Album Reviews

The big problem with vinyl 'greatest hits' compilations is that they are, of necessity, at least a generation down from the master tape. That's because assembling the actual masters into a cutting reel usually isn't allowed and even were a record label to allow it, levels, equalization and tape head azimuth issues make in nearly impossible to adjust between tracks as the tape reel rolls and the lacquer gets cut.

Worse, many major labels usually won't let masters out of the vaults so what's used to cut is an assemblage produced from copies of copies or a digital master made from originals.

There have been many pressings of this Roy compilation over the years, including the Monument/CBS Records, N.Y. original issued in 1972 (KZG 31484) shortly after Columbia bought Monument from Fred Foster, another one a decade later on Monument Records a division of Monument Entertainment Corporation of America (KWG2784-38384-1), two 180g audiophile pressings (DCC Compact Classics LPZ[2]-2042 and S&P [2] 507) and now this one from Mobile Fidelity.

Forget the original even if you find it in the dollar bins. It's difficult to mess up Bill Porter recordings, but this one does. It meanders from bright to dull and is occasionally distorted (there are occasional distortions on the master tapes, but this reissue magnifies them and adds some!). Clearly a cut from who knows what generation tapes. The 1982 edition isn't any better. While it's not the same cut, it's clearly cut from the same bright, distorted who knows what generation tape.

Finally, in the mid-nineties, DCC Compact Classics issued a version that did justice to Bill Porter's (and Tommy Strong's) recordings and Roy Orbison's artistry. This version, cut by Kevin Gray and mastered and produced by Steve Hoffman set the standard for clarity, dimensionality, warmth and resolution. And the liner notes and photos brought added value, using Boudlaux Bryant's original annotation plus a long detailed remembrance from the great Bill Porter, full musician credits, studio details and some swell photos. The laminated jacket featured Roy's signature embossed on the cover. A class act.

When DCC Compact Classics failed (not because its records and gold CDs didn't sell!), former DCC Compact Classic employee Sam Passamano, Jr. founded S&P and issued a few noteworthy titles, including a stellar sounding edition of Eva Cassidy's Songbird (S&P 501) and a reissue of this Roy compilation cut in 2004 using the same superb packaging and a new cut by Kevin and Steve at AcousTech that sounds slightly warmer and perhaps a bit more involving than the DCC original, but clearly cut from the same tape.

The right to issue the title recently passed to Mobile Fidelity, which spent a great deal of time working with Sony/BMG in an attempt to get the original master tapes, assemble them into production reels and cut in real time, making on the fly EQ and azimuth changes as needed. Mo-Fi's hiring of former Sony mastering engineer Rob LoVerde facilitated the negotiations. LoVerde is listed as a 'mastering associate' on the S&P edition's cutting notes.

According to mastering engineer Shawn R. Britton, LoVerde was given permission to disassemble the master tapes of Orbison's original releases and assemble 'greatest hits' cutting reels (and of course restore them to their original place in history once the cutting had been accomplished)!

While adjustments were needed to produce a coherent package, because Bill Porter was such a perfectionist, and because these tracks were all recorded direct to two track at only two studios (RCA Studio B and Monument Studios with 'Pretty Paper' recorded in the UK at Pye), the track to track variations weren't nearly as great as they might have been.

I still find Britton's story difficult to believe and I hope he appreciates my skepticism and doesn't think I'm calling him dishonest, because I'm not. In fact, based on listening to this spectacular sounding reissue, I'm a believer! That said, I can't tell you how many times records are claimed to have been cut from 'master tapes' only to have 'well connected' people on the inside of the record biz call me and say things like 'don't believe what you read. I have the master tapes and they've never left the building.' So I'm just passing on what I've been told! So far no one's called to dispute Shawn, but then again I'm writing this before anyone's read it!

In any case, hearing is believing and this half speed mastered version of The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison is by far, the most dynamic, transparent, deep, wide and especially detailed version I've yet heard. I've been listening to some of these tracks for nearly 50 years and I heard new musical elements and details on almost every track (along with, of course, some tape deterioration and distortion).

Detractors claim that half speed mastering makes cutting bass difficult since you're halving the frequencies and making the cutting amps reproduce ultra-low frequencies, but the bottom end of this cut is deep and powerful and reveals nuances in the bottom octaves I've never before heard. Instruments that formerly receded into the mix are now clearly audible and not because of added brightness.

Play 'It's Over' and when the castanets click at the beginning, you'll jump, even if you've heard the song 1000 times. The crescendos jump out. There's a deep bass accent on the tune I've never before heard, nor do I know what produced it but it's powerful.

The album contains all of Roy's great Monument hits and a few clunkers too, like the campy 'Working For the Man' that sounds like a cross between Sam Cooke's 'Chain Gang,' Ernie Ford's '16 Tons' and Belafonte's 'The Banana Boat Song' but it's mostly hits from 1960's 'Only The Lonely' to '64's 'Pretty Woman.'

For fanatic Roy fans nothing but the original albums will do and if that's you, Classic has many of them, including Lonely and Blue, the original of which will set you back many hundreds of dollars. The problem with the original albums is a mix of greatness and lots of corny filler. For instance, Lonely and Blue has the hits 'Only the Lonely,' 'I'm Hurtin' and 'Blue Angel,' but the rest of it is not nearly as strong. However, Roy fans would want Roy and Joe Melson's 'Blue Avenue,' and a few others, but maybe not so much a karaoke-like cover of Johnnie Ray's 'Cry' complete with strings, a high fructose corn syrup cover of 'Bye-Bye Love,' and an over the top rendering of Don Gibson's '(I'd Be) A Legend In My Own Time.'

How do the cuts common to Classic's Lonely and Blue (cut by Bernie Grundman) and Mo-Fi's'Greatest Hits compare? Well here's where it gets tricky! Mo-Fi's mastering is warmer, more supple, more 'audiophile,' and if you monitored the meters, probably more dynamic. Classic's is somewhat brighter and more direct, but Classic's is also tighter and punchier.

I've had Roy fans here and they can't seem to come to a consensus as to which they prefer. One individual, who shall remain nameless and who has no axe to grind other than being a huge Roy fan dismissed the Mo-Fi as ''not being Roy.' That's an extreme position in my book! The two versions are different, that's for sure but then the mastering chains are too: as different as my stereo is from yours!

I wish I had stayed in contact with Bill Porter so I could ask him to comment! Meanwhile, if you're a big Roy fan, when Classic's Lonely And Blue returns to print (if you don't already have it), you should pick as well as this Mo-Fi reissue up and decide for yourself. Mo-Fi returns to the original CBS packaging, which doesn't hold a match, never mind a candle to the DCC and S&P, but you can't have everything.