Every Picture Tells a Story 6/17/20

I was a huge fan of Roy Orbison's music long before I'd ever bought any of his albums. From songs like "Only the Lonely" to "Crying" to "It's Over" ("Your baby doesn't love you anymore..."), Roy's songs always seemed to cut deeper than most love-lost tunes, and his falsetto--hitting notes no human being should ever be able to hit--chilled me beyond the bone.

Like most music fans, I was deeply saddened when Roy, in the midst of a huge comeback, died suddenly on December 6, 1988--coincidentally, Mom's 50th birthday--and lamented loudly that I'd never heart Roy's voice again on a new record.

Of course, I was wrong.

Released in 1992--nearly four years after his death--King of Hearts was a collection of songs left in various stages of production. Some were completely finished; others were no more than demos. Each song got loving production from a number of industry veterans (including Robbie Robertson, who elevated "Love in Time" from a basic vocal track to something magical), and the collection was padded out with a previously released duet rendition of "Crying" with k.d. lang and the original demo for "Careless Heart" (from his previous record, Mystery Girl).

Didn't matter. I still loved it. And now that I have another copy of it via Amazon Marketplace? I still do.