Roy Orbison
In Dreams

(Monument/Legacy)

The Music Box's #6 reissue of 2006

First Appeared in The Music Box, October 2006, Volume 13, #10

Written by John Metzger

In Dreams, Roy Orbison’s third outing for Monument, was somewhat of a letdown, especially after the forward progress that he had made on Crying. The dissolution of his songwriting partnership with Joe Melson weighed heavily upon the set, and with little new material upon which to draw, Orbison and producer Fred Foster used a myriad of cover songs to fill in the collection’s gaps. Although the duo desired to emulate Crying’s thematic flow, their attempts at cohesiveness felt forced, which further exacerbated the ambience of transition that permeated the affair. Three of the four original tunes on In Dreams — the stunning Blue Bayou, the swinging Sunset, and the dramatic (They Call You) Gigolette — had sprung from Orbison and Melson’s final collaborative efforts in late 1961, and although Orbison completed the fantastical title track on his own in early 1963, it was clear that his confidence was shaken. Elsewhere, he applied his dynamic voice to lovely renditions of Boudleaux Bryant’s All I Have to Do Is Dream, Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer, and Johnny Mercer’s Dream, but much like the bulk of Sings Lonely and Blue, the arrangements and vocals on some of the other selections weren’t always as symbiotic. Nevertheless, the latest incarnation of In Dreams does sound better than ever, and the addition of the B-Side Distant Drums as well a trio of tunes that were released only as singles — the spirited Mean Woman Blues, a magnificent interpretation of Willie Nelson’s holiday classic Pretty Paper, and the gorgeously optimistic Falling — helps to alleviate its deficiencies.

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Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2006 The Music Box