Turn it up! A Look at The Traveling Wilburys

Greensboro, NC -- This past summer has been like no other, in that, I had the very fortunate ability to attend three future/current Rock N' Roll Hall-of-Fame artist's shows -- Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., and Tom Petty. Try to beat that in one summer! If I had more time, I would have tried to slide Rush in there too. By seeing these three artists, I rediscovered my fondness and appreciation for solid, fundamental 80's and 90's music. Tom Petty played the last of the three shows, and he mentioned to the crowd before playing his 10th song or so, "Here's an old Traveling Wilburys' hit..." My first reaction was, "Oh, that's easy... 'End of the Line'." The very first MTV video that I ever saw was indeed "End of the Line" with the Traveling Wilburys singing the tune in a moving train's boxcar. The ensuing chords took me back, needless to say.

Wanting to beef up my already impressive iTunes' library, I plucked the Traveling Wilburys' Volume I out of my parents' collection this past weekend. Along the drive from Ashton to Greensboro, I discovered another "lost art:" the art of playing an album from beginning to end with every song being radio worthy. This CD has one of the best track listings that I've heard in years! Like practically every U2 album (c'mon, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, All That You Can't Leave Behind, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb are just that!), you can sing along to every song...

• Handle with Care -- Quite possibly Roy Orbison's finest piece of work; this song propelled the supergroup into recording an entire album, not just this single.
• Dirty World -- One of the coolest endings ever... it incorporates everyone's vocals gracefully.
• Last Night -- Very groovy bass line for this radio hit.
• End of the Line -- The most popular, but not the best, song on the album.

The other six tracks are just as creative, innovative, and fluid as these noteworthy four. I read that George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne were having lunch with Bob Dylan, and they talked about recording a song together. Harrison left his guitar at Tom Petty's house, so he was invited to collaborate on this one track project (Handle with Care). Because the song was so good, they decided that it couldn't be released as a single, so it was determined that a short album was in store. Subsequently, Volume I is the result of a polished product from five talented frontmen, who wanted to record an album together. Usually, when artists of this magnitude collaborate, their styles don't mix, and only one forgettable song is produced. This latter situation occurs when artists team up for raise awareness for an issue. You'll have 5 or 6 lead guitars because each frontman wants to bring their own lead guitarist. Volume I is a rare exception because the artists kept their egos in check, and serendipitously discovered that their own styles are not much different from each other's. The melodic grooves blend together so well... you just have to wonder what could had been if for not each member returning to their respective band. I still need to check out Volume III (yes, that was on purpose) to see how the follow-up went. For now, let me know what you think about supergroup's production.