Customer Reviews

Vol. 1-Traveling Wilburys

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This low-key supergroup effort by Harrison, Dylan, Orbison, Petty and Lynne was a well deserved hit when it was released in 1988, peaking at No. 3 on Billboard's album charts. And justifiably so. The album is filled with wonderfully crafted (if sometimes slight) and enjoyable songs. In hindisght, that appeared to be the goal of this project--to have a good time. There are no superstar trappings here. All songwriting credits are attributed to the Traveling Wilburys. In fact, real names are not to be found anywhere on the album.

There are numerous highlights, beginning with the the album's first single "Handle With Care," which features vocals by Harrison and Orbison with some nice slide guitar work from Harrison as well. Dylan's tongue-in-cheek lyrics to "Dirty Work" give new meaning to 'auto'-eroticism. [Sample lyric: You don't need no wax job / You're smooth enough for me / If you need your oil changed / I'll do it for you free.] "Rattled" is a delightful rockabilly number. "Last Night" has a funky Jamaican rhythm to it. "Not Alone Any More" features Orbison's soaring tenor reminiscent of his Monument-era classics. "Heading for the Light" with Harrison handling lead vocal also makes good use of saxophone. "End of the Line" closes the album with a terrific uptempo rocker and sadly serves as a fitting tribute to Orbison who died of a heart attack not long after the album was completed. [The survivng Wilburys did a wonderful video to this track paying tribute to their musical comrade.]

Additional support is provided by honorary Wilburys Jim Keltner (drums), Jim Horn (saxophones), and Ray Cooper (percussion). From start to finish, this album is a pure joy. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This album is brilliant! This was definitely one of the most exciting music projects to come out of the '80s. There had been "super-groups" before, like the Yardbirds or Blind Faith, but it was unprecedented to have FIVE well-established rock 'n roll greats (Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty) form their own band and bring out two records, and it was a trans-Atlantic collaboration. The story goes that ex-ELO maestro Jeff was helping produce new albums by George and the others, when they decided, "Hey, why not try to bring out a whole album together?!"
Part of the beauty of Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is that it is so under-stated. It's not like the five guys were saying, "Look at us, we're a super-group!" No, they got pure enjoyment from their collaboration, appearing almost mysteriously as five "Wilbury" brothers. You first had to figure out who those guys in sunglasses were on the album cover.
That notwithstanding, this album was also invaluable for the appreciation it gave the legendary Roy Orbison for a new generation. It made me interested in his songs from way back, even before the movie Pretty Woman gave him new exposure. Sadly, Orbison died soon after Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was released. The band commemorated his passing in their music video for the single, "End of the Line." When Orbison sings, a guitar is shown in an otherwise empty rocking chair.
But the first song I heard from this album was the catchy story-song, "Tweeter and the Monkey Man." It was Bob Dylan, but it was more. What a great song! It got a lot of airplay in South Africa, where I grew up. The first single, "Handle With Care," is also excellent, with Harrison leading the vocals and the other guys chiming in.
Bob does a great job on "Dirty World," which has some really funny tongue-in-cheek lyrics, e.g., "I love her big refrigerator." "Rattled" is fine rockabilly sung by Jeff Lynne and with Roy adding his trademark growls. "Last Night" with its reggae beat is probably my favorite track, a humorous story of misguided love as sung by Petty and with a fine bridge by Orbison. Roy himself shines on the track written for him, "Not Alone Anymore." "Margarita" on side two is also an excellent song with the guys trading lead vocals.
Jeff Lynne's production, as well as familiar vocals by the parts of the whole, gave continuity to the Wilburys' solo albums: George's Cloud Nine, Petty's Full Moon Fever, Orbison's Mystery Girl and Lynne's own Armchair Theatre. I think of these albums as collectively being the missing Vol. 2.
We await the re-issue of Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 on CD. Warner Brothers, are you listening?

Criminally deleted at the present moment, due to legal
wrangles between the various surviving stars and Warner
Brothers Inc - this truly is a classic recording.
From the first take "Handle With Care", through to the
countryfied "End Of The Line" - there are many gems from
each member - Dylan and Harrison being particularly prolific.
"Handle With Care" was destined to be a 12" bonus track
on George Harrison's 1987 single "This Is Love" (the title
comes from an orange sticker on a box in Dylan's garage -
where the song was written) - but Warners considered it "too
good". The album spawned from there. Check out Roy Orbison's
haunting "Not Alone Any More", too. Music to melt the
hardest of hearts. The lyrical majesty of "Tweeter and the
Monkey Man" is one of Dylan's best of the 1980s.

You can't go wrong guys.

Since this particular Cd arrived, I have not yet taken it out of the player. The content is pure gold, real infectious music. If you haven't yet purchased a Wilburys Cd, this is the one to get. Both Volume one and three, plus a rare Europe only released Single "Nobody's Child". Released for the Romanian Angels Appeal. The only reason I gave it a four star rating was due to the low volume level on Volume One, but this in no way detracts from the actual content of the songs themselves.
Every track has that unique blend of rythmn, vocals, and gritty Rock ,n Roll, that can only be delivered by Messrs Harrison, Orbison, Petty, Dylan and Lynne together.
"Tweeter and the Monkey Man" is pure genius in verse. Dylan's vocals, as he tells the story of two dropouts on the run from the "undercover cop" is just superb. Other tracks I've picked out are "Not Alone Anymore" and "She's My Baby" with Gary Moore guesting on guitar.
Every track is a joy to listen to. It sounds so crisp and fresh, it could have been recorded yesterday.
If your collection doesn't include the "Wilburys", there's a big gap in it, and this is the perfect Cd to fill it!!!

Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was recorded and released in 1988 to enormous commercial success and critical acclaim.

HOW THE TRAVELING WILBURYS WAS CREATED
The beauty of the Traveling Wilburys was the total spontaneity of its creation as a Rock 'N Roll Supergroup. Back in 1988, George Harrison of Beatles fame was working on his album 'Cloud Nine' with co-writer and producer, Jeff Lynne of E.L.O. Harrison and Lynne had been working on 'Cloud Nine' for 5 years and were finishing up the album. Warner Bros. asked for a B-side to accompany George Harrison's 'This is Love' single and wanted it quickly. George decided to write a new song with Lynne's help but his guitar was at Tom Petty's house. Jeff Lynne had also been working with Tom Petty and they invited Petty to come along for the ride and assist on the song. Lynne had also been putting off his work on Roy Orbison's new album, so he and George took Roy to lunch where they discussed doing the new song with Tom Petty. Orbison then volunteered to sing on the new track. Since they needed a studio in such a short time, George called up his buddy, Bob Dylan to see if they could use his garage studio. Dylan obliged and ended up sitting in with the motley crew. These five Rock 'N Roll legends ended up sitting around picking guitars and wrote a catchy tune that they all liked and named it after a box in Dylan's garage titled 'Handle with Care'.

The music and lyrics came so easy for the Traveling Wilburys and they all loved working together so much that Harrison, Dylan, Petty, and Lynne agreed that they should try to complete an album. The needed to overcome two [2] challenges: 1. Dylan was leaving in 10 days on tour; 2. they needed to convince Roy Orbison to join them. Thus, Harrison, Dylan, Petty, and Lynne drove up to Anaheim to Roy Orbison's concert and reportedly George Harrison got on his knees after the concert to recruit Roy Oribson. Roy readily agreed.

With Harrison having the greatest claim to the band, he signed them up to Warner Bros. Records, his current label, and incorporated their own Wilbury Records label, in addition to producing the sessions with Lynne that spring.

In October 1988, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was released, preceded by 'Handle with Care' as the lead single that scaled the pop charts at US #15, the album reached #16 in the UK and an impressive #3 in the US. With over 40 weeks on the charts, the album was later certified double-platinum. While Harrison and Petty had had recent successes, Dylan, Orbison and Lynne had not seen an album climb that high in several years. At the time, no Dylan album had ever achieved two million in sales. As one critic put it, the Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was "one of the great commercial coups of the decade."

Most critics said the Traveling Wilburys's modest ambitions were fresh and relaxing. During 1989 and 1990 the album won many accolades, not least a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.

Tragically, Roy Orbison suddenly died of a heart attack in December 1988, surprising much of the music industry and press. The sleeve cover for "End Of The Line", the group's second single, was photographed four [4] days after Orbison's death. Depicting a guitar in Orbison's rocking chair, it was taken as a tribute. As for Orbison, this album was released at the same time as his Mystery Girl album in 1989, and both their success made Orbison one of two singers (Elvis Presley being the other) to have two albums both reach the charts posthumously.

Both Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and its unexpected 1990 follow-up Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 were deleted in the mid-1990's with rights reverting to Harrison and his estate after his 2001 death. With all of his solo catalogue having reverted to EMI after almost twenty years with Warner Bros. Records, who distributed his Dark Horse Records label, both Traveling Wilburys albums appear set to be re-issued through EMI. Tom Petty was recently quoted to have said that they would be re-released in late 2005, though nothing, as of December 2006, has come of these claims.

HOW THE TRAVELING WILBURYS GOT THEIR NAME
Jeff Lynne and George Harrison had been referring to the recording gremlins and glitches as Wilburys, referring to after recording editing of "we'll bury them" in the mixing. They originally came up with Trembling Wilburys but the group decided that Traveling Wilburys was more catchy. They even made up a story about the Traveling Wilburys as nomadic minstrels who were all half brothers with the common father of Charlie T. Wilbury.

The Traveling Wilburys band members are:
*Nelson Wilbury (George Harrison) - guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals
*Lucky Wilbury (Bob Dylan) - acoustic guitar, harmonica, lead vocals, backing vocals
*Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison) - acoustic guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals
*Charlie T. Jr. (Tom Petty) - acoustic guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals
*Otis Wilbury (Jeff Lynne) - bass, keyboards, guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals
*Jim Keltner - drums
*Jim Horn - saxophones
*Ray Cooper - percussion
*Ian Wallace - Tom toms on "Handle with Care"

TRAVELING WILBURYS VOL. 1 TRACK LISTING
All songs written by the Traveling Wilburys:
"Handle with Care" - 3:20
"Dirty World" - 3:30
"Rattled" - 3:00
"Last Night" - 3:48
"Not Alone Any More" - 3:24
"Congratulations" - 3:30
"Heading for Light" - 3:37
"Margarita" - 3:15
"Tweeter and the Monkey Man" - 5:30
"End of the Line" - 3:30

When a lineup like Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne get together, one would expect something amazing, and on Vol. 1, it is so much more than that. To me, this album is better than any of these guys solo work by far. This one is constantly in my cd player, and to me is the best rock and roll album of all time. My personal favorite song is End of the Line, but the other songs on here are not even close to being worse. If you find this anywhere, pick it up because its been out of print and is getting harder to find.

I read that they are going to release a box set that will include Vol 1 and 3 along with a DVD late 2006

I bought this album (on cassette) when it was released, and I still consider it one of the 10 best ever, even though I can't seem to find it on CD. Almost every track is brilliant, but what's most incredible about it is that it actually made me rethink my total hatred of "country" music...Roy Orbison's performance on this album made me go out and buy everything he ever recorded that I could get my hands on. And then, just like that, he was gone. I already loved the music of Harrison, Dylan, Petty, and Lynne, but this album definitely expanded my horizons. Get it any way you can!

If you don't own a copy of this album, then you should seriously consider getting one.

Almost 17 years after its release, I'm still amazed at how incredible the music is on here. Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and George Harrison - each of them are justifiably legendary musicians. Here you get all of them together, sounding even better than you'd expect them to.

Several reviewers here have commented on how it sounds like the band is having a total blast on these songs. I totally agree and think that's one of the reasons this music is so incredibly fun to listen to. It's obvious that these guys just checked their egos at the door and set out to make great music and have a great time doing it.

Handle With Care, Last Night, Rattled, Heading For The Light - all fantastic songs! Actually, there's not a song on here that isn't great in some way - and that's a rare feat for any performer to accomplish.

Two of my personal favorites on here are Not Alone Anymore and Margarita. On Not Alone Anymore, Roy Orbison's voice is absolutely magical. It's no wonder that he was regarded as highly as he was! As for Margarita...geez...what can I say? The music is addicting within the first few seconds. Then the harmonies kick in - and these 5 guys sound like they were born to be singing with each other. The lyrics are very entertaining and the guitar riffs are great. This is a VERY fun song!

I meant for this to be a short review, but I'm listening to this CD as I'm typing. Listening to this cd, soaking in each great song...well, it got hard for me to not rave and rave about how great this album is.

If you love rock and roll and have this album, then you already know what I'm talking about above. If you love great music and don't yet have this album - get it soon. You'll be glad you did.

Regardless of anything else, the Traveling Wilbury's line up of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison & Jeff Lynne made the group a major musical landmark. And, unlike most similarly "stellar" combinations, this one really worked. With no name checks and no individual writing credits anywhere in sight they clearly meant business in integrating themselves into a genuine "group" structure, and it shows because they play & sing as a tight, wholly complementary unit. But above all, what makes their first album so good is the sheer quality of its songs. With only a couple of exceptions they lay down an excellent set of "good time" rock music that really does bring out the best in the huge array of talent on offer, including the superb "Handle with Care", "End of the Line" & "Not Alone Anymore".

Unique, brilliant and in the end short-lived, "Volume 1" is their only recording that includes Roy Orbison's wonderful vocals. Find it, buy it and revel in one the best albums of the 1980's.