Digitally remastered collection of 58 classic tracks from the late rock'n'roll legend spanning 1956-1962. Although he shared the same rockabilly roots as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison went on to pioneer an entirely different brand of country/pop-based rock & roll in the early '60s. What he lacked in charisma and photogenic looks, Orbison made up for in spades with his quavering operatic voice and melodramatic narratives of unrequited love and yearning. In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser. These were not only amplified by peers such as Del Shannon and Gene Pitney, but also influenced future generations of roots rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Isaak, as well as modern country stars the Mavericks.

Although he shared the same rockabilly roots as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison went on to pioneer an entirely different brand of country/pop-based rock & roll in the early '60s. What he lacked in charisma and photogenic looks, Orbison made up for in spades with his quavering operatic voice and melodramatic narratives of unrequited love and yearning. In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser. These were not only amplified by peers such as Del Shannon and Gene Pitney, but also influenced future generations of roots rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Isaak, as well as modern country stars the Mavericks.

A Love So Beautiful: Roy Orbison & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, produced by Don Reedman and Nick Patrick, features elegant and spirited arrangements of Roy's best original vocal performances with the emotion and world-class musicianship of London s most beloved orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A Love So Beautiful includes the timeless Roy tracks "Oh, Pretty Woman", "You Got It", "Crying" and more while breathing new life into fan favorites such as "Drove All Night" and the title track "A Love So Beautiful". Additionally, the album will feature instrumental backing from "Roy's boys": his three sons Wesley, Roy Jr. and Alex; plus Roy's grandson Roy Orbison III.

What it says is what you get. This double-disc collection on Monument collects all of the Roy Orbison singles recorded for the label after he left Sun, and before he left for MGM. In other words, this is CLASSIC Roy. There are 52 cuts from his biggest years, including a couple of German-language versions of "Mama" and "San Fernando." For the uninitiated, this set does leave off cuts such as "Rock House" and "Ooby Dooby," but those can be found easily elsewhere – on a comp called The Sun Years, for example. This set boils down the big Monument box set to a pair of discs that contain pure gold, revealing the diversity and depth of Orbison's genius as a writer and a singer. From "In Dreams" and "Blue Bayou" to "Shahdaroba" and "Oh, Pretty Woman," all of the bases are covered.

The best-recorded Roy Orbison live disc ever issued, taken from the soundtrack of the HBO concert from the 1980s with VIP guests like Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. This was a sort of magical video, and the performances are splendid, along with the good feelings involved. On the other hand, the performances are extremely reverential to the established studio versions of the songs (all of the hits are here), and intended to mimic them, so this isn't quite the same as a live album as it would have been done back when. The pity is that neither Monument nor MGM ever taped any complete concerts by Orbison from the 1960s, and all that remains are TV appearances from Europe.

Amazingly, it has been 30 years since Roy Orbison‘s 1987 television ‘comeback’ show A Black & White Night. To mark the occasion ‘Roy’s Boys’ – Alex Orbison and Roy Orbison Jnr – have gone back to the source footage and audio and re-edited, remastered and, if you are feeling fanciful, ‘re-imagined’ the television special, to create an expanded audio/visual document that will be available on CD/Blu-ray or CD/DVD in February.