The breadth of Orbison's talent was not evident until I heard all

of these songs. Before buying this set, I had the 4 disc box and

a collection of his Sun material. What I had missed was the great

Teen Kings material, and the dozens of Monument songs that cannot be found elsewhere. What I had also missed was the clarity...all too often too much is made about sound improvements but when it comes to the nature of Orbison's operatic middle-period songs, the dramatic improvements Bear Family Records were able to bring out are noticable and very welcome.

Included with the seven CDs (covering his start in 1955 through his stay with Monument in 1965) is a hardcover book with the typical Bear Family reproductions, fantastic photos, and an enjoyable essay by Colin Escott.

I own many Bear Family Records box sets. This company is the standard-bearer in quality and yet among all the sets I have this one stands alone as the most beautifully produced. If you are more than a casual/curious Rob Orbison fan, you could do yourself a big favor and get this set!

The 7CD retrospective "Orbison 1955-1965" was released 2001 on Bear Family BCD 16423 GL in Germany and contains 199 tracks. Included are remastered mono and stereo LP and single cuts, his 1st ever Acetate, Coke adverts from the 1960's and many previously unreleased outtakes and alternate versions (the majority of tracks are stereo). It was produced by Howard Cockburn, Richard Weize and John Beecher with Tape Research, Transfers and Mastering by Adam Skeaping, Howard Cockburn, Richard Weize and "Boppin' Bob Jones. The details are many, so here goes...

CONTENTS:

Disc 1, 29 Tracks, 62:48 minutes

Disc 2, 26 Tracks, 58:29 minutes

Disc 3, 17 Tracks, 72:48 minutes

Disc 4, 27 Tracks, 68:39 minutes

Disc 5, 28 Tracks, 73:58 minutes

Disc 6, 24 Tracks, 66:58 minutes

Disc 7, 38 Tracks, 79:21 minutes (28 to 38 are Coke Adverts, all Previously Unreleased)

This box will allow you to sequence the A&B sides of 34 singles - 1 on Je-Wel, 1 on Imperial by Weldon Rogers (B-side only), 5 on Sun (one of them is a re-issue), 2 on RCA, 1 on Phillips International by Ken Cook (A-side only), 1 on London Germany (both A&B versions are exclusive), 1 on London UK (the A-side version is exclusive), 20 on Monument, 1 on MGM Records (A-side only) and 1 UK-only 4-Track EP on CBS/Monument from 1983.

The Sun and Monument albums from the period are all here too (complete) along with all or parts of relevant subsequent LP/CD releases. In the list below, it should also be noted that 1 and 3 to 9 were issued in `both' Mono and Stereo on original LP - but in all cases Bear Family have used ONLY the STEREO versions (2 was only ever issued in Mono).

1. "Lonely And Blue" (Monument SM-14002, Stereo, 1961)

2. "Roy Orbison At The Rock House" (Sun Records SLP-1260, Mono, 1961)

3. "Crying" (Monument SM-14007, Stereo, May 1961)

4. "Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits" (Monument SM-14009, Stereo, August 1962)

5. "In Dreams" (Monument SLP 18003, Stereo, July 1963)

6. "More Of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits" (Monument SLP 18024, August 1964)

7. "Early Orbison" (Monument SLP 18023, Stereo, October 1964)

8. "There Is Only One Roy Orbison" (MGM Records SE 4308, Stereo, September 1965) [Note: only the opening track of Side 1 and his 1st single on the label is featured - "Ride Away"]

9. "Orbisongs" (Monument SLP 18035, Stereo, December 1965)

Other/Subsequent releases:

10. "Special Delivery" [by Roy Orbison, Joey Powers & Bobby Bare] (1964 USA LP on RCA Camden CAL 820 [Mono] and CAS 820 [Stereo])

11. "The Roy Orbison Collection" (1983 UK 2LP set on CBS/Monument MNT 10041 with a bonus 4-Track EP (XPS 178))

12. "Problem Child - Sun Sessions 1956-8" (1988 UK LP on Zu-Zazz Records Z 2006 with 12 Previously Unreleased Sun Sides)

13. "Rare Orbison II" (1990 USA CD on CBS AK 45404

14. "The Golden Decade" (Knight Records ROYCD 47002, 1990 UK 3CD Set)

15. "Are You Ready - Previously Unissued 1956 Recordings" [by THE TEEN KINGS] (2000 UK CD on Rollercoaster RRCD 3012 - all 17 tracks featured)

PACKAGING:

It's housed in a 12" x 12" hard card box with a 104-page 'hardback' book of the same dimensions. Pages 4 to 66 have a beautifully written appraisal of his career and legacy by noted musicologist COLIN ESCOTT which is itself peppered with exclusive black & white and colour photographs. Pages 68 to 83 has a brand new Discography by Bear Family's own RICHARD WEIZE which pictures those lovely Sun labels and between text features Trade Magazine reviews, session photos, record company tape boxes and master sheets, the Beatles and Roy Orbison Tour poster, his first acetate from 1955 etc. But it's finished off in real style by a 6-page array of worldwide releases on 7", EP and LP in eye-catching colour followed by Sheet Music covers and several beautiful full-plate colour photographs of Roy at home. Very, very nice...

Niggles; my biggest gripe is the cover photo which I think is rubbish - and worse it's unfortunately repeated on the book cover and amazingly on every single one of the CD inlays. With so much at their disposal and being such a huge release for a genuinely important artist - you'd think surely better could have been done? The discography gives every Monument 7" single as having an 'MO' prefix (MO 461, MO 815 etc) when they are all 45-461 and 45-815, the Sun LP isn't referenced at all, the worldwide pictures don't tell you what is from what country (no catalogue numbers either), LPs and CDs referenced in the discography aren't pictured, catalogue numbers turn up without any hint as to what they are (XPS 178 is a 4-track EP in a British-only 2LP release in 1983!). Also - for the casual buyer - getting all of his Sun, Monument and even MGM albums on separate CDs will probably now only cost you about 80 dollars - so 200 dollars is an awful lot of money in 2010 for deluxe packaging and Coke adverts! But in real terms - these are only niggles...

"Orbison 1955-1965" is expensive for sure (an import), but as with all of these hugely sumptuous box sets from Bear Family, it has exclusive musical rarities, a very comprehensive and newly formed discography and presentation-wise is a genuinely beautiful thing to behold. A legendary amount of work and affection has gone into this release - and it shows. All this - and the sound quality is fabulous too.

Just get a better photo next time Richard!

PS: I've posted a full discography of both the 7" singles and LPs (referencing the entire box) in two separate 'comment' attachments to this review

PPS: I've also reviewed the following Bear Family box sets (with discographies) that may be of interest - Louis Jordan, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Freddie King, Ella Mae Morse and Nellie Lutcher

This is a great buy, especially if you love Roy Orbison, as I do. You will enjoy the cd's & the book. The bottom, it's about Roy Orbison, the greatest singer in the world!!

There's so much sorrow, and emotion in his voice... Lots of great songs you won't find elsewhere on here, "Darkness" should have been a hit. I have never spent more money on a disc set, but I don't regret it. Money doesn't sound this good, so trade that cash for this box set right now!!!

Roy Orbison was an incredible songwriter and had an incredible voice! Bear Family always does the very best when they release the ultimate box set for any artist and they outdid themselves with the Orbison Box. It includes all his rockabilly songs and his years of hits for the Monument label through 1965. As with all Bear Family sets, it's totally comprehensive and includes outtakes and many rarities. The sound quality is unmatched with anything else out there. If you're a diehard Orbison fan, this is a must have. If you have even a slight interest in the music of Roy Orbison, you cannot go wrong with this set!