This version of “Blue Bayou,” taken from a 1986 show in Texas, starts with Roy Orbison effortlessly playing dreamy guitar lines before that voice makes its entrance. Orbison’s smooth tenor-baritone is as strong as ever, and then, when he reaches the mid-section and raises his pitch, it’s like heaven.
The video comes from The Last Concert – 25th Anniversary Edition, a forthcoming CD and DVD package that includes an audio recording of the last performance Orbison gave, on December 4th, 1988. The singer died of a heart attack just two days later. The DVD includes a range of performances filmed between 1981 and 1986 in California and Texas, as well as Orbison’s last-ever interview, which he gave just after the December 4th show.
The Last Concert – 25th Anniversary Edition is due out on December 3rd from Legacy Recordings/Sony Music.
