Day 360: Roy Orbison – Mystery Girl
Since I only have five days left (!!!!) until I’ve completed the year, I’ll listen to another album by an artist who I’ve discovered through this project. These days, if I’ve had about two glasses of wine and a pair of headphones is nearby, there’s a high chance I’ll put on a little bit of Roy Orbison. I didn’t expect to end up being such a fan, it just kind of snuck up on me — I said on day 207 that he’s probably not going into regular rotation, but here we are. This also sort of ties in with yesterday’s post, since some of it is co-written and produced by Jeff Lynne.
Album cover courtesy of Virgin Records
Roy Orbison had 19 Top 40 hits in the ‘60s, but by the ‘70s, his career had stagnated completely. His wife and his children also died in two separate accidents, and he’d barely made it out alive because of a serious health issue. He’d released some albums, but to limited commercial success, but he started having a career resurgence in the ‘80s when David Lynch had the song “In Dreams” in his film Blue Velvet, and when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was on the receiving end of a very emotional speech by Bruce Springsteen, which was full of praise:
Orbison’s voice was unearthly. He had the ability, like all great Rock and Rollers, to sound like he dropped in from another planet and yet get the stuff that was right to the heart of what you were livin’ in today, and it was how he opened up your vision. I carry his records with me when I go on tour today, and I’ll always remember what he means to me and what he meant to me when I was young and afraid to love.
In 1988, his career renaissance picked up even more when he joined the Traveling Wilburys supergroup with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. While he was recording with them, he was also recording his solo comeback album, having not released any original solo material in ten years. All of his bandmates helped him, with Jeff Lynne writing a few songs and co-producing the album, and the rest of them writing and playing on the album. However, unfortunately Roy Orbison died immediately before Mystery Girl was released in 1989. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, which was the highest position he ever reached.
Do I like it? Yes, of course. Truly, Bruce Springsteen was right when he said nobody sings like Roy Orbison, the other Traveling Wilbury’s also said that they were in awe whenever he got behind the mic, even after they’d all become pals. But how would you not be? His voice is just strikingly unique, and it’s just as interesting to listen to as it was when he recorded his earlier albums more than 15 years earlier.
However, it’s not my favourite Roy Orbison album. I like the soft, fuzzy and sort of haunting ballads and love songs from early on in his career, there’s just something that’s too polished about this one for my liking, some of the magic is gone. If he’d been alive for longer and gotten to release many more albums, I’m sure he could have made something even better than his previous stuff, but unfortunately that wasn’t in the cards.
I googled to see which album his fans rank the highest and it was almost overwhelmingly this one, but it’s unfortunately not the case for me, I like him most when he’s simultaneously tender and eerie, and this one is neither. But it’s still a lovely album, I could listen to it again. Mystery Girl gets an 8/10.