30th Anniversary Reissue Of Roy Orbison’s ‘King of Hearts’ Set For October

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King of Hearts, the posthumous Roy Orbison album assembled by his friends and family, will be reissued Oct. 14 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of its initial release.

Available on CD, digitally and as a limited-edition LP pressed on red vinyl, the new edition of King of Hearts has been completely remastered and is from Roy’s Boys LLC, the Nashville-based company founded by the late icon’s sons to administer their father’s catalog, in partnership with Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings.

King of Hearts was the brainchild of Barbara Orbison, Orbison’s widow, who sifted through completed material that had not previously been included on her late husband’s albums, as well as demos. The album was produced by various producers, including Jeff Lynne and T-Bone Burnett, as well as Robbie Robertson, David Briggs, Chips Moman, Albert Hammond and Diane Warren.

Don Was had a hand in producing three of the album’s tracks, including “Crying,” a reprise of Orbison’s 1961 hit performed as a duet with k.d. lang and recorded for the soundtrack of the film Hiding Out. The tune won a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration and had a profound impact on Lang’s life and career.

“It was really important to us that the posthumous sessions for King of Hearts avoided grief and sadness because Roy was such a positive and upbeat gentleman,” Was shares. “We set up a live band and put a microphone in the vocal booth and, as Roy’s previously recorded performances boomed through our headphones, it was easy to imagine that he was in the booth singing along with the band. His spirit permeated every corner of the studio, and the tape captured the wistful transcendent warmth of the sessions.”

Barbara Orbison, who passed away in 2011 on the very same day her husband died 23 years earlier, wrote the album’s original liner notes that are also part of the King of Hearts reissue package.

King of Hearts Track List:
You’re the One
Heartbreak Radio
We’ll Take the Night
Crying (Duet with K.d. Lang)
After the Love Has Gone
Love in Time
I Drove All Night
Wild Hearts Run Out of Time
Coming Home
Careless Heart (Original Demo)

Lorie Hollabaugh
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