For those not in the know, and with that said, why on earth wouldn't you already know this, but the late, great Roy Orbison (also known by his nickname The Big O), was an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known for his trademark sunglasses, distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads.

Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country and western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis. His greatest success came with Monument Records between 1960 and 1964, when 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40, including "Only the Lonely", "Crying", and "Oh, Pretty Woman".

The rest, as they say, is history and so as much as its been said his career stagnated from 1965 through the entire 1970s, you may want to also know that a just-released incredible MGM Years box-set tells a different musical story. Roy Orbison - The MGM Years 1965-1973 is a 13 CD box-set that, basically, is a summation of that marvelous work completed during that time period with MGM Records.

Listening to these 13 CDs was a joyous afternoon well spent, of that have no doubt, but this single album has just been released alongside it - and it alone is a momentous musical occasion all of its own, trust me!

One Of The Lonely Ones is the newly discovered, never-before-heard, 1969 Roy Orbison album that has never been released until now! Recorded primarily between January and August of 1969, this album is an honest account, arguably more so than any other, of Roy Orbison's life. One Of The Lonely Ones is mixed and expertly mastered by Grammy winning engineers and the cover art features new, period appropriate, original artwork.

1. "You'll Never Walk Alone"
2. "Say No More"
3. "Leaving Makes the Rain Come Down"
4. "Sweet Memories"
5. "Laurie"
6. "One of the Lonely Ones"
7. "Child Woman, Woman Child"
8. "Give Up"
9. "The Defector"
10. "Little Girl (In The Big City)"
11. "After Tonight"
12. "I Will Always"

Listening to each one on of these 12 tracks, is like flashing back, comfortably, to an era, to a man, to a musical destiny in the making. His voice, his unmistakable vocal tone is timeless, which makes every single one of these tracks an experience all of its own. Nothing is over dubbed, nothing is highly accentuated; everything is as real, as honest as it was when he stepped into that recording booth each time, for each track.

As for the 12 tracks themselves, well, the sound is rather low-fi in places, compared to the music he would go on to create. But that was always to be expected, given what had occurred prior to the time that this album was being recorded. More on that in a moment though. "You’ll Never Walk Alone," the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that charted for Britain’s Gerry & the Pacemakers in 1965 opens the album, the melodic stirrings of both "Say No More" and the brilliantly-titled "Leaving Makes the Rain Come Down" following along seamlessly.

But it's the title track itself, "One of the Lonely Ones" where the truth behind where Orbison's head was at the time that he, his backing band, and assorted studio musicians, set themselves down in that recording studio. Orbison had endured two devastating losses - first, the loss of his beautiful young wife, Claudette, in 1966, and second, the tragic loss of his two young sons in September of 1968. Ergo, his real-life account in said track, "I’m sick and tired, uninspired/I’d rather be dead and done/Than to be what I’ve become/One of the Lonely Ones," comes from such a depressed place of honesty, that you ache for him just listening to this one solitary track.

That's backed by the guitar-heavy "Child Woman, Woman Child," which in turn is followed by the stunning beauty of both "Give Up," and one of my own stand-out highlights on this gem-infested album, "After Tonight." One of the Lonely Ones was transferred from the original tape at the famed Blackbird Studio in Nashville, TN and the tracks were individually mixed by Chuck Turner (whose credits include Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss and Marty Stuart) at the Cash Cabin under Alex Orbison's supervision. Finally, the restored-to-stereo tracks were put in the capable hands of Richard Dodd for mastering.

CD Purchase Link

www.UniversalMusicEnterprises.com