TRAVELING WILBURYS

The 'Traveling Wilburys' were a supergroup consisting of George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. During the short time they were together they recorded two albums.

Contents

History

The 2007 revival

Members

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Singles

Common Bootlegs

External links

History

Initially starting at a meal between Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne, they got together at Bob Dylan's studio (Santa Monica, California) to record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison's "This Is Love". Tom Petty's involvement was by chance as Harrison had left his guitar at Petty's house. The song they came up with was "Handle with Care". However, the record company immediately realized it was too good to be released as a single "filler".
They enjoyed working together so much that they decided to create an album together. Written by all its members, the album was recorded over a ten-day period because Dylan was due to go on tour. Released in October 1988 (under various pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr.), the album ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1'' was in 1989 ranked #70 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. It was later nominated for a Grammy under the category Album of the Year. The death of band member Roy Orbison (on December 6, 1988) prevented further full collaborations; however, the band continued without him. The band even finished the video for "End of the Line". In the scene where the verse is sung by Orbison, the viewer is shown Orbison's guitar in a rocking chair followed by a photo of the late artist.
"Wilburys" was a slang term coined by Harrison and Lynne during the recording of ''Cloud Nine'' as a reference to recorded "flubs" that could be eliminated during the mixing stage (i.e. "'We'll bury' them in the mix"). The term was used again when the entire group was together. Harrison suggested "The Trembling Wilburys" as the group's name, but they decided to use "Traveling" instead.
After Orbison's death, there was undocumented speculation in the news media that Del Shannon might join the band, but his 1990 suicide precluded any possible involvement. Petty later claimed that the band never considered replacing Orbison.
A charity single entitled "Nobody's Child", aimed at drawing attention to the orphaned children of Romania, followed in early 1990, also with an with others. A second album titled ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3'' was released in October 1990. However, the album met with less success. Some possible reasons for the skip from Vol. 1 to Vol. 3 include the fact that some consider Tom Petty's ''Full Moon Fever'' as Vol. 2 (Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison perform on the album), a nod to the many bootlegs titled "Volume 2" containing early studio mixes/alternative takes, to honor the death of Roy Orbison by not releasing the project started with Orbison, or as a simple joke. Harrison once claimed in an MTV interview that the band had written material for a Vol. 2, but the material was stolen before completion. . In the book in The Traveling Wilburys CD/DVD, the name is credited to 'George being George'.

The 2007 revival

In the late 90s and early 2000s, the two Traveling Wilburys albums had limited availability and were out of print in most territories. Harrison, as primary holder of the rights, did not reissue them prior to his death. In June 2007, the two albums were reissued as a two CD and one DVD set, originally announced by Tom Petty on his XM radio show and in the February 2007 edition of Q Magazine in an interview with Jeff Lynne.
The Traveling Wilburys reissue resulted in two editions of the ''The Traveling Wilburys Collection'' release. Firstly, a standard edition (in a double Digipak packaging) which features both CD albums and a DVD with a documentary and music videos, along with a 16-page booklet, and secondly a deluxe boxed edition with the same CDs and DVD, plus extensive 40-page booklet and artist postcards and photographs. On the iTunes Store, a digital version of The Traveling Wilburys - The Collection contains both albums with bonus tracks, the twenty four minute documentary, and five music videos.
The release surprised everyone when it debuted straight at number one in the UK Album Charts [1]. The collection entered the charts at #9 on the US Billboard 200 (Billboard Magazine, for the week ending June 30, 2007). The group also hit number one on the Australian album charts [2], Amazon's pre-order and sales list, and Apple's iTunes. ''The Traveling Wilburys Collection'' also debuted at #1 in the United World Chart. The album has sold 500,000 copies worldwide during the first 3 weeks and remained in the UK top 5 for seven weeks after its release.

Members

The Traveling Wilburys of Volume 1 were:

★ Nelson Wilbury - George Harrison

★ Otis Wilbury - Jeff Lynne

★ Lefty Wilbury - Roy Orbison

★ Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. - Tom Petty

★ Lucky Wilbury - Bob Dylan
The Traveling Wilburys of Volume 3 were:

★ Spike Wilbury - George Harrison

★ Clayton Wilbury - Jeff Lynne

★ Muddy Wilbury - Tom Petty

★ Boo Wilbury - Bob Dylan
Jim Keltner, the session drummer and percussionist, was not listed as a Wilbury; however he is in some of the music videos. In the DVD released in 2007, he is given the Wilbury nickname 'Buster Sidebury'. Furthermore, overdubs to the unreleased tracks "Maxine" and "Like A Ship" credit Ayrton Wilbury, a pseudonym for Dhani Harrison.

Discography

Albums

★ ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1'' - October 24 1988 - Wilbury, Warner Bros. #3 USA

★ ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3'' - October 29 1990 - Wilbury, Warner Bros. #

Compilations

★ ''The Traveling Wilburys Collection'' - June 12 2007 - Wilbury, Rhino - '#1' UK, '#1' Australia, '#1 Worldwide', #9 USA

Singles

★ "Handle with Care" - October 1988 - #21 UK, #45 U.S. (#2 Mainstream Rock), #3 Australia (Re-issued on vinyl in June 2007)

★ "Last Night" - December 1988 - U.S. (#5 Mainstream Rock)

★ "End of the Line" - February 1989 - #12 Australia, #52 UK, #63 U.S. (#2 Mainstream Rock)

★ "Heading For The Light" - April 1989 - U.S. (#7 Mainstream Rock)

★ "" - June 1990 - #44 UK

★ "She's My Baby" - October 1990 - U.S (#2 Mainstream Rock), #45 Australia, #79 UK

★ "Inside Out" - January 1991 - U.S (#16 Mainstream Rock)

Common Bootlegs

★ ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 2'' (1989 demos and extended songs from ''Vol. 1'')

★ ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 4'' (1990 out-takes from ''Vol. 3'')

External links

★ Official site

★ Traveling Wilburys ''TheWilburys.com - Traveling Wilburys Information, music videos, lyrics and more''

★ Comprehensive fan site

★ Two blogs from the same author on the Traveling Wilburys: Wilbury Twist and Traveling Wilburys

★ All Over the World Jeff Lynne information page (ELO, Traveling Wilburys).

★ Entry at VH1.com