The Vinyl Project - Volume 1 by the Traveling Wilburys (1988)
A Trip Thru Your Grooves - Episode 9
Release Date: 17-October-1988
Genre: Rock/Super Group
Producer: Otis & Nelson Wilbury
Label: Wilbury Records
Time: 36m 22s
Review Date: 17-November-2018
Format: LP
Side One
Release Date: 17-October-1988
Genre: Rock/Super Group
Producer: Otis & Nelson Wilbury
Label: Wilbury Records
Time: 36m 22s
Review Date: 17-November-2018
Format: LP
Side One
- Handle With Care
- Dirty World
- Rattled
- Last Night
- Not Alone Anymore
Side Two
- Congratulations
- Heading for the Light
- Margarita
- Tweeter and the Monkey Man
- End of the Line
Review: Before I get started, let's just all admit there has never been a super group - in the history of music - that is as super as the Wilburys.
Bob Dylan as Lucky Wilbury
Jeff Lynne as Otis Wilbury
Tom Petty as Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr.
George Harrison as Nelson Wilbury
Roy Orbison as Lefty Wilbury
Think about it for a second; there is six decades of iconic music that spans the careers of those gentlemen, and most everything they recorded can be found on any number of all-time greatest lists.
I don't think a band with a stronger pedigree than the Wilburys has ever recorded, unless you count the charity efforts by USA for Africa and the various iterations of Band-Aid put together by Bob Geldof. "Lucky Wilbury" and his brothers never vaulted themselves into that type of rarified air, however, and that was the key to their charm: they were a group of musicians who fell together effortlessly to record a B-side single for George Harrison. They had such a good time doing so that they hung out to record a truly wonderful album.
Recorded at the home studios of Harrison, Dylan, and Wilbury family friend Dave Stewart, Volume 1 is a forerunner of sorts to the inspired mix-and-match musical fellowship found in the Levon Helm Midnight Ramble Sessions, released in the early 2000s, where musicians would trek to Helm's home in Woodstock, New York for impromptu, all-night jam sessions.
The mix of Wilbury voices blends wonderfully here, and each gets a showcase or co-lead on each of the songs. I think that is the key to its success. There are no forced harmonies or anything experimental going on. It's just one Wilbury stepping up front with a quartet of Wilbury brothers magnificently coalescing in the background.
Harrison seemed rejuvenated and spirited; he was really on his game as the 80s segued into the 90s. Dylan sounds better than he had in ten years. And Orbison? Jeezus, Roy had some glorious pipes. The steady Petty acquits himself quite well as the youngest Wilbury brother and Lynne has his thumb squarely on the band's retro sound that's, if I had to brand it, an amalgamation of each of the solo artists with a little Dave Edmunds and Gram Parsons tossed in for good measure.
Something Cool, as a Springsteen Fan, That I Have to Mention Here: Tweeter & The Monkey Man is a Dylan showcase that playfully parodies the best of the Boss. Littered with lyrical references to stolen cars, state troopers, mansions on the hill, abandoned factories, the Jersey state line, and a blatant mention of Thunder Road, the song comes off as Dylan’s wonderfully superb way of one-upping Springsteen, who had established himself as sort of the next Bob Dylan when he broke in 1972-73. The Boss has admitted he loved the homage.
I was 24 when this long player dropped, and aside from loving every single song on this album, it led me to the discovery or rediscovery of each of the artists back catalogs, most notably Orbison, who I had only known from Pretty Woman, which was a staple on oldies radio for decades. I probably spent the next year listening to this album, though I owned the CD version at the time. Its inspiration led me to a love affair of sorts with some other great records:
This is an album that wasn't easy for me to find. I got my copy at Acme Records in Milwaukee, a near-mint promotional release that's stamped as such, which means that this was at one time a free offering by the label to someone of significance - probably a radio station - designed to push its songs into airplay. Collectors have generally desired promotional copies for two reasons: (i) these promo labeled LPs were produced in smaller numbers than the regular run of the album (obviously) and are therefore rarer, and originally were handed out to a small group of select people; and (ii) there is a theory that these promo LPs were pressed first from a stamper to be available only to radio stations, retail chains, etc. before the official release date, and are subsequently of higher quality than those LPs pressed in later runs.
Probably the best thing about this album is that it was really recorded for fun more than anything else, and the band likely had no idea that its release would be so successful. At the time, your Walkman probably consisted of a collection of the new Philly hip-hop duo, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, as well as releases by The Jungle Brothers, Eric B & Rakim, and a new band on the verge of making history - N.W.A. Tracy Chapman released her debut in '88, as did Living Colour, and Public Enemy released their groundbreaking It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Yet here we are, thirty years later, and an album by a bunch of long-in-the-tooth rock idols from decades previous still resonates as strongly as anything else released that year.
Best Songs: Rattled, End of the Line, Dirty World, Handle With Care, Last Night, Not Alone Anymore
A Deep Cut You'll Love: Tweeter & The Monkey Man
An interesting note about this album: With tongue placed firmly in cheek, the author of the album’s liner notes (which are credited to Hugh Jampton, E.F. Norti-Bitz Reader in Applied Jacket, Faculty of Sleeve Notes, University of Krakatoa, East of Java, but sound suspiciously like Michael Palin, who is thanked elsewhere in the notes) explains the band’s origins thusly: “The original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realizing that their civilization could not stand still forever, began to go for short walks – not the ‘traveling’ as we now know it, but certainly as far as the corner and back.” - Rolling Stone Magazine
Hey.... buy me an album from my wish list in the left sidebar and I'll review it! I thank you kindly in advance.
Bob Dylan as Lucky Wilbury
Jeff Lynne as Otis Wilbury
Tom Petty as Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr.
George Harrison as Nelson Wilbury
Roy Orbison as Lefty Wilbury
Think about it for a second; there is six decades of iconic music that spans the careers of those gentlemen, and most everything they recorded can be found on any number of all-time greatest lists.
I don't think a band with a stronger pedigree than the Wilburys has ever recorded, unless you count the charity efforts by USA for Africa and the various iterations of Band-Aid put together by Bob Geldof. "Lucky Wilbury" and his brothers never vaulted themselves into that type of rarified air, however, and that was the key to their charm: they were a group of musicians who fell together effortlessly to record a B-side single for George Harrison. They had such a good time doing so that they hung out to record a truly wonderful album.
Recorded at the home studios of Harrison, Dylan, and Wilbury family friend Dave Stewart, Volume 1 is a forerunner of sorts to the inspired mix-and-match musical fellowship found in the Levon Helm Midnight Ramble Sessions, released in the early 2000s, where musicians would trek to Helm's home in Woodstock, New York for impromptu, all-night jam sessions.
The mix of Wilbury voices blends wonderfully here, and each gets a showcase or co-lead on each of the songs. I think that is the key to its success. There are no forced harmonies or anything experimental going on. It's just one Wilbury stepping up front with a quartet of Wilbury brothers magnificently coalescing in the background.
Harrison seemed rejuvenated and spirited; he was really on his game as the 80s segued into the 90s. Dylan sounds better than he had in ten years. And Orbison? Jeezus, Roy had some glorious pipes. The steady Petty acquits himself quite well as the youngest Wilbury brother and Lynne has his thumb squarely on the band's retro sound that's, if I had to brand it, an amalgamation of each of the solo artists with a little Dave Edmunds and Gram Parsons tossed in for good measure.
Something Cool, as a Springsteen Fan, That I Have to Mention Here: Tweeter & The Monkey Man is a Dylan showcase that playfully parodies the best of the Boss. Littered with lyrical references to stolen cars, state troopers, mansions on the hill, abandoned factories, the Jersey state line, and a blatant mention of Thunder Road, the song comes off as Dylan’s wonderfully superb way of one-upping Springsteen, who had established himself as sort of the next Bob Dylan when he broke in 1972-73. The Boss has admitted he loved the homage.
I was 24 when this long player dropped, and aside from loving every single song on this album, it led me to the discovery or rediscovery of each of the artists back catalogs, most notably Orbison, who I had only known from Pretty Woman, which was a staple on oldies radio for decades. I probably spent the next year listening to this album, though I owned the CD version at the time. Its inspiration led me to a love affair of sorts with some other great records:
- Damn the Torpedoes by Petty
- Greatest Hits by Orbison
- Face the Music by ELO
- Cloud Nine by Harrison, released a year earlier
- Blood on the Tracks by Dylan
This is an album that wasn't easy for me to find. I got my copy at Acme Records in Milwaukee, a near-mint promotional release that's stamped as such, which means that this was at one time a free offering by the label to someone of significance - probably a radio station - designed to push its songs into airplay. Collectors have generally desired promotional copies for two reasons: (i) these promo labeled LPs were produced in smaller numbers than the regular run of the album (obviously) and are therefore rarer, and originally were handed out to a small group of select people; and (ii) there is a theory that these promo LPs were pressed first from a stamper to be available only to radio stations, retail chains, etc. before the official release date, and are subsequently of higher quality than those LPs pressed in later runs.
Probably the best thing about this album is that it was really recorded for fun more than anything else, and the band likely had no idea that its release would be so successful. At the time, your Walkman probably consisted of a collection of the new Philly hip-hop duo, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, as well as releases by The Jungle Brothers, Eric B & Rakim, and a new band on the verge of making history - N.W.A. Tracy Chapman released her debut in '88, as did Living Colour, and Public Enemy released their groundbreaking It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Yet here we are, thirty years later, and an album by a bunch of long-in-the-tooth rock idols from decades previous still resonates as strongly as anything else released that year.
Best Songs: Rattled, End of the Line, Dirty World, Handle With Care, Last Night, Not Alone Anymore
A Deep Cut You'll Love: Tweeter & The Monkey Man
An interesting note about this album: With tongue placed firmly in cheek, the author of the album’s liner notes (which are credited to Hugh Jampton, E.F. Norti-Bitz Reader in Applied Jacket, Faculty of Sleeve Notes, University of Krakatoa, East of Java, but sound suspiciously like Michael Palin, who is thanked elsewhere in the notes) explains the band’s origins thusly: “The original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realizing that their civilization could not stand still forever, began to go for short walks – not the ‘traveling’ as we now know it, but certainly as far as the corner and back.” - Rolling Stone Magazine
- Previous Review: Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon (1975)
- Up Next: Howling Wind by Graham Parker & The Rumour (1976)
Hey.... buy me an album from my wish list in the left sidebar and I'll review it! I thank you kindly in advance.
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