Laminar Flow (album)
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| Laminar Flow | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 16, 1979 | |||
| Recorded | February 1979 | |||
| Genre | Disco, rock, pop | |||
| Length | 34:20 | |||
| Label | Asylum | |||
| Producer | Clayton Ivey, Terry Woodford | |||
| Roy Orbison chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Laminar Flow | ||||
Laminar Flow is an album by the American musician Roy Orbison.[2][3] It was recorded at Wishbone Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and released on May 16, 1979, by Asylum Records.[4] It was the last album of new material Orbison would release in his lifetime. His next studio effort, In Dreams, featured re-recordings of old Orbison hits while Mystery Girl and King of Hearts, his final collections of all-new material, were released posthumously. "Hound Dog Man" is a tribute to Elvis Presley.[5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [6] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [8] |
| Rolling Stone | (unfavorable)[9] |
| Record Mirror | [10] |
The Los Angeles Times called it "a collection of easy-listening pop that shows the Orbison pipes to be in glorious form."[11] Suggesting that while "it was a bit of a departure" from his sound, Billboard notes that "he still knows his way around a ballad as in 'Love is a Cold Wind', 'I Care', 'Poor Baby'."[12] Cashbox stated, "The album has a decidedly MOR feel to it, but there are exceptions like 'Lay It Down', a nifty rocker."[13]
The Globe and Mail wrote that "Laminar Flow is a travesty: disco, fake disco and fake California rock form the backgrounds while poor Roy (who still sings well) flounders atop with absolutely no confidence."[14] Lindsay Jones of Record Mirror called the album "kind of boring" and claimed that, "from the over-thirties-night disco of 'Easy Way Out' and the watered-down funk of 'Lay It Down', through to the half-hearted rocker 'Movin', Orbison tries for 'variety'."[10]
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic notes that "'Easy Way Out' and 'Friday Night' "employ trendy disco beats, while 'Lay It Down' and 'Warm Spot Hot' settle for funk... Trying for different radio formats, 'Tears' is one of several contemporary-sounding ballads seemingly intended for adult contemporary radio."[6]
