Fastest Guitar Alive [Original Soundtrack] [LP]

by Roy Orbison

Overview

Orbison's one bid for film stardom, The Fastest Guitar Alive, was an unqualified flop. The soundtrack fares slightly better, but only slightly. With ten songs clocking in at a mere 27 minutes, most of the tunes -- which Roy composed with longtime collaborator Bill Dees -- borrow from the cheesiest elements of cowboy music, with quasi-Mexican guitar riffs, silly Indian chants, and uneasy spaghetti western pathos. For all its ill-conceived failure, though, it includes what may be his best obscure tune, the rarely anthologized "Whirlwind." With its galloping rhythm, emotive operatic vocals, swirling strings, and ghostly backing vocals, it recalls the best uptempo ballads that he recorded during his early-'60s heyday at the Monument label. In 1968, of course, few listeners were interested. [The Fastest Guitar Alive was re-released on LP in 2015.]

Product Details

Release Date:	12/04/2015
Label:	Ume
UPC:	0602547458308
catalogNumber:	002306001
Rank:	67634

Tracks

1. Whirlwind
2. Medicine Man
3. River
4. The Fastest Guitar Alive
5. Rollin' On
6. Pistolero
7. Good Time Party
8. Heading South
9. Best Friend
10. There Won't Be Many Coming Home

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Roy Orbison   Primary Artist