Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Question book-new.svg
 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night is a 1988 Cinemax television special originally broadcast on January 3, 1988 on HBO starring Hall of Fame singer/songwriter Roy Orbison. The special was filmed entirely in black and white. A live album was released following the broadcast.

Contents

[edit] Background

The special consisted of a performance of many of Orbison's hits at the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles, taped on September 30, 1987, approximately a year before his death. Three songs, "Blue Bayou", "Claudette", and "Blue Angel", were taped but not included in the original broadcast due to time constraints.

Put together by musical director T-Bone Burnett, Orbison was accompanied by a supporting backing band which included many notable musical performers. All were fans who volunteered to participate in the special.[citation needed] Other celebrity admirers of Orbison were in the audience, including Billy Idol, Sandra Bernhard, and Kris Kristofferson. The backing band was the TCB Band, which accompanied Elvis Presley from 1969 until his death in 1977: Glen D. Hardin on piano, James Burton on lead guitar, Jerry Scheff on bass, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. Male background vocalists, some of whom also joined in on guitar, were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, and Steven Soles. The female background vocalists were k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt. During the end credits, several of the band members are shown talking about how Orbison influenced them.

The song "Oh, Pretty Woman" from this performance, which features dueling guitar solos between Springsteen and Burton, was nominated for a Grammy Award for best live performance. Re-released as part of a CD bearing the same title as the motion picture, the song won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

The special was later released in several home video formats, including VHS, Laser disc, and DVD, with the laserdisc and DVD releases containing the two previously unreleased songs. An HD DVD version was released in 2007. A Blu-ray version was released in September, 2008. "Blue Angel" appears on both the HD DVD and the Blu-ray disc as a bonus track.

The audio from this special was released as an album by Virgin Records in 1989, titled A Black & White Night Live.

[edit] Soundtrack

Black & White Night
Live album by Roy Orbison
Released February 3, 1998
Recorded September 30, 1987
Genre Rock
Length 61:40
Label Orbison
Producer T-Bone Burnett
Professional reviews
Roy Orbison chronology
Combo Concert: 1965 Holland
(1998)		 Black & White Night
(1998)		 Live
(1998)

Black & White Night, the live album, was compiled and released posthumously from the television special. The album was released in February of 1998 and included the songs "Blue Bayou" and "Claudette" that were cut from the original broadcast for time. However it did not include the song "Blue Angel" which was cut from the original broadcast for the same reason.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks composed by Roy Orbison; except where indicated

  1. "Only The Lonely" (Orbison, Joe Melson)
  2. "Dream Baby" (Cindy Walker)
  3. "Blue Bayou" (Orbison, Joe Melson)
  4. "The Comedians" (Elvis Costello)
  5. "Ooby Dooby" (Dick Penner, Wade Moore)
  6. "Leah"
  7. "Running Scared" (Orbison, Joe Melson)
  8. "Uptown" (Orbison, Joe Melson)
  9. "In Dreams"
  10. "Crying" (Orbison, Joe Melson)
  11. "Candy Man" (Fred Neil, Beverly "Ruby" Ross)
  12. "Go Go Go (Down the Line)"
  13. "Mean Woman Blues" (Claude Demetrius)
  14. "(All I Can Do is) Dream You" (Billy Burnette, David Malloy)
  15. "Claudette"
  16. "It's Over" (Orbison, Bill Dees)
  17. "Oh, Pretty Woman" (Orbison, Bill Dees)

[edit] Personnel

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Orbison_and_Friends,_A_Black_and_White_Night"