I suppose, back when I went for this album, I should have thought about it, should have known better. I'm no fan of Bob Dylan, really don't like Roy Orbison and I can really take or leave George Harrison. I am, however, a fan of Jeff Lynne, being a big ELO follower (they were the first band I ever got into seriously) and though I wouldn't class myself as an actual fan, I do have some Tom Petty albums and I do like a lot of his music. I'd heard the leadin single and thought the album was going to be great. The idea was great. The theme was great. The whole thing looked like it could really work.
But it didn't. Not for me anyway, despite the album being very successful and well-received.
I personally think the whole problem was down to egos, although according to Wiki there wasn't too much of that, just five guys having fun making music. It shows though in the track selection. Whereas “Handle with care” and “End of the line” were pretty much a team effort, every other song was helmed by one or the other of the guys, leading to a, to my mind, disconnect from the album. Instead of being ten tracks by the band it ended up being mostly individual efforts, minus the two mentioned. If you don't like a particular singer you might listen to him singing with others (look at Band Aid; how many of them would you listen to on their own?), but you won't particularly want to hear them singing their own song, and that's more or less what happened, which is why I count it as a failed effort, as far as I'm concerned, and why it's here, in this section.
Traveling Wilburys Volume I --- The Traveling Wilburys --- 1988 (Warner Bros)
The whole idea was clever: get five rock legends, put them together to do some recording, make up a pretend “family” they can all be part of and record the album under that name. That way, there's no squabbling about whose name goes on the album first, last or at all: everyone's a Wilbury, and no-one's more famous than anyone else. In theory.
The actual lineup of Wilburys was:
George Harrison --- Nelson Wilbury
Jeff Lynne --- Otis Wilbury
Roy Orbison --- Lefty Wilbury
Tom Petty --- Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr.
Bob Dylan --- Lucky Wilbury
For once, this was not a media publicity idea or that of a record label or producer. It all came about from happenstance and serindipity: George Harrison needed a B-side for a single, meanwhile Jeff Lynne was in town producing an album for Roy Orbison. Needing a studio, they met over dinner and decided to call Bob Dylan. While picking up his guitar from Tom Petty's house after dinner, Harrison invited him along to the session the next day, whereafter they recorded what would become the album's lead single, “Handle with care”.
Seen as too good to just be a B-side, the guys got the idea of recording a whole album together, and so the Traveling Wilburys project was born. The album opens on that track, which is great, with all five of the guys taking a few lines, a part of a verse, and it's a very collaborative effort, but then things change when Dylan takes lead vocals on “Dirty world” with the others singing backup. As I say, I've never had much time for Dylan (is that a torch-bearing, pitchfork-waving mob I see in the distance, approaching angrily?) and this track doesn't change my mind. Not a fan of Dylan, and there's a little too much brass in this for my tastes.
So after a very decent start, I found this a letdown, but maybe it's an isolated incident? Well, “Rattled” has Lynne on lead vocal, but it's one of those early rock'n'roll songs I really don't like, similar to when ELO did “Hold on tight” and “Rock and roll is king” --- songs I grew to like, but when I originally heard them they almost spoiled the album(s) for me. Not a fan of 50s rock and roll, either. And this is Jeff Lynne, one of two in the quintet whom I would have expected to have rescued this album for me. Very disappointing, and very ordinary. “Last night” starts off a bit better, and with Petty on lead it's not too bad, but it's still pretty mundane compared to the opener, or indeed the closer. More damn horns, and they could even be mariachi, as this track has a sort of Mexican/South-of-the-border feel to it. Orbison's vocal coming in halfway does nothing to improve the song, and then we're onto his solo effort.
I've never liked Roy Orbison's voice. Where others (millions probably) will describe it as heavenly, dreamy, soulful, smooth, I hear it as whiny, and “Not alone anymore” is, for me, just one big long whine from start to finish. Oh, sorry, didn't I mention? Hated it. The more annoying as it starts off well for about three seconds with decent ELO-style strings, but then Orbison opens his mouth and the whole thing goes downhill, for me. It has to be said though, it's not as bad as the absolute dirge that is “Congratulations”, with the lead vocal again taken by Dylan. Hell, it's just depressing, and as I've already said all I'm going to say about Bob Dylan I'll say no more, but you can guess I do not like this track.
There's a huge lift then with “Heading for the light”, a Jeff Lynne vehicle that just stands head and shoulders above the basic mundanity of the rest of the songs, opener and closer excluded, and at least gives me a third song to rate on the album. It's very ELO, boppy and with some great guitar and some really effective backing vocals from the rest of the Wilburys. Yes, there are horns in it, but the sax is used to great effect and really works well for the song. It's almost a surprise that the track is so good, considering the so-so fare that has preceded it. We're soon back in that territory though, with “Margarita”, with Petty on the mike. Well, to be fair, it's not that bad, mostly instrumental really, with the singing only coming in after about a minute in a three-minute song, then a sort of tribal chant in there somewhere, good keyboard intro with some decent guitar and some nice bass; it's not as good as “Heading for the light”, but it's not too bad.
The longest track, unfortunately, has Dylan on lead, and though in fairness “Tweeter and the monkey man” is not a bad track really at all, with a lot of ELO in the chorus, it's hard to enjoy it while being totally distracted by Dylan's terrible attempt at singing --- that mob
is getting closer! --- which thankfully doesn't happen in the chorus, and keeps the song from falling apart. Damn, if they only had Lynne or Petty, or even Harrison singing this I could have rated it a lot higher.
The album closes on the other single, “End of the line”, where again the Wilburys all get together and take a few lines of the song, and it works really well. If you haven't heard the single (come out from under that rock, wouldya?) you may know it from the finale of “One foot in the grave”. It's a great song, the more poignant that Orbison died before it was released as a single, and so in the video in place of him while his part is being sung they show a guitar in a rocking chair. Very moving.
But as an album, I really feel this failed for me. More songs of the quality of the three mentioned, the replacement of Bob Dylan with someone who could actually sing (
Was that a rock being thrown against my window?) and this album could have been a real classic. As it is, it survives held together by a few decent tracks and a lot of filler, mediocre at best and not representative of the artistes. Surely they could have come up with something better?
The death of Roy Orbison put paid to the original lineup, but they were back for another album --- curiously titled “Volume 3” --- with just the four remaining Wilburys, but I never checked it out. To be honest, until I started researching this I thought there had only ever been one album from the Traveling Wilburys. Whether “Volume 3” was better than “Volume 1” or not I neither know nor care to know. For me, it's all one big, fat meh.
TRACKLISTING
1. Handle with care
2. Dirty world
3. Rattled
4. Last night
5. Not alone anymore
6. Congratulations
7. Heading for the light
8. Margarita
9. Tweeter and the monkey man
10. End of the line