Roy Orbison Albums Ranked

Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames “the Caruso of Rock” and “the Big O”. Many of his songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project defiant masculinity. He performed standing still, wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.
In the 1980s, Orbison experienced a resurgence in popularity following the success of several cover versions of his songs. In 1988, he co-founded the Traveling Wilburys, a rock supergroup with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. Orbison died of a heart attack in December that year at age 52. One month later, his song “You Got It” (1989) was released as a solo single and became his first hit to reach the U.S. Top 10 in nearly 25 years.
Orbison’s honors include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2014. Rolling Stone placed him at number 37 on their list of the “Greatest Artists of All Time” and number 13 on their list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”. In 2002, Billboard magazine listed him at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists. Here are all of Roy Orbison’s albums ranked.

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10. The Classic Roy Orbison (1966)

“One of Orbison’s under appreciated albums but in my opinion this is one of the best. His voice was in top shape. His vocals are soaring and surging one moment and supple and yearning the next. You can hear the early rock and country influences.The production is amazing and the new edition of remixing and remastering is superb. I loved the cover…no one looked like Orbison or sounded like this.”

9. Roy Orbison’s Many Moods (1969)

” Roy Orbisons recordings from this period were easily as good as anything he had recorded previously for Monument. They were generally not as well recieved at the time by the buying public, but this was more a sign of the ever fast changing times and music scene as opposed to a drop in quality from Roy. However Roys private life made the headlines quite a lot during the mid to late 60’s primarily due to the very tragic accident that caused the death of his ex-wife Claudette in 1966 and the dreadful house fire in which two of his sons were killed whilst he was on tour in England in 1968.”

8. Cry Softly Lonely One (1967)

“‘Cry Softly Lonely One’ was Orbison’s first authentic ‘new studio album’ since ‘The Classic Roy Orbison’. After a fine tribute album to Don Gibson (Sings Don Gibson) and a hit and miss soundtrack LP for his ill-fated film (The Fastest Guitar Alive) (check that one out for the morose, intense low-fi ballad “Best Friend”, a track so serious it didn’t make the comedy movie), Orbison’s new release was named for the modest success of what was to be the singer’s last American Top 100 charter for decades.”

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7. There Is Only One Roy Orbison (1965)

“Much like Fats Domino’s recordings for ABC-Paramount can’t match his Imperial sides, Roy Orbison’s MGM output doesn’t quite maintain the lofty standards of his Monument catalog.  In both cases, the new labels seemed to be trying to force the artists in question into a more “pop”- oriented style.  Thankfully, whereas Fats was often buried underneath an avalanche of strings and voices, Orbison, by and large, maintains his trademarked sound.”

6. The Orbison Way (1966)

“Roy Orbison cut his most creative and aesthetically satisfying longplayer with his magnus opus ‘The Orbison Way’. The bulk of the album’s content had been recorded in December of 1965 in Atlanta, and if one were to put a label on this disc, I can only think of the term ‘baroque-pop’. All twelve selections are wonderfully arranged by Bill McElhiny, and the LP has a consistency that wasn’t always the case with Roy’s albums.Every track here is a gem, starting off with the two hit singles “Crawling Back” and “Breakin’ Up Is Breakin’ My Heart”, which open each side respectively.”

5. Roy Orbison Sings (1972)

“There is a comforting country atmosphere throughout ‘Roy Orbison Sings’ and it is still somewhat puzzling that while his contemporaries (Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich) were able to reignite their flagging careers through the country genre, Orbison never was. His vocal wizardry is given the green light on the stylish “Beaujolais” and especially on the epic “It Takes All Kinds of People”. The latter was written for the cult film ‘Moonshine War’, but this multi-layered, richly orchestrated (some could say oversaturated) track, where Orbison gently moves up the vocal scale to come to yet another crashing crescendo, didn’t revive Orbison’s fortunes.”

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4. King of Hearts (1992)

“In a sense, this album is stronger than the much lauded ‘Mystery Girl’. Whereas that swansong does feature the eternal treasures “In the Real World”, the soulful “The Only One” and “She’s a Mystery to Me”, the rest of the disc, to me, has always come across as rather overblown late ’80s excess, case in point being cuts as “A Love So Beautiful” and “Dream You”, or the quiet tepid retro rocker “You Got It”. To round out the album, the Orbison family threw in a bunch of previously released songs that nonetheless fit perfectly. There’s the 1985 single “Wild Hearts” and the beautifully introspective, slightly gospel-fide “Coming Home” (from the ‘Class of ’55’ release).”

3. Crying (1962)

“Crying finds Roy Orbison approaching pop stardom. Fueled by the hit songs “Running Scared” and “Crying” plus the uptempo pop/rocker Lana, Roy Orbison would become one of the best selling artists in the country. “Love Hurts” is a building love song. Also included are decent cover songs such as “The Great Pretender,” “She Wears My Ring” and “Nite Life.” I also own the 2006 CD reissue of this album. Two of the four bonus tracks are the uptempo pop/rockers “Candy Man” and “Dream Baby” which only make a very good album better.”

2. In Dreams (1963)

“One of the most incredible voices pop music ever had….aching with loneliness but with an almost operatic sweep. Fred foster at monument got a great sound for him too. The stunning, title track aside, Roy shows his chops on a set of mostly orchestrated country balladry ‘lonely wine’ ‘dream’ ‘all I have to do is dream’… Mexican style ballads that show his Texan roots, ‘shahdaroba’, and funky, Elvis style pop ‘blue bayou’ ‘sunset’.”

1. Mystery Girl (1989)

“The Big O’s last proper full length album and his best. Fresh from his Wilbury revival, Roy wisely stuck with band mate Jeff Lynne to oversee a large chunk of the production for this album and it paid huge dividends on ‘You Got It’, a late-’50s/early ’60s rock ‘n’ roll pastiche which makes total sense from one of the men who pioneered it, in equal measure sounding like a dead ringer for a classic Orbison hit and yet at the same time sounds right at home in 1989, courtesy of Lynne’s genial production techniques.”