Every Friday night, with help from the Spotify New Release Sorting Hat, I scour the thousands of albums that have just been released and are now available on Spotify. There are too many for me to be extremely thorough, sometimes I'll hit on several interesting records while there are other times I walk away practically empty handed.
Last Friday was shaping up to fall into the latter category when I noticed this new production from the legendary Roy Orbison. At the time I thought it was probably a remastered re-release of an older album, as I am not all that familiar with the entirety of his catalog. A performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was all I knew, figuring it might be a previously unreleased concert finally seeing the light of day.
That was enough to pique my interest so I clicked on it and let the music play.
Next day I'm feeding my ridiculous facebook addiction and I come across and ad-post for A Love So Beautiful. A short foray into the comments section and I found out that I was wrong not only about it being a live recording but also about it's status as an older album finally being released. Turns out Mr. Orbison never actually sat in the same room with anyone involved in the project. How could he? He's been dead for 30 years.
I think it was Natalie Cole who first recorded a duet with a deceased person, in this case her legendary father Nat "King" Cole. Since then the concept, albeit not used too very often, has expanded to allow all four Beatles to be involved in the production and recording of two songs when only three Beatles were still among the living. I can't think of any other examples offhand but this new Roy Orbison "collaboration" with the Royal Philharmonic is 53 minutes of proof that it can be done tastefully with splendid results.
ROY ORBISON on Spotify
There were some purists on facebook who were moaning, bitching and complaining about how Roy's music was "perfect as it is" and shouldn't be messed with. All these negative comments coming less than 24 hours after the album was released, I couldn't help but wonder if they'd actually even listened to the damn thing before lodging their unsolicited complaints. I highly doubt they did, it's just a knee-jerk reaction to the tampering with a legend's legacy and I get that. I really do get it. At least in most cases I do. A Love So Beautiful could well have been a half-ass cash-in sell-out affair. But this time it's not. This time it's perfect. The arrangements are so well written they compliment the originals. They never overpower and they ALWAYS leave room for Roy Orbison's expressive singing to be the star attraction. The sound quality is what you'd expect from a well-respected philharmonic orchestra with the added bonus the initial isolation of Roy's voice required to sync with the orchestra brings him front and center to the point where you'll hear even more of the unique intricacies that set him apart from the rest than you ever have before. It's truly astounding.
I was content to take it as it was, the entire project and everything about it. Let the purist's groan. Then...
...Then I found out this afternoon that the Love So Beautiful album is the forerunner to a tour of a Roy Orbison hologram. The whole thing has his son's blessing so I'm content to refrain from the tedious discussion about the merging of such advanced technology, ethics and such that come into play when you bring holograms into the mix. I will simply leave you with this story from The Sunday Post in which Roy Orbison Jr. will surely put our fears to rest:
THE son of Roy Orbison yesterday hailed his dad’s return to the stage – almost 30 years after his death.
The American music legend, who died in 1998, will come to life again for the world’s first concert tour by a hologram.
Fans in Scotland will get the chance to see a life-sized, three-dimensional digital image of the man nicknamed The Big O on stage belting out classic hits such as Pretty Woman, You Got It, Crying and Only the Lonely, backed by a 40-piece orchestra.
Virtual Roy Orbison brings a tear to son’s eyeRussell Blackstock, 05 November 2017
His son, Roy Orbison Jr, told The Sunday Post about the spine-tingling moment when he first saw his late dad’s all-singing hologram in action recently.
“This is the first time a deceased artist has promoted an album with a live tour,” he said.
“I saw it for the first time last week and I certainly shed a tear. I see images of my dad every day but the hologram of him is amazing.
“The creators said that I would see dad walk to the centre of the stage and start to sing Only The Lonely, which was always the first song he played in concert.
“I couldn’t believe it when they told me it wouldn’t just stay in one place but was going to walk about.
“I kept walking around the hologram to see if it looked real from every angle – and it does.
“It was a very emotional moment and it is the closest we can come to seeing and hearing dad perform again.
“I hope the fans will love it.”
The technology has been used before for limited one-off performances. Rapper Tupac Shakur was resurrected for the Coachella Festival in California in 2012, and a likeness of Michael Jackson appeared at the 2014 Billboard Awards.
But rather than use old footage, Roy Orbison In Dreams: The Hologram Tour – coming to Glasgow and Edinburgh in April – will use the latest technology to create a “new” performance.
“The hologram of dad was created using five or six different methods,” Roy Jr, a musician and record producer, said.
“It is a composite of a number of images and was created by the same people who did the Michael Jackson hologram, but the technology has advanced significantly since then and uses almost six times as many pixels in HD.”
The real star of the show is Orbison’s famous haunting voice though, he insisted.
“There are a lot of Roy Orbison tribute acts out there but it is only dad’s voice that can bring on those Orbison goosebumps.
“The whole show is built around his voice, as there is no other like it.”
Roy Jr said he believed the groundbreaking new technique could open the door for future hologram tours by other deceased greats such as Hank Williams, Louis Armstrong and Elvis Presley.
Even Abba, all of whom are still alive, is planning a hologram tour in 2019.
“It’s perfect. We can be on stage while I am home walking the dogs,” the Swedish band’s Benny Andersson said.
Roy Orbison first delighted Scots fans when he toured with the Beatles in 1963. He last played here the year before he passed away, Roy Jr said.
A new album, A Love So Beautiful: Roy Orbison With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, has just hit the charts.
Roy Jr revealed it was a real family affair, with his two brothers Alex and Wesley also involved.
One track even features a contribution by Roy Jr’s 10-month old son, Roy III.
“We got the little one to hit an electric guitar on a song and also tap on a tambourine,” he said.
“It means there are three generations of Roy Orbison’s performing at the same time on the same song.
“Dad would have wept tears of joy if he was still here to see his grandson do that.”
No comments:
Post a Comment