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Reviews

Roy Orbison, ‘Roy Orbison: The Monument Singles Collection’ (Legacy)

Rockabilly’s operatic soul, the sensitive, bespectacled Orbison forged a new genre of American music during his 1960–64 Monument Records hit streak (these two CDs compile A- and B-sides). Drawing from country, R&B, pop standards, and a Ravel-like classicism, Orbison tied it all together with his rapturous voice; filtered through the era’s slapback echo, it was both achingly human and otherworldly.