{"id":1911,"date":"2009-01-07T08:54:22","date_gmt":"2009-01-07T13:54:22","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-01-07T08:59:36","modified_gmt":"2009-01-07T08:59:36","slug":"nitpickin-can-rock-town-hall-find-five-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/nitpickin-can-rock-town-hall-find-five-t\/","title":{"rendered":"Nitpickin&#8217;: Can Rock Town Hall Find Five Things Worth Criticizing Roy Orbison for, Excluding His Look?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/orbisonwhite.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"379\" height=\"490\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image_legend\">Unsoiled?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The knowledgeable, opinionated Townspeople of Rock Town Hall have a gift (and sometimes curse) for finding fault with the greatest of the greats in rock &#8216;n roll. We were the first to cite <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2008\/01\/30\/keith_richards_most_memorable_guitar_sol\">Keith Richards&#8217; dearth of memorable guitar solos<\/a>. We were the first to point out that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2007\/06\/14\/kind_of_a_drag_lennon_prevents_rubber_so\">Lennon&#8217;s contributions to <em>Rubber Soul<\/em><\/a> dragged the otherwise landmark Beatles&#8217; album down a notch. And who else but Rock Town Hall was going to bring the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2007\/03\/05\/the_charlie_watts_hoax\">Charlie Watts hoax<\/a> to light? OK, you none of you stooped to those depths, but let he who hasn&#8217;t picked nits around here at some point feel superior &#8211; and perhaps inferior, in our rock-snob eyes. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As a way of confirming that even we can appreciate talent and good taste when it&#8217;s there for the taking, let&#8217;s conduct a most likely fruitless exercise in nitpicking.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Last night, loaded up on 50 mg of prednisone, I watched a 1972 <strong>Roy Orbison<\/strong> concert from Australia. it occurred to me that, beside his genetically compromised Look, there may be very little to find worth criticizing in the man&#8217;s work. Orbison&#8217;s not among my Top 10 faves or anything, but he had a great voice; sang strong, narrative, dynamic songs; and could rock when he wanted to. Plus he made great use of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2008\/01\/23\/rock_s_questionable_fashion_choices_shad\">shades<\/a>.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a_saEMnWF94?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nOrbison fell out of circulation for years, but even his comeback efforts, both with <strong>Traveling Wilburys<\/strong> and solo, were more than respectable. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2008\/07\/17\/grudge-match-aerosmith-vs-van-halen\">Van Halen<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2007\/05\/06\/inland_empire_lynch_takes_communion\">David Lynch<\/a><\/strong>, of all people, brought the man&#8217;s haunting voice back into our lives, and then the man withstood 80s-era <strong>Jeff Lynne<\/strong> productions <em>and then<\/em> had the good taste to die before anyone called in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2007\/08\/15\/rock_crimes_paul_schaffer\">Paul Shaffer<\/a>, the <strong>Memphis Horns<\/strong> or <strong>Antony<\/strong> for obligatory, unnecessary, and soul-sucking collaborations.<\/p>\n<p>As a way of confirming that even we can appreciate talent and good taste when it&#8217;s there for the taking, let&#8217;s conduct a most likely fruitless exercise in nitpicking. <em>Townspeople, can we find five things worth criticizing Roy Orbison for, excluding his Look?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I look forward to evidence of our large, collective heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unsoiled? The knowledgeable, opinionated Townspeople of Rock Town Hall have a gift (and sometimes curse) for finding fault with the greatest of the greats in rock &#8216;n roll. We were the first to cite Keith Richards&#8217; dearth of memorable guitar solos. We were the first to point out that Lennon&#8217;s contributions to Rubber Soul dragged <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/nitpickin-can-rock-town-hall-find-five-t\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}