Introduction - new Oriondiscs website

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Introduction

Unofficial
ORION BOOTLEG & UNOFFICIAL RELEASES

A selection of rare "bootleg" and privately released albums sorted by label and containing Jimmy Ellis recordings. Most of these would appear to be very early compilations originating from the U.K. and Europe with an occasional U.S.A. title included, the very earliest being those on the Fan, Masked Man and Orion labels. The discs on the Fan/Shelby/Lonesome Angel/Washing Machine/Texas Tea labels all originate from the same source. Releases on the Masked Man and Orion labels come from the same source.
It should be noted that these compilations, with a few exceptions, are mostly produced by fans with access to rare material and  in small quantities using "kitchen table" techniques and are not comparable with the professional looking releases featuring more well known artists. However, due to the scarcity of Orion material at that time these early compilations met a need in the world of Orion collecting as they featured recordings otherwise unavailable.


Due to the limited information available when many of these discs were conceived, many of the tracks were unknown and the designers of the discs found themselves forced to take a guess at many song titles. This has caused some confusion as several releases may contain the same songs but listed under different titles. In most cases this is easily discernible, as songs such as Leona, Lean On Me Leona and Won't You Lean On Me Leona are obviously the same song with slightly altered titles. There are however a few recordings where, even though they are correctly titled, could easily cause confusion amongst collectors, eg. the song title America is listed on several bootleg releases but the actual song when played is found to be better known among Orion fans as Thank God For America. To avoid confusion with several other song titles (America and America The Beautiful) in instances where the title is given on the sleeve as America it has been given it's better known title on it's relevant page on this site. Several other song titles have been treated similarly.
In many cases the 100% correct name of the song has only been revealed upon the release of an excellently researched release such as those from Dradco Records.
Many of these fan made titles, especially those containing early studio material, have been rendered superfluous due to their welcome release on several titles from Norway's Dradco Records as quality is much improved on the later releases.

Where possible front/back covers and record labels are shown. In some cases this has not been possible as the information has not been available. Scans/photos of any missing covers or labels would be very much appreciated.

Please Note: Recordings are listed for reference purposes only - not for sale.
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