Roy Orbison-Mystery Girl (1989)


 

Artist: Roy Orbison


Label: Virgin

Format: LP

Catalog Number: 7 91058-1

Year of Release: 1989

Country and Year of Edition: US 1989 Specialty Pressing, Promo with hype sticker

Sell Price: $6.76

Sell Date: 4/15/24

Condition: VG+/VG+ promo with sticker, drill cut

Discogs Last Sold  4/7/24 VG+/VG+ $7.00

Low: $3.80 VG+/G+

Median: $9.99

Average: $11.45

High: $42.50 M/M

Current low price: $4.49

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 116

Have/Want:  3497/285

Where Sold: Gig Harbor, WA

Time It Took To Sell:  9 years

Where and When Bought: free promo

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

Roy Orbison's "comeback" ended up being a posthumous release already scheduled before his sudden death of a heart attack at age 52 after tour dates in December  1988.  The second to last one was at the Channel in Boston, but it was 21+ so being underage, I couldn't go.  His final show was in Highland Heights, OH, an eastern suburb of Cleveland.  

Roy was hot from his inclusion in the Traveling Wilburys supergroup and the inclusion of "In Dreams" in the Blue Velvet film after over 20 years in the oldies nostalgia bin after his 60's run ended save for a Billboard #55 minor hit duet with Emmylou Harris in 1980 entitled "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" from the Roadie Soundtrack.

As far as Mystery Girl goes, I always felt it was solid Roy.   The Jeff Lynne production puts it squarely in it's late 80's "Letterman Rock" era.  That it sold to the point of spending time in the top 5 on Billboard the same time as the Traveling Wilburys made Orbison an unexpected late 80’s hitmaker.  This one sold a million copies in the US alone in it's first 2 months of existence.  All his other top sellers are repackages of his 60's hits, the biggest being All Time Greatest Hits chopped into two parts, the first now certified Platinum while the other remains Gold along with  Super Hits, 16 Biggest Hits, In Dreams and the first one from 1966: Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits.

As for the songs, the side openers came to mind first even if they aren't ultimately my favorites.  "You Got It" is still inescapable to this day while the Bono one-off production, "She's A Mystery To Me" is a worthy of containing the albums title.  All the Wilburys are here, save Bob.  Tom Petty and Lynne had a co-write on the hit and George Harrison played on it as well as the ballad "A Love So Beautiful."  Other stars appear: Elvis Costello writes "The Comedians and T-Bone Burnett produces it as well as "(All I Can Do Is) Dream You."

My favorite track is the side 1 closer, the other Tom Petty co-write with Roy and Jeff Lynne, "California Blue."  But more than the songs, the star of the show is the vocals.  Eternal in the sense that his voice never aged.

Hard to believe he didn't even make it into the '90's.

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