Classic Albums- Mystery Girl Roy Orbison(1989)

Mystery Girl was the last recorded album by American rock singer-songwriter Roy Orbison as he sadly passed away from an heart atack on December 6th 1988. It was at this time that Roy Orbsion's career was starting to pick up again in the late 80's as after the huge success he had back in the 60's with only the Lonley, Crying,Running Scared, Working for the Man, Pretty Woman,In Dreams, Blue Bayou, It's Over and many others amd went through an decline in his career from mid-late 60's through the 70's as well as going through personal tragedies with the deaths of his wife Claudette in 1966 and 2 of his sons Anthony and Roy jr in a fire in 1968 while Roy was in ENgland on tour and by about 1987 his career was starting to revive as he released "In Dreams The Greatest Hits" which he re-recorded his hits as well as recording an song called Life Fades Away which was featured in the movie Less Than Zero that starred Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr as well re-recorded Crying with singer KD Lang which it won the Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1987 and also had been in inducted into the Rock'n'Roll HAll Of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of fame. it was around that time that he signed up with Virgin Records and did an concert at the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom with KD lAng, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt,James Burton, Elvis Costello, jackson Browne and others which was released as Roy Orbison and Friends A Black and White Night. It was also at that time that Roy was working with George Harrison, bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne(Electric Light Orchestra) and Tom Petty to recorded as the Travelling Wilburys releasing the album Travelling Wilburys Vol 1 which was released in October 1988 which went to number 3 in the USA, no 1 in Australia and no 16 in the UK and it had the hit singles Handle With Care, End of the Line,Last night, Tweeter and the Monkey Man and Heading for the Light and Roy sings lead on the track Not Alone Anymore. The recording for the Mystery Girl album was recorded from October-November 1988 with ROy producing it along with Jeff Lynne, Mike Campbell(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Second wife Barbara who passed away in 2011, Bono(U2) and T bone Burnett an US record producer,musician and songwriter and it was completed when Roy passed away which the songs were finalized through the collaborative of several artists who were friends and admirers. The album was released on February 7th 1989 which went to number 5 in the USA, no 2 in the Uk and number 1 in Australia and it was at that time that the Travelling Wilburys vol 1 album was in the charts and it made Roy along with ELvis Presley and Michael Jackson to have 2 albums in the top 5 charts at the same time. From that album it had the hit singles You Got it, California Blue and She's a Mystery to me which was written the Edge & Bono of U2 which was written in 1987 in London during an restless night sleep during the group's Joshua Tree tour and the next morning wrote the song for Roy which he played it to the band at Wembley Stadium during the pre concert soundcheck and also Roy met the band after the show which Bono played the song to him. Besides from those 3 hits there an great songs on this album like In the Real World written by Will jennings and Richard kerr, the Only one written by his son Wesley and Craig Wiseman, All I Can DO Is Dream You written by billy Burnette who was in Fleetwood Mac at that time and David Malloy, the Comedians written by Elvis Costello and many others. it's an Brilliant album and the songs hold up very well today which sounds so great as it did in 1989 and Roy was at his best on this album which among the musicians on the album were Steve Cropper(Booker T and The MG's), George Harrison, Tom Petty, Howie Epstein,Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Session drummer Jim Keltner, Rick Vito who was also in Fleetwood MAc at the time, Bono(U2) etc. I remember getting this album on cassette in May 1989 and use to play it a lot mainly You Got It which it's been one of my favourite songs and I have the CD version of the album which sounds great to me any way. This is Roy's best album ever made and it is an classic album indeed which it's still in the shops somewhere in the world.