The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is the debut studio album by the Anglo-American supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, which included George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. It was released in October 1988 to commercial success and positive reviews.
Although Harrison had long planned to start such a band, it came about through a fortuitous event. Harrison was in Los Angeles and needed a B-side for a single from his Cloud Nine album, so the participants informally collaborated on the song “Handle with Care” at Dylan’s house. So adopting their alter egos as the five Wilbury brothers, they recorded a full album, produced by Lynne and Harrison.
The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1989 and helped revitalize the careers of Dylan, Orbison and Petty by going triple platinum in America.
In early April 1988, George Harrison was joined by Jeff Lynne in Los Angeles, writing and producing some of Roy Orbison’s tracks for his posthumous Mystery Girl album, as well as his first solo Tom Petty album, Full Moon Fever. While having dinner with Lynne and Orbison, Harrison mentioned how he had to record a new track the next day, enlisting Lynne’s help along with that of Orbison who also offered his old friend a helping hand, seeing how much fun it would be. Needing a studio for a short time, Harrison called Bob Dylan, who agreed to let them use the studio in his garage. After dinner, Harrison stopped by Tom Petty’s house to pick up a guitar he had left there and invited Petty over.
After gathering at Dylan’s Malibu home the next day, Harrison, Lynne, Orbison and Petty worked on a song Harrison had begun writing for the occasion, “Handle With Care”. Initially, Dylan’s role was that of host, preparing the barbecue to feed the musicians. But at Harrison’s urging, Dylan wrote the lyrics for the song. The band recorded the track on Dylan’s Ampex recording equipment, with the five sharing vocals. But “Handle With Care” was deemed too good to be used as a B-side, so Harrison decided to get the band together and record nine more songs for an album. So the band now reconvened for nine days in May, recording the main tracks and vocals at Dave Stewart’s house in Los Angeles. Overdubs and mixing took place in England at Harrison’s home studio.
So disguised as the Wilbury brothers, the band members would now be known as Nelson (Harrison), Otis (Lynne), Lucky (Dylan), Lefty (Orbison) and Charlie T. Jr. (Petty), with drummer Jim Keltner listed as Buster Sidebury.
With Harrison having the biggest claims on the band, he signed them to Warner Bros. Records, which distributed his solo recordings, even incorporating their own Wilbury Records label, in addition to Lynne’s production that spring. Petty then signed to Warner Bros. itself as a solo artist and one of the label’s subsidiaries, Reprise Records, released Lynne’s solo album Armchair Theater in 1990.
Through this excellent album I select “Tweeter And The Monkey Man”.
Tracklist
1. Handle With Care 3:20
2. Dirty World 3:30
3. Rattled 3:00
4. Last Night 3:48
5. Not Alone Any More 3:24
6. Congratulations 3:30
7. Heading For The Light 3:37
8. Margarita 3:16
9. Tweeter And The Monkey Man 5:30
10. End Of The Line 3:30
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