Traveling Wilburys – The Traveling Wilburys Collection CD/DVD Review
Posted by Michael Melchor on 07.12.2007
Now THIS was a super group...
...and the wild thing about it is, it was the antithesis of one all at the same time. This wasn’t a group of guys that got together for the express purpose of selling some records together, as many “super groups” have. In fact, the Wilburys came together almost by accident.
George Harrison was asked to produce a B-side for “This Is Love”, a track off of his solo album, Cloud Nine. Harrison called up friends Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne and asked for some help. After they agreed, Harrison then contacted Bob Dylan to use his studio space to work in and Dylan readily agreed. Harrison’s guitar was at a friend’s house – Tom Petty – so Petty rode along with Lynne to the studio to return the guitar and sit in with his buddies.
The five started playing together and all were coming up lines such as “Been beat up and battered around”; one right after the other. The next day, after the five recorded the track, Harrison delivered the song to then-Warner Bros. Executive Mo Ostin. Ostin flipped over what he’d heard, and the song in question, “Handle With Care”, was spared B-side status and, instead, became the first single off of the Traveling Wilburys album.
As George Harrison himself put it, “The thing about the Wilburys for me is, if we had tried to plan that or if anybody tried to say, ‘Let’s form this band and try to get these people in it’, it would never happen. It’s impossible. The thing happened by magic; by circumstances.”
That’s the feeling that permeated the band throughout its career. What could have been a star-studded, super-hyped collection of some of the greatest talents ever in rock music instead became a cohesive collaboration spared of any ego whatsoever. Individual touches of each musician can be heard and felt from time to time, but, as The Traveling Wilburys Collection – each of the band’s albums, Volume 1 and Volume 3, as well as some added tracks to both CDs and a DVD with a documentary and all of their music videos – highlights, the whole is, amazingly, greater than the sum of its parts.
The Traveling Wilburys Collection begins with the aforementioned single and the first song on Volume 1, “Handle With Care”. It’s clear to see why Ostin went bonkers at the prospect of a whole album of this stuff. Nothing extravagant, ostentatious, or over-produced would be found here. “Handle With Care” is a simple song of finding the right love, chugging mid-tempo progression, earth-tone melodies and simple, elegant playing intact. It was the perfect radio single without even meaning to be.
Many of Volume 1 followed the same suit. With varying tempos and feels (such as “Rattled”’s 50s near-rockabilly feel), much of the album didn’t make any grand statements about politics or the human condition. In all reality, it didn’t have to nor was it meant to. This was a group of friends who happened to be in the same studio at the same time playing together to have some fun and see what they could come up with having company to bounce ideas off of. No, much of what was here was of love and relationships. The way in which it was presented is what keeps the music fresh, although much of it rarely veers away from mid-tempo rhythms and simple guitar accompaniment. This is the one drawback to having this many musicians in the same place and having them all play the same instruments.
This isn’t to say that each member was lost in the shuffle. The Phil Spector-esque wall of emotion brought to Orbison’s “Not Alone Anymore” is perfectly indicative of his vocal style and is a perfect compliment. The rest of the band merely provides rhythm and backing vocals, letting Orbison do his thing for the moment. Ditto Bob Dylan with “Tweeter And The Monkey Man”, one of the rare tracks to veer off the beaten path to tell a tale of miscreants and the bleakness that their lives became. Dylan recalls the tale while the others stay in the background to help out the atmosphere. Both of these tracks are a testament to the ego-free vibe these giants brought to the table. Each were willing to give the other a moment to shine and relegate themselves to the background for a moment, but all of them knew the music is what was important and that’s the way it should be.
The bonus songs added to this spell out a couple different styles as well, as “Maxine” almost reads like an old Irish folk song. Ditto “Like A Ship” which showcases Dylan’s vocal style (as opposed to Lynne’s in “Maxine”), documenting that it didn’t matter which member was up front; the collaborative effort is what stood out more than any one legend involved in this project.
Volume 3 picks up some steam with “She’s My Baby”, more of a flat-out rocker than anything on Volume 1. Each of the remaining members share vocal duties on arguably the heaviest song in the Wilburys canon.
Yes, I said “remaining”; after the recording of Volume 1, Orbison died of a heart attack in December of the year that Volume 1 was recorded, 1988. It’s curious to hear how much grittier the Wilburys sound is without Orbison. One has to wonder if they cut loose with a dirtier (musical only, relax) feel because now they could without the hindrance, or if, without Orbison there as the gentle influence, the grief of the four remaining friends got the better of them. The latter would probably be more the case, as this was, above all else, a group of friends – and losing one of their own hurt.
The pain seeps into and lurks under just about every track on Volume 3. Even on songs like “If You Belonged To Me” (a paen of unrequited love that would have been Orbison’s forte, yet done in a storytelling style that Dylan assumes control of), a melancholy mood permeates the music, which sounds slightly less refined. The melodies here and throughout are a little lower and slightly darker. It’s understood that this is another Wilburys album, but it may be only because they had a comrade to pay one last tribute to.
The bonus tracks here are a little more prominent in terms of popular (and historical) appeal. “Nobody’s Child” first (and, until now, only) appeared on – and served as the title track for – the compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal, a benefit for orphanages and children’s aid in Romania. The aching tale of orphaned children here is almost enough to bring a man to tears as the group, once again putting aside individual traits for the greater good (almost a trademark of the Wilburys, really), hammers home the despair of children without parents. The other bonus track is a cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway”, a song so crying out for Orbiaon’s vocals that it’s a crying shame they couldn’t have thought to do it before wrapping Volume 1.
DVD
The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys highlights the DVD portion of the package. A documentary of how the band came together and stayed long enough to make quiet history, the documentary tells a far different tale than what was on the liner notes of the original albums (the liner notes of The Traveling Wilburys Collection also tells the complete tale).
You see, the “Traveling Wilburys” had written their own fictional history. And, aside from their pictures on the front of the record, went relatively unknown as themselves, choosing instead to use fictitious names – Nelson Wilbury (George Harrison), Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison), Charlie T Jr. (Tom Petty), Lucky Wilbury (Bob Dylan), and Otis Wilbury (Jeff Lynne). The documentary even lists their names in reverse order – as in the Wilbury being the actual person starring as the musician.
The documentary, weighing in at about 25 minutes, explains quite a bit in such a short time. SPOILER ALERT: The guys really enjoyed playing together and didn’t have a whole lot of time to record each of the songs on Volume 1 (ten days, in fact, since Dylan was set to head out on his annual summer tour), so they convened in Dave Stewart’s house, wrote roughly a song a day, and recorded most of the guitar parts in Dave’s kitchen with now sound-proofing. END SPOILERS.
It’s fascinating to hear each of these rock heavyweights weigh in on the project. Each story of how it came to pass (Dylan recording all of the vocals to “Tweeter And The Monkey Man” in one take) and what they felt at each turn (Petty admitting to being intimidated at having to follow Orbison on the mic) is interesting as the members let their feelings at the time and of the project hang out. I’d be hard-pressed to find a “behind-the-scenes mini-doc” about the recording of an album come out this honest nowadays; these days, it’s all for the sales instead of a true document of the creative process.
The music videos (five total) the band made for both albums are all present and accounted for. Much of them consist of nothing more than the members playing their music in different settings. Whether that was calculated to play up the “Traveling Wilburys” theme or done just because the members didn’t care for flashy flamboyance is still a mystery.
What isn’t a mystery – throughout the documentary or the videos – is their reverence for Orbison. The most touching visual moment in the entire collection comes during the video for “End Of The Line”. Orbison had passed before the video was shot, so his part was “sung” by an empty chair decorated with nothing but a guitar and a picture of Orbison Lefty placed to the left. A simple gesture to show respect to the man who, arguably, influenced the mood of the entire band more than any other.
The 411: The Traveling Wilburys Collection is an excellent compendium of music history calmly made by some of the greatest talents ever to grace music. Much of the actual music is of the same variety but with enough flourishes in enough places to keep it from becoming too tedious. The DVD that accompanies is a treat, as the meeting of the minds can be seen as well as heard. Save for the sometimes maudlin result of said meeting, The Traveling Wilburys Collection is a treat for music fans who’ll be glad to see this stuff back in print.
