At the Rock House

by Roy Orbison

Overview

Although it was technically Roy Orbison's first album, At the Rock House wasn't really an LP effort on his part so much as a cash-in effort by Sun Records in the wake of Orbison's later success on Monument Records with "Uptown," "Only the Lonely," etc. And understandably, the sound is very retro for 1960-1961, comprised as the record is primarily of the rock & roll and hardcore rockabilly numbers that he cut for Sun in 1956 (with his original group the Teen Kings) and 1957, including the Johnny Cash-authored "You're My Baby," the Orbison/Harold Jenkins collaboration "Rock House," and Sam Phillips' "Mean Little Mama" and "Problem Child." Not everything is quite as briskly paced as those two numbers, but even the ballads, such as "Sweet and Easy to Love" and "Devil Doll," and the melodic "This Kind of Love" and "It's Too Late," have an edge to them -- they stand midway between the rock & roll that was happening in 1956 and the more lush and dramatic sound that Orbison would perfect at Monument Records from 1959 onward. All of the material is fascinating as a sort of alternate-universe version of where Orbison might've headed musically, and most of it is downright bracing and exciting, though it's easy to see why it never succeeded at the time -- numbers like "You're Gonna Cry" and "Problem Child" were a little too intense and ambitious as rock & roll, with too many changes and involved lyrics, to hold that audience en masse. It was some of the best and most intense rock & roll you could buy in 1961 this side of Elvis Presley, however, and heard today the album is a fascinating curio from what's usually thought of as a fallow period in rock & roll history. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	07/14/2017
Label:	Org Music
UPC:	0711574812813
Rank:	41602

Tracks

1. This Kind of Love
2. Devil Doll
3. You¿¿¿re My Baby
4. Tryin¿¿¿ to Get to You
5. It¿¿¿s Too Late
6. Rock House
7. You¿¿¿re Gonna Cry
8. I Never Knew
9. Sweet and Easy to Love
10. Mean Little Mama
11. Ooby Dooby
12. Problem Child

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Roy Orbison   Primary Artist
The Teen Kings   Primary Artist
The Roses   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

The Jenkins   Composer
Chuck Willis   Composer
Jack Clement   Composer
Charles Singleton   Composer
Dick Penner   Composer
Phillips   Composer
Ray Harris   Composer
Mel Tillis   Composer
Norman Petty   Composer
Johnny Cash   Composer
Rose Marie McCoy   Composer
Roy Orbison   Composer
Clive Anderson   Liner Notes
Harold Jenkins   Composer
Willis   Composer
Justis   Composer
Wolf Freeman   Composer
Sam Phillips   Composer
Wade Moore   Composer
Charlie Singleton   Composer