Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night is a 1988 Cinemax television special originally broadcast on January 3, 1988, starring triple Hall of Fame inductee (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame) rock/pop singer/songwriter Roy Orbison and backing band TCB Band with special guests including Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang and others. The special was filmed entirely in black and white. After the broadcast the concert was released on VHS and Laserdisc. A live album was released in 1989 . Background. The special consisted of a performance of many of Orbison's hits at the then Ambassador Hotel's Coconut 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 David Lynch, Billy Idol, Patrick Swayze, Billy Bob Thornton, Sandra Bernhard and Kris Kristofferson. The backing band was the TCB Band, which accompanied Elvis Presley from 1969 until his death in 1977: Glen  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, electric organ and keyboards 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 following morning at 7:42am, a violent 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Whittier section of Los Angeles. Several chandeliers in the ballroom had collapsed on  the master film and videotapes that recorded the performance. When the wreckage was cleared, no damage had been done. Soon after the release on VHS and LaserDisc, a bootleg CD titled "A Black and White Night, Roy Orbison in Concert with the Billion Dollar Band" surfaced, and is a rare collectors item nowadays. This CD, which came before any official CD-release of the concert, has the same 15 songs in the same order as the original VHS/LaserDisc release and has catalogue number RO.LA.87, referring to the artist, place and year of the recording. 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 release follows the tracklist of the broadcast and VHS, while the DVD release contains 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 February 24, 2017 saw the release of a re-edited 30th Anniversary Version of the Concert retitled "Roy Orbison Black & White Night 30," that contains footage that is not available on the out-of-print Blu-Ray and HD DVD releases that Image Entertainment distributed in 2007/2008. The sequencing has been corrected to represent the actual Live song order at the concert. There is also new bonus footage with alternative versions of various songs that also can be viewed as part of the main concert. The audio is English  Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided. Soundtrack. According to the authorised biography of Roy Orbison, A Black & White Night Live, the live album, was compiled and released posthumously from the television special in October 1989, and included the song "Blue Bayou" which was cut from the original broadcast for time limitations. However it did not include the songs "Blue Angel" or "Claudette" which were also cut from the original broadcast for the same reason. The live album has been released several times in different formats. 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. Track listing. All tracks composed by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson, except where indicated Section::::"Black & White Night 30" track listing. The Secret Post Show (Alternative Versions) TCB Band: Personnel. Guest performers: Guest Vocalists: Production person. Lighting Designer: Lee Rose