Black and White and Blue

There's more than a bit of irony in packaging Orbison's work under the "Love Songs" banner (along with similar additions to the series from Merle Haggard and Marty Robbins) and releasing them in time for Valentine's Day. The fourteen selections certainly fit the theme, but as the black rose on the cover suggests, Orbison's dramas are often sung on the bleak corner of heartbreak and bitterness ("Only the Lonely" "It's Over" "Love Hurts").



When his protagonists do escape the shadows, they often subsist on hope ("In Dreams" "Dream Baby" "Blue Bayou"), or are forced to scrap with the specter of rejection ("Running Scared"). There's a more traditional romantic side to be heard on songs like "She Wears My Ring," but it's the gut-wrenching, Wagnerian-sized ballads of distress and dreams that are Orbison's greatest legacy.



In addition to the well-known hits, this theme collection takes in a few less regularly anthologized tracks, including Orbison's own "Falling" and "Goodnight," and a cover of Don Gibson's "(I'd Be) A Legend in My Time." All 14 tracks are taken from the artist's seminal time at Monument in the early '60s, and offered in finely crafted stereo.