Memphis (Roy Orbison album)
Memphis | ||||
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![]() Cover art by Drew Struzan | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1972 | |||
Recorded | March 15 – April 14, 1972 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Label | MGM (SE 4867) | |||
Producer | Roy Orbison, Joe Melson | |||
Roy Orbison chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Memphis is the seventeenth album recorded by Roy Orbison, and his tenth for MGM Records. The album was released in November 1972.
History
[edit]The album took three weeks to make in March and April 1972. The album had one single, "Memphis, Tennessee", which became a minor hit in the US, charting at #84. Also included was a new, re-recorded version of Don Gibson's "I Can't Stop Loving You", which previously appeared on his 1960 album "Lonely and Blue". This was Orbison's final album that was released for London Records as Decca let Orbison out of their contract on June 30, 1972.
Reception
[edit]Bruce Eder of AllMusic said that the album "moves on to more familiar sentimental country-pop territory of the kind that Glen Campbell had been charting with and filling his albums with for a few years -- and after that comes a hot, beat-driven, chorus-laden, big-sounding number. nderstated interpretation of Don Gibson's "I Can't Stop Loving You" that shows how less can be more with a voice like Orbison's, and then there's the pop/rock country "Run the Engines Up High," which incorporates some heavy, rock-style fuzz guitar, and a version of "I Fought the Law," complete with phased drums."[1]
Billboard called it "one of his best efforts in years"[3]
Track listing
[edit]- Side one
- "Memphis, Tennessee" – (Chuck Berry)
- "Why A Woman Cries" – (Jerry McBee)
- "Run, Baby Run (Back Into My Arms)" – (Joe Melson, Don Gant)
- "Take Care of Your Woman" – (Jerry McBee)
- "I'm The Man on Susie's Mind" – (Joe Melson, Glenn Barber)
- "I Can't Stop Loving You" – (Don Gibson)
- Side two
- "Run The Engines Up High" – (Jerry McBee)
- "It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)" – (Neal Merritt, Alice Joy Merritt, Shorty Hall)
- "I Fought the Law" – (Sonny Curtis)
- "The Three Bells" – (Jean Villard; English lyrics by Bert Reisfeld)
- "Danny Boy" – (Frederick Weatherly)
Arranged by Joe Tanner Produced by Joe Melson & Roy Orbison except "Danny Boy" produced by Don Gant
References
[edit]- ^ a b Eder, Bruce. "Roy Orbison - Memphis: Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 1062. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "Pop Spotlight: Memphis". Billboard. December 16, 1972. p. 53.