Early Orbison

Early Orbison is an album recorded by Roy Orbison on the Monument Records label at the RCA Studio B^[1] in Nashville, Tennessee, and released in 1964. Essentially a compilation of songs from his first two Monument albums, it is most noteworthy for containing "Pretty One", the "B" side of Orbison's second Monument single, "Uptown". Many Orbison fans believe "Pretty One" would have been his first major hit had it been promoted as an "A" side. The second song of interest on this album is "Come Back to Me My Love" which Fred Foster, owner of Monument Records and producer of all of Orbison's earliest hits, says was the song which inspired production of the hit arrangement that later became "Only the Lonely".

Early Orbison
Compilation album by Roy Orbison
Released	October 1, 1964
Recorded	September 18, 1959 – May 27, 1961
Genre	Rock and roll, rockabilly
Length	27:23
Label	Monument
Producer	Fred Foster
Roy Orbison chronology
More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits (1964) Early Orbison (1964) There Is Only One Roy Orbison (1965)

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the issue dated October 17 that year and remained on the chart for 11 weeks, peaking at number 101.^[2] It reached No. 58 on the Cashbox albums chart where it spent there for 11 weeks.^[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
New Record Mirror	[6]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Great Pretender"	Buck Ram	3:00
2.	"Cry"	Churchill Kohlman	2:42
3.	"I Can't Stop Loving You"	Don Gibson	2:41
4.	"I'll Say It's My Fault"	Roy Orbison, Fred Foster	2:23
5.	"She Wears My Ring"	Felice & Boudleaux Bryant	2:28
6.	"Love Hurts"	B. Bryant	2:26

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Bye Bye Love"	F. Bryant, B. Bryant	2:12
2.	"Blue Avenue"	Orbison, Joe Melson	1:19
3.	"Raindrops"	Melson	2:05
4.	"Come Back to Me (My Love)"	Orbison, Melson	2:27
5.	"Summer Song"	Orbison, Melson	2:43
6.	"Pretty One"	Orbison	2:17

References

1. Orbison, Roy Jr. (2017-10-17). The Authorized Roy Orbison. Orbison, Wesley,, Orbison, Alex (First ed.). New York. ISBN 9781478976547. OCLC 1005700738.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
2. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Joel Whitburn's top pop albums : 1955-1996 : compiled from Billboard magazine's pop album charts, 1955-1996. Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record Research. p. 580. ISBN 0898201179.
3. Hoffmann, Frank W (1988). The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 278. ISBN 0-8108-2005-6.
4. Early Orbison at AllMusic
5. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 1062. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
6. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (6 April 1968). "Roy Orbison: The Early Orbison" (PDF). New Record Mirror. No. 48. p. 8. Retrieved 12 August 2024.