Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night

Background

The special consisted of a performance of many of Orbison's hits at the then Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles, filmed on September 30, 1987, approximately fourteen months before his death. Three songs, "Blue Bayou", "Claudette", and "Blue Angel", were filmed but not included in the original broadcast due to time constraints.

Other celebrity admirers of Orbison were in the audience, including Billy Idol, Patrick Swayze, Sandra Bernhard and Kris Kristofferson. The backing band was the TCB Band, which accompanied Elvis Presley from 1969 until his death in 1977: Glen D. Hardin on piano, James Burton on lead guitar, Jerry Scheff on bass, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. Male background vocalists, some of whom also joined in on guitar, were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and Steven Soles. The female background vocalists were k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt. During the end credits, several of the band members are shown talking about how Orbison influenced them.

The audio from this special was released as an album by Virgin Records in 1989, titled A Black & White Night Live. After Orbison's death, his family provided the video to public television stations to air during their fund-raising campaigns.

Releases

The concert has been released in several home video formats, including VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray. The soundtrack has been released on CD, SACD that features both Stereo and Multi Channel Mixes, 12" vinyl LP, and DVD-Audio. The Laserdisc and DVD releases both contain the two previously unreleased songs "Blue Bayou" and "Claudette". The HD DVD, released in 2007, and the Blu-ray, released in September 2008, include those two songs as well as the previously-unreleased song "Blue Angel" as a bonus track.

The DVD features standard definition 480i video in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio and three lossy soundtracks: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS 5.1

The Blu-ray features high definition 1080i video in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio and two lossless soundtracks: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0

The HD DVD features high definition 1080i video in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio and at least one lossless soundtrack: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround

Soundtrack

A Black & White Night Live, the live album, was compiled and released posthumously from the television special. The album was released in February 1989 and included the songs "Blue Bayou" and "Claudette" that were cut from the original broadcast for time. However it did not include the song "Blue Angel" which was cut from the original broadcast for the same reason. The SACD/CD Hybrid Audio Disc includes "Blue Angel" as a bonus track - the SACD/CD Hybrid Disc is contained in a pack with the DVD released by Image Entertainment, USA (ID27700BDVD)

Track listing

All tracks composed by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson, except where indicated

1. "Only the Lonely"
2. "Dream Baby" (Cindy Walker)
3. "Blue Bayou"
4. "The Comedians" (Elvis Costello)
5. "Ooby Dooby" (Dick Penner, Wade Moore)
6. "Leah" (Orbison)
7. "Running Scared"
8. "Uptown"
9. "In Dreams" (Orbison)
10. "Crying"
11. "Candy Man" (Fred Neil, Beverly "Ruby" Ross)
12. "Go Go Go (Down the Line)" (Orbison)
13. "Mean Woman Blues" (Claude Demetrius)
14. "(All I Can Do is) Dream You" (Billy Burnette, David Malloy)
15. "Claudette" (not on original 1989 LP) (Orbison)
16. "It's Over" (Orbison, Bill Dees)
17. "Oh, Pretty Woman" (Orbison, Bill Dees)
18. "Blue Angel" (available on Blu-Ray)

On February 24, 2017, a 30th anniversary edition, titled Black & White Night 30, was released. The edition has been expanded, re-edited, and remastered, and it is available both as a CD/DVD and a CD/Blu-ray set.

Personnel

TCB Band:

Guest performers:

Guest Vocalists: