Black & White Night (Ac3 Dol) [Blu-ray] [Import]

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   ロック創世記において、故ロイ・オービソンほど才能と名誉に恵まれたロッカーはいなかった。オービソンのよく伸びるテナーと感傷的なラブソングは、まるでオペラのような鮮烈さで傷心と情熱を呼び起こしたのである。この1987年のコンサート特番は、もともとケーブル・テレビ局のShowtimeが放映したもの。オービソンがポップ界の第一線から退いてから、この時点で20年が経過しているのだが、オービソンも彼の音楽も単なるノスタルジアに堕してはいない。あらゆる観点から見て、本作『A Black and White Night』は鑑賞に堪える作品となっている。輝かしいパフォーマンスとしても、完成度の高いビデオとしても、そして第一級のレトロスペクティブとしても。
   会場はLAのダウンタウンにあったココナッツ・グローブ。その後、ここは取り壊されてしまった。流線型を特徴としたアール・デコ調のステージがモノクロ画面の中に映える。コンサートの応援として、超大物のオービソン・ファンたちがオービソンの共演者に名乗りを上げた。プロデューサーのT=ボーン・バーネットの指揮下、ジャクソン・ブラウン、バーネット、エルヴィス・コステロ、k.d.ラング、ボニー・レイット、J.D.サウザー、ブルース・スプリングスティーン、ジェニファー・ウォーンズが集結。さらに、60年代～70年代初期にエルヴィス・プレスリーと活動を共にした伝説的なツアー・バンドのリズム・セクションが参加。まさしく驚異の顔ぶれなのだが、彼らは自制心をもってコラボレーションに臨むことで、いっそう注目すべき存在となっている。これらのスーパースターたちは、主役の座を奪うためではなく、明らかにオービソンを称えるためにやって来たのだ。その結果、一致団結したパフォーマンスが生まれている。
   オービソン自身も以前と変わらぬ力強い歌声を披露。天に昇るようなファルセットは、コンサートに不可欠なヒットチューンの連打で絶頂に達する。スタジオバージョンと比べても遜色ない、ドラマティックな歌いっぷりだ。一流のものを解する人々が彼のもとに集まるのは、声の魅力もさることながら、ライターとしての才能のせいだろう――数々のヒットチューンを聴いていると、そう確信させられる。イキな口説き文句のような「Pretty Woman」が今もオービソンの代表曲であるとすれば、彼は最初の、しかも最重要のロックバラード歌手だったと言える。彼は「Crying」や「Only the Lonely」のような名曲で聴く者を甘く包み込むこともできれば、優しい魅力にあふれた「Dream Baby」で夢見るような恋心を表現することもできたのだ。この夜のオービソンは、これらすべての曲を熱情と技巧の限りを尽くして歌い上げている。（Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com）

Album Description

Presented on Blu-Ray for the first time, a special one-time event documenting one of rock and roll's greatest and most unique performances. Recorded live at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, Roy Orbison is joined by an eclectic ensemble of rock and roll superstars. Highlighting this all-star line-up are Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett, J.D. Souther, Jennifer Warnes, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits. Orbison and fellow performers spend a scintillating hour performing many of his greatest hits.

Amazon.com essential video

Few early rockers were more gifted or less honored in their prime than the late Roy Orbison, whose vaulting tenor and vulnerable love songs conjured heartbreak and desire with operatic intensity. This 1987 concert special, originally broadcast on Showtime, came two decades after Orbison had retreated from pop's front lines, yet neither Orbison nor his music coasts on mere nostalgia: in every respect, A Black and White Night survives as a triumphant performance and a superb video production, as well as a first-rate retrospective of Orbison's hits.

Filmed in black and white against the streamlined art deco stage of the since-demolished Coconut Grove in downtown Los Angeles, the concert is buoyed by a remarkable cast of A-list Orbison fans who signed on as his accompanists. Under the direction of producer T-Bone Burnett, the stage band thus includes Jackson Browne, Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Jennifer Warnes, along with the rhythm section from Elvis Presley's fabled late '60s and early '70s touring band. That astonishing lineup is all the more noteworthy for the restraint with which they collaborate--it's evident that those superstars came to honor Orbison, not upstage him, resulting in a gratifying cohesion to the performances.

Orbison himself sounds as powerful as ever, his soaring falsetto cresting as dramatically as it did on the studio versions of the hits that inevitably dominate. Those songs meanwhile confirm that his blue chip admiration society came as much for the caliber of his writing as for his ravishing voice: if he remains best known for the jaunty come-on of "Pretty Woman," Orbison was first and foremost a rock balladeer, capable of bringing lumps to our throats with such classics as "Crying" and "Only the Lonely," or conjuring romantic trances through such gentle charmers as "Dream Baby." On this night, he handled all of them with fervor and finesse. --Sam Sutherland

Amazon.com

Few early rockers were more gifted or less honored in their prime than the late Roy Orbison, whose vaulting tenor and vulnerable love songs conjured heartbreak and desire with operatic intensity. This 1987 concert special, originally broadcast on Showtime, came two decades after Orbison had retreated from pop's front lines, yet neither Orbison nor his music coasts on mere nostalgia: in every respect, A Black and White Night survives as a triumphant performance and a superb video production, as well as a first-rate retrospective of Orbison's hits.

Filmed in black and white against the streamlined art deco stage of the since-demolished Coconut Grove in downtown Los Angeles, the concert is buoyed by a remarkable cast of A-list Orbison fans who signed on as his accompanists. Under the direction of producer T-Bone Burnett, the stage band thus includes Jackson Browne, Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Jennifer Warnes, along with the rhythm section from Elvis Presley's fabled late '60s and early '70s touring band. That astonishing lineup is all the more noteworthy for the restraint with which they collaborate--it's evident that those superstars came to honor Orbison, not upstage him, resulting in a gratifying cohesion to the performances.

Orbison himself sounds as powerful as ever, his soaring falsetto cresting as dramatically as it did on the studio versions of the hits that inevitably dominate. Those songs meanwhile confirm that his blue chip admiration society came as much for the caliber of his writing as for his ravishing voice: if he remains best known for the jaunty come-on of "Pretty Woman," Orbison was first and foremost a rock balladeer, capable of bringing lumps to our throats with such classics as "Crying" and "Only the Lonely," or conjuring romantic trances through such gentle charmers as "Dream Baby." On this night, he handled all of them with fervor and finesse. --Sam Sutherland