits of the early 1960s, not the original versions. The material, licensed from Orbison's estate, does include some original recordings of tracks the estate controls, such as his 1956 Sun Records tracks "Ooby Dooby" and "Go, Go, Go (Down the Line)." The estate apparently also has possession of Orbison's 1965-1973 work for MGM Records, when his career was in decline, and several of his tracks from that era are included, such as "Too Soon to Know," which was a big hit in the U.K., but only a minor chart entry in the U.S. (Previously unreleased is a song recorded in 1969, "Say No More.") Also, Orbison's Virgin Records recordings of the `80s are owned by the estate, and that's the source of many of the re-recordings, as well as "I Drove All Night," which was featured on the 1992 posthumous album King of Hearts. So, there is a range of material here, and many of the performances are good, but it would be easy from the packaging for a potential buyer to assume that the original versions of Orbison's biggest hits are included, and they are not. ~ William Ruhlmann