Traveling Wilburys

In 1988 five of the biggest names in rock got together and formed the ultimate supergroup. With tongue firmly in cheek, they put away their own egos, adopted pseudonyms, and made an album as The Traveling Wilburys. This album is a superb gem, and listening to it again made me very happy.

George Harrison was making his latest album, Cloud 9, which was being produced by Jeff Lynne, of ELO. He got the idea that they should create a group, and each one asked another to join. Harrison picked Bob Dylan, and Lynne Roy Orbison. They both agreed. When they got together at Dylan's studio in Malibu, Tom Petty joined them. The result was magical.

The first album, simply called The Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1, has songs that are credited to the entire band, but you can kind of tell who wrote what. It has two masterpieces: the opening song, with a lead by Harrison, "Handle With Care," which is as good as pop gets, and the closing song, "End Of The Line," in which each musician in turn takes a verse, with Petty doing a clever bridge. My favorite is:

"Maybe somewhere down the road aways
You'll think of me, wonder where I am these days
 Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
Purple haze"

Petty is also in fine voice on "Last Night," and Dylan's major contribution is "Tweeter And The Monkey Man," a song that parodies both his style of story song and Bruce Springsteen, as it name checks several of his song titles and is set in New Jersey:

"Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again
I'm sitting in a gambling club called the Lion's Den
The TV set was blown up, every bit of it is gone
Ever since the nightly news show that the Monkey Man was on"

The music is a bit country, a bit rockabilly, and a bit prog-rock, especially on "Margarita," which was surely a Jeff Lynne composition, as it has the ELO sound all over it. Orbison has "Not Alone Anymore," and he sounds as great as ever.

Sadly, Orbison died just a few months after the record was released. There were rumors about a replacement, but the four remaining members put out the next album in 1990, impishly called Volume 3. This album was not as successful, and you can feel the enthusiasm had dipped because of Orbison's death. Although a tour was discussed (Petty pleaded Harrison to do it, as it would have been a great deal of money) that never happened, and this was the last Traveling Wilburys album.

There are still a few good tracks on that album, most notably "Poor House," in which Petty sings a good old-fashioned Nashville-styled song about a woman bleeding her man financially dry:

"Up all day, down all night
Working on the job
Everything I do is wrong
I always end up right
Woman I try so hard
Done all I can do
They're gonna put me in the poor house
Keep all the best for you"

This album is dominated by vocals by Dylan and Petty, who also sings lead on another great tune, "The Devil's Been Busy" and "Cool Dry Place."

In addition to the great songwriting, the background vocals are sensational. These guys really knew how to harmonize. There were always great harmonies on ELO records, though Lynne was usually harmonizing with himself.

Though they were a flash in the pan, and two more Wilburys (Harrison and Petty) have left us, these albums are wonderful throwbacks to another. It's interesting to note that Dylan had become almost irrelevant at that point, and his career got a major jolt from this project. Another thing I found interesting is that the five members shared a love of Monty Python's Flying Circus (Michael Palin and Eric Idle pseudonymously wrote the liner notes on the albums). It tickles me to imagine Orbison reciting the lines from sketches. Imagine him doing the "Dead Parrot" sketch.