Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not truly great
Review: I love Roy Orbison, so I was really looking forward to this DVD. In the end, however, I was disappointed. All those great musicians and only one song (Pretty Woman) where they really open up and jam. One of the all-time best songs (in my opinion) is the duet between Roy and k.d. lang on Crying from the earlier CD 16 Greatest Hits. In the DVD version, however, k.d. stays in the background and we don't get to hear that amazing harmony of their voices. Don't get me wrong, this is a marvelous DVD. It could have been truly great and that is the missed opportunity. I'll bet the practice sessions were much more memorable.
Rating: 
Summary: A Real Treat - Orbison and Friends Bring the House Down
Review: What more could you ask for? Roy Orbison playing some selected hits - Crying, In Dreams, Dream Baby - with some surprising Honky Tonk jammin' with veteran Telecaster great James Burton and a who's who of talent. Though Burton (technically) takes "The Boss" to school, Bruce Springsteen, who Orbison chose as his right hand man, throws some surprisingly brilliant solos back at Burton - no competition, of course. It's one heck of good time. Only complaint: Bonny Raitt doesn't get a chance to rip out her signature bottleneck slide solos, and (not that it's a bad thing), but Orbison has too many friends playing on stage. Elvis Costello and Tom Waits take turns on an electric organ that kind of puts a damper on the music. It just doesn't work. But a beautiful string arrangement (no fake strings!!) and Orbison's awesome vocal performance truly bring the house down. This was filmed shortly before Orbison's death, but Roy was truly at the top of his game. Great moments, good times, good people, and one of the greatest voices in rock and roll - you couldn't ask for more. A must for rock and roll fans.
Rating:
Summary: If You Appreciate Music...
Review: There are musicians and then there are musicians. Needless to say we all love and listen to the cream of the crop. Periodically we stoop and praise an upstart, but when it's all said and done if you don't have two of their albums they won't endure in you memory. Imagine if you will, a stage full of the best; All your favorites and some you might not have even known you liked all on one stage. Most of the time they compete and step on one another, right? In Roy Orbison's Black and White Night you see a coherent band that works together in ways previously unheard of. All egos are put aside and Roy's music explodes. If you liked Roy Orbison enough to look around you don't have a collection until you have this. If you like one of his songs you now have a reason to like more. If you like any one of the other artists on this album you now have a jumping off point for finding other great music. Just exploring the works of all the people on this album will fill your collection with fuel. This album is filled with musicianship, skill, poise, understanding, inventiveness, drive and most of all praise. If you get the video you have the added bonus of seeing the details and interchanges. You realize the unparalelled interactions found only in accomplished musicians and rarely working in such numbers. Get it, any way you can.
Rating:
Summary: ~! ! ! BEST OF THE BEST ! ! ! ~
Review: This is my FAVORITE concert DVD, and I own a few! I crank this up while I'm cooking so I can saute and hop around the kitchen at the same time! I crank it up while I'm dressing for a night out. It puts me in "the mood" for fun or for romance. I play it when I see company coming up the drive. I play it for my intellectual friends and for my darling space cadets. I play it for visitors I don't know at all. If they nod favorably, I know I'm going to like them. If they don't say a word, they can go home any time. I blast it on the outdoor speakers while bathing my vingtage T-Bird or digging in the flower beds. Every time I watch it I notice intimate vignettes and special interactions between Roy and this jamming stellar cast that I hadn't picked up on before. Black and white photograpy is a stroke of genius that augments the pure powerful impact of this legendary superstar's remarkable talents. Added visual cool is achieved through a clean Art Deco theme that carries from the stage backdrop down to the lights on the tabletops. Trust me, this stuff is GOOD!
Rating:
Summary: ROY ORBISON AND FRIENDS: A BLACK AND WHITE NIGHT
Review: I'll make this short and right to the point. At the end of this performance, K.D. Lang says, "Roy Orbison doesn't sing songs. He sings epics." I couldn't agree more.
Rating:
Summary: Everything you would expect!
Review: If you like Roy Orbison, this DVD is an excellent purchase. It is everything you would expect from a Roy Orbison performance...and unlike most movie DVD's something to play over and over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Roy Orbison sings his hits with guest singers.
Review: Roy Orbison (1936-1988) stars in this concert from 1987. But it is in black and white. But how can we be sure that Roy Orbison did this the year before he died or in the 50's.But I have no idea where the concert was from. But why on earth have this concert in black and white? Whose idea was it? How could anybody in the stands or up on stage with Roy Orbison could think that in a year that Roy Orbison die. I think his cause of death was a heartattack. But I was alive when Roy Orbison died. But I was too young to remember this. Roy Orbison sings Oh Pretty Woman, Candy Man and Only the Lonely.
Rating:
Summary: ecstatic
Review: Surely this is the most ecstatic rock concert ever recorded. No drugs here, and none were needed. From Springsteen's adoring little boy looks at Orbison, to Tom Waits wiping his face with disbelief, to the B&W photography, to Orbison's still extraordinary voice, to the songs themselves, there is nothing else quite like this loving and joyous homage to one of the greats of rock&roll.
Rating:
Summary: Superb dip into the nostalgia box
Review: I first heard Roy Orbison when I was sixteen years old and trying to do all the things that a grown up does. And I mean everything. Drinking, smoking, chasing women. I have great memories of opting to feed the juke box into playing Only The Lonely over and over again at the expense of losing valuable drinking and smoking. Roy has remained onre of the greatest musical influences of my life and I felt the pain when Claudette was killed in 1966 and when two of his kids perished in the fire two years later. Although Roy dropped out of the front line, I was priveleged to see him live at the Wembley International Country Music Festival in 1982. Would the high register remain the same? I needn't have worried, he raised the roof together with the standing ovation that came at the end of his act. Like so many others, I was looking forward to seeing Roy on the road with the Travelling Wilburys. Unfortunately, the ultimate tragedy struck before I could realise that dream. But this new video has taken me back to a time when the music world welcomed Roy back to his rightful place. Every single track holds a special memory for me, and it will receive pride of place in my video collection.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A CLASSIC!
Review: Words cannot describe this video accurately. You have to see and hear it. Roy Orbison wrote and sang many beautiful songs over the years. His voice was great in the 60's and 70's, but by the time he made this video, it mellowed and improved. The songs are his very best-- and you won't believe the talent he had on stage with him-- Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, K.D. Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, Jackson Brown, just to name a few. You will be listening to this video over and over and over!
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