REVIEW: The Traveling Wilburys – The Traveling Wilburys Collection (2CD/1DVD)

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In 1987, George Harrison was having renewed success with his then recently released album ‘Cloud 9’. When asked to come up with a b-side for one of his singles, George assembled his friends Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan & Jeff Lynne and recorded the song “Handle With Care”. The people at Warner Bros. heard it and decided that this was too good to waste on a b-side. Harrison took the idea and ran with it; the Traveling Wilburys was born and ‘Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1’ was released the following year. That album, along with its 1990 follow-up ‘Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3’, went out-of-print in the late nineties.

17 years after the release of ‘Vol. 3’, Rhino Records has re-released the super-group’s landmark albums in a 2CD/1DVD set called ‘The Traveling Wilburys Collection’. This is all the Wilburys you’ll ever need; containing both albums in their entirety with bonus tracks, a half hour documentary and the band’s 5 music videos. A deluxe edition with a cloth bound cover and 40 page book is also available.

The first disc is devoted to ‘Vol. 1’ and its bonus tracks. Kicking off with “Handle With Care”, this album is chock full of jangly guitar pop goodness and features the five principals at the top of their game. Everyone writes, plays and sings and it shows; the songs manage to showcase the individuals while maintaining an overall cohesive sound that binds the album together. From Harrison’s signature slide guitar to Dylan’s social commentary lyrics; everyone has something to contribute. Tacked on to the end are the two bonus tracks, “Maxine” & “Ship In Line”, both previously unreleased.

Disc two is the DVD and holds the documentary and the music videos. The documentary, “The True Story of the Traveling Wilburys”, contains vintage material and runs through the creation of each song on ‘Vol. 1’. Informative and entertaining, it’s fun to watch these guys truly enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, it’s also incomplete; there is no footage regarding ‘Vol. 3’ and it would have been nice to get some interviews with the surviving members (George Harrison passed away in 2001). The music videos are entertaining but fairly routine for the time; look for the late John Candy's brief cameo in "Wilbury Twist".

Finally, the third disc contains ‘Vol. 3’ and its bonus tracks. Before this album was recorded, Roy Orbison passed away and his velvety smooth vocals are genuinely missed, giving the album a slightly different feel. The opening track, “She’s My Baby” is much more of a rocker than anything on its predecessor and that general attitude permeates the entire album. The instrumentation is denser and leans towards a 50’s rockabilly sensibility. There are two bonus tracks “Nobody’s Child” (from a compilation) & “Runaway” a cover of the Del Shannon hit.

If you enjoyed these albums originally or if you’re a fan of any of these artists, ‘The Traveling Wilburys Collection’ is a no-brainer purchase. Digitally remastered with good extras should be incentive enough even if you already own the originals.

If nothing else, this collection proves that they just don’t make all-star super-groups like they used to.

Rating: Music - **** out of ***** / Reissue - ***** out of *****