Template:Album infobox 2 Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is the debut album by the supergroup Traveling Wilburys and was recorded and released in 1988 to enormous commercial success and critical acclaim.
In the afterglow of George Harrison's 1987 comeback album Cloud Nine, he happened to initiate a musical jam early the following year between friends Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. Lynne was currently involved in producing songs for Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl album and invited him along. The informal jam session gelled and an idea was sprung to record a one-off album together under the unlikely name of Traveling Wilburys. Masquerading as the Wilbury brothers, the participants would be known as Nelson (Harrison), Otis (Lynne), Lucky (Dylan), Lefty (Orbison) and Charlie T. Jnr. (Petty).
With Harrison having the greatest claim to the band, he signed them up to Warner Bros. Records, his current label, and incorporated their own Wilbury Records label, in addition to producing the sessions with Lynne that spring.
In October, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 (so named because of the unlikelihood of there being another) was released, preceeded by "Handle With Care" as the lead single. Although the single did not scale the pop charts, the album did, reaching #16 in the UK and an impressive #3 in the US. With over forty weeks on the charts, the album was later certified double-platinum. While Harrison and Petty had recent successes, Dylan, Orbison and Lynne had not seen an album climb that high in several years. At the time, no Dylan album had ever achieved two million in sales. As one critic put it, it was "one of the great commercial coups of the decade."
Most critics, bemoaning the usual clashing of egos so prevalent in supergroups, found the group's modest ambitions to be fresh and relaxing. During 1989 and 1990 the album won many accolades, least of all a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
Unfortunately, it was not all good news. Orbison suddenly died of a heart attack on 6 December 1988, surprising much of the music industry and press. The sleeve cover for "End Of The Line", the group's second single, was photographed four days after Orbison's death. Depicting a guitar in Orbison's rocking chair, it was taken as a tribute.
Both Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and its unexpected 1990 follow-up Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 were deleted in the mid-1990's with rights reverting to Harrison and his estate after his 2001 death. With all of his solo catalogue having reverted to EMI Records after almost twenty years with Warner Bros. Records, who distributed his Dark Horse Records label, both Traveling Wilburys albums appear set to be re-issued through EMI. Tom Petty was recently quoted to have said that they would be re-released in late 2005.
Track listing
All songs by the Traveling Wilburys.
- "Handle With Care" - 3:20
- "Dirty World" - 3:30
- "Rattled" - 3:00
- "Last Night" - 3:48
- "Not Alone Any More" - 3:24
- "Congratulations" - 3:30
- "Heading For The Light" - 3:37
- "Margarita" - 3:15
- "Tweeter And The Monkey Man" - 5:30
- "End Of The Line" - 3:30