Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
Written by: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 18.10.1988 US / 24.10.1988 UK
In November 1987, "Cloud Nine" was released, produced by Jeff Lynne ("E.L.O"). The album brought the former Beatle George Harrison back into the public consciousness and, indirectly, would bring a few more musicians back into the picture who hadn't tasted success in quite some time.
In April 1988, Lynne and Harrison were looking for something to record as the B-side of the album's third single, "This Is Love". At short notice they brought Roy Orbison in for the sessions (Lynne was producing Orbison at the time on his album "Mystery Girl"), only to discover that Orbison had nowhere to record his part. So Harrison turned to Bob Dylan and asked to use his garage in Malibu, which had been converted into a recording studio.
On the way there, Harrison stopped by Tom Petty's place to pick up a guitar he had left behind, and invited Petty to join him at the session in Malibu. The atmosphere in the studio was one of mutual admiration among the five musicians and a sincere desire to collaborate. They sat down in a kind of circle and started singing and playing, each contributing his own style, his heart, and his unique way of connecting with an audience.
Harrison was the man in charge; it was, after all, a recording for his album. The collaboration gave birth to "Handle with Care", a song that was originally meant to be a B-side and instead became the first single of a new band, a supergroup in every sense of the word: "Traveling Wilburys". On 18.10.1988, their debut album, "Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1", was released in the US and on 24.10.88 in the UK.
As with anything new that involves a Beatle, there is also an element of identity here. Harrison, who had changed his name on several occasions during his career in order to blur his tracks or avoid lawsuits, realized that this, too, needed a twist, and so Dylan, Lynne, Orbison, Petty and Harrison became one family: the Wilburys.
Why Wilburys, of all names? During the "Cloud Nine" sessions, whenever Harrison and Lynne ended up with a flawed recording because of problematic equipment, Harrison would joke to Lynne: "We'll bury 'em in the mix".
After the successful recording of that one-off song, Harrison suggested to the others that they form a band, and everyone agreed with surprising ease, some would say out of the great admiration they held for one another. The wagging tongues will tell you that Dylan, Orbison, Harrison and Lynne, who preferred to focus on production, were far from their creative peaks of the 1980s and hoped, together, to rebuild their careers.
And so Nelson, Otis, Lucky, Lefty and Charlie T. Jr., all of the Wilbury family, set out on their way.
Because Dylan and Orbison were already committed to previously scheduled concerts, the deadline was tight, and the Wilburys recorded no fewer than ten songs in ten days.
The five band members sat in a circle with acoustic guitars in the kitchen of Dave Stewart (of "Eurythmics"). After the basic track for each song had been written and recorded to a drum machine, the group recorded the vocals the same evening, with George Harrison as the deciding voice who determined who would get the lead vocal on each and every song.
Although each musician wrote a different song, all the songs were given shared credit, a decision born of the need to head off any scenario that might create tension among the five wonders and delay the completion of the recordings.
Jeff Lynne recalled that the songwriting process was relaxed and enjoyable: "We'd get there around 12 or 1 in the afternoon, drink coffee and start playing until the song was ready, around midnight. Then Roy (Orbison) would round off the day for us with one of his fascinating stories about the record label 'Sun Records' and the good times he had spent in the company of Elvis Presley".
The short window of time at their disposal came with a kind of blessing as well: the first take that was recorded is the one that stayed, and the songs remained fresh, with fewer touches and changes, with Jeff Lynne, of course, adding his production touch.
Looking at the wonder that was the "Traveling Wilburys" from the outside, one can't help but marvel at how the songs were built so that each musician could bring his own credo to every track.
On "Handle with Care", for example, we get Harrison singing optimistically about the scent of success, a success he finally got to taste after years of failure. Roy Orbison joins in and sings the part of the lonely man, a central element of his work from the late fifties onward, and Bob Dylan joins in as well, asking the woman to lay her body down beside his and dream.
The phrase "Handle with Care" is, of course, the warning stamped on fragile packages.
In an interview with "Mojo" magazine, Tom Petty explained what it was like to write a song together with Bob Dylan: "I have yet to meet a musician who surpasses Dylan at writing and putting songs together", adding: "He has the mind of an artist, and he can find the key word in a single line and make it stand out above all the other words".
Dylan wrote "Dirty World" in a fascinating way: he handed out magazines to his bandmates and asked them to pick lines from selected articles, which Dylan then gathered and stitched together into a song.
The title of "Not Alone Any More" tells you right away that this is a song by the lonely man... formerly, Roy Orbison. The song works as a variation on Orbison's songs of the past: once again he is chasing the girl, only this time he doesn't end up alone.
"Tweeter and the Monkey Man" is a tribute to Bruce Springsteen, an homage to his early songs.
Hints are scattered throughout the song, including a line that places the action out on "Thunder Road".
The album closes with a song that marks an ending, "End of the Line", which holds folk wisdom drawn from each member's experiences over the course of his career. It was the final stop for the Wilburys as a five-piece: a month and a half after the album came out, Roy Orbison died unexpectedly, never getting to see the album's great success in the stores, nor the music industry's recognition in the form of the Grammy Award.
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