Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
| The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Traveling Wilburys | ||||
| Released |
October 18, 1988 (US) October 24, 1988 (UK) | |||
| Recorded |
April–May 1988 FPSHOT, Lucky Studios and Dave Stewart Studios | |||
| Genre | Heartland rock, folk rock | |||
| Length | 36:22 | |||
| Label |
Wilbury/Warner Bros. Records 25796 | |||
| Producer | Otis Wilbury, Nelson Wilbury | |||
| Traveling Wilburys chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | A–[2] |
| Houston Chronicle |  [3] |
| MusicHound | [4] |
| Q | [5] |
| Rolling Stone | [6] |
| Uncut | [7] |
The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is the debut album by the supergroup Traveling Wilburys and was recorded and released in 1988 to commercial success and critical acclaim.[8] It has been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Background
In early April 1988, George Harrison was in Los Angeles and needed to record a B-side for a European 12-inch single. Jeff Lynne was also in Los Angeles producing some tracks for Roy Orbison as well as Tom Petty’s first solo album. While having dinner with Lynne and Orbison, Harrison related how he needed to record a new track and wanted to do it the next day. Both offered to help. Needing a studio on short notice, Harrison suggested they call Bob Dylan, who had a home studio. After dinner, George stopped by Petty’s house to pick up his guitar for the next day’s session and invited him along too. Gathering at Dylan’s Malibu home the following day, they wrote and recorded the song “Handle with Care” in five hours, with all five sharing the vocals.[9]
The track was considered too good to be used as a B-side, so Harrison hatched the idea to form a band and record another nine songs for an album. The group got together again for nine days in May, recording the basic tracks and vocals at Dave Stewart’s home studio in Los Angeles. Overdubs and mixing were carried out in England at Harrison’s home studio, FPSHOT (short for Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames).
Masquerading as the Wilbury brothers, the participants would be known as Nelson (Harrison), Otis (Lynne), Lucky (Dylan), Lefty (Orbison) and Charlie T. Jr. (Petty). Harrison was no stranger to the use of alternate identities with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and his plethora of pseudonyms as a session musician, such as L'Angelo Misterioso, George O'Hara and Hari Georgeson, but this concept was taken a step further: their real names never appear anywhere on the album, liner notes, or even the songwriting credits.
With Harrison having the greatest claim to the band, he signed them up to Warner Bros. Records (which Petty eventually signed to himself, and which, through Reprise Records, released Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre in 1990), his current label, and incorporated their own Wilbury Records label, in addition to producing the sessions with Lynne that spring.
Songwriting
According to statements by Harrison in the documentary The True History of the Traveling Wilburys (filmed in 1988 about the making of the album and re-released on the bonus DVD included in The Traveling Wilburys Collection), the whole band gave various contributions to all songs, although each song was mainly written by a single member; the joint songwriting credit came from the fact that giving individualized credits looked egotistical.[10] However, the publishing credits on the Collection book are more revealing about the actual songwriter, as each of the credited publishers belongs to a single member:
- Harrison's Umlaut Corporation (formerly Ganga Publishing) is credited for "Handle with Care", "Heading for the Light", "End of the Line" and the bonus track "Maxine", identifying him as the main writer of those songs. In an interview included among the bonus features on the 2003 DVD release of the 2002 tribute Concert for George, Petty recalls that the lyrics to "Handle With Care" were the result of a game held by Harrison in his home studio, with all of the band members (including himself) shouting out lines and Harrison keeping the ones that stuck. According to Petty, the line "Oh, the sweet smell of success" is his.
- Dylan, credited via his Special Rider Music publisher, wrote "Dirty World" (according to Harrison and Lynne's recollections on the documentary, Dylan and all the other band members gave their input to the song by pitching in funny lines to complete the lyric line "He loves your ..."[10]), "Congratulations", the long narrative of "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" (which was apparently intended as a parody of Bruce Springsteen's early, verbose songs) and the other bonus track "Like a Ship".
- Petty, published by Gone Gator Music, wrote "Last Night" (again, with substantial lyrical contributions from the entire band[10]) and "Margarita".
- Lynne's publisher, Shard End Music (named after his birthplace), identifies him as the main writer of "Rattled" and "Not Alone Any More".[11] The separation was not repeated for the publishing credits of Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, which show all songs as being published by all four publishers.[11]
Release and aftermath
Released October 18, 1988, Volume One became the surprise hit of the year, selling 2 million copies within six months in the United States, reaching number 3 in the US and number 16 in the UK. With over 50 weeks on the charts, The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was later certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. While Harrison and Petty had had recent successes, Dylan, Orbison (who died of a sudden heart attack on December 6, 1988) and Lynne had not seen an album climb that high in several years. At the time, no Dylan album had ever achieved 2 million in sales. As one critic put it, it was "one of the great commercial coups of the decade". The single "Handle With Care" was a significant hit in the UK charts, peaking at number 21, and an even bigger hit in Australia (number 3) and New Zealand (number 4), though it stalled at number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Most critics said the group's modest ambitions were fresh and relaxing. During 1989 and 1990 the album won many accolades, including a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year.
After Harrison’s distribution deal with Warner Bros. expired in 1995, ownership of the Dark Horse Records catalog as well as the two Traveling Wilburys albums reverted to Harrison and the albums went out of print.[12] On June 12, 2007, Volume One and Vol. 3 were reissued by Rhino Records as The Traveling Wilburys Collection, packaged together with bonus tracks and a DVD. The box set debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and number 9 on the Billboard 200.
Track listing
All songs written by Traveling Wilburys.
- Side one
- "Handle with Care" – 3:20
- "Dirty World" – 3:30
- "Rattled" – 3:00
- "Last Night" – 3:48
- "Not Alone Any More" – 3:24
- Side two
- "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
- 2007 reissue bonus tracks
- "Maxine" – 2:49
- "Like a Ship" – 3:31
Personnel
- Nelson Wilbury (George Harrison) – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, slide guitar, backing vocals
- Otis Wilbury (Jeff Lynne) – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
- Charlie T. Wilbury Jr (Tom Petty) – vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison) – vocals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (except on "Tweeter and the Monkey Man")
- Lucky Wilbury (Bob Dylan) – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, backing vocals
- Additional personnel
- Buster Sidebury (Jim Keltner) – drums
- Jim Horn and Steven Gwyther Jones on "Heading for the light" – saxophones
- Ray Cooper – percussion
- Ian Wallace – tom-toms on "Handle with Care"
- Michael Palin – album liner notes
Production
- Produced by Otis and Nelson Wilbury (Jeff Lynne and George Harrison)
- Engineers – Bill Bottrell, Richard Dodd, Phil McDonald, Don Smith
Accolades
Grammy Awards
| Year | Recipient | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| style="width:35px; text-align:center; rowspan="2" |1990 | The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 | Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal[13] | style="background: #99FF99; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="yes table-yes2"|Won |
| Album of the Year[14] | style="background: #FDD; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2"|Nominated | ||
American Music Awards
| Year | Recipient | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Traveling Wilburys (performer) | Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist[15] | style="background: #FDD; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2"|Nominated |
Certifications
} } } } }| Region | Certification | Sales/shipments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[16] | 6× Platinum | 600,000^ | |
| Germany (BVMI)[17] | Gold | 250,000^ | |
| Sweden (GLF)[18] | Gold | 50,000^ | |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[19] | Gold | 25,000x | |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[20] | Platinum | 300,000^ | |
| } | United States (RIAA)[21] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000^ |
|
^shipments figures based on certification alone | |||
Charts
Peak positions
|
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
| Preceded by Cocktail (soundtrack) by Various artists |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album February 13–26, 1989 |
Succeeded by Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison |
References
- ↑ Allmusic review
- ↑ Robert Christgau review
- ↑ Racine, Martin (1988-11-06). "Records". Retrieved 2011-11-04.
- ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 1164. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ↑ Shaar Murray, Charles (December 1988). "The Traveling Wilburys: Good to see the old folks enjoying themselves". Q. p. 139.
- ↑ Wild, David (18 October 1988). "The Traveling Wilburys Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ↑ Scoppa, Bud (6 June 2007). "The Traveling Wilburys – Volumes 1 and 3". Uncut. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ↑ "Chart Stats – The Traveling Wilburys". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ↑ Bauder, David. "Traveling Wilburys album a happy accident of music" The Associated Press December 11, 1988
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 The True History of the Traveling Wilburys documentary, The Traveling Wilburys Collection bonus DVD
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Traveling Wilburys Collection book
- ↑ White, Timothy. "Harrison, mates recommission Yellow Submarine" The Plain Dealer July 4, 1999: 1I
- ↑ "Past Winners Search". grammy.com. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
- ↑ "HERE'S LIST OF NOMINEES FROM ALL 77 CATEGORIES". deseretnews.com. Deseret News. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
- ↑ Times Wire Services (1990-01-23). "Milli Vanilli, Travis and Dancers Star at American Music Awards". Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Traveling Wilburys – Volume 1". Music Canada.
- ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Traveling Wilburys; 'Traveling Wilburys')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
- ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
- ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Traveling Wilburys; 'Traveling Wilburys')". Hung Medien.
- ↑ "British album certifications – Traveling Wilburys – Traveling Wilburys". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Traveling Wilburys in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
- ↑ "American album certifications – Traveling Wilburys – Traveling Wilburys". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
- ↑ "australian-charts.com Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (ASP). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "austriancharts.at Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-10-29
- ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "Album Search: Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
- ↑ "charts.org.nz Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "swedishcharts.com Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1 - hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "Traveling Wilburys > Artist > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
- ↑ "allmusic ((( The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1988" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2014-05-01.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
- ↑ "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 50 Albums 1989". aria.com.au. Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
- ↑ "Austriancharts.at - Jahreshitparade 1989" (ASP) (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1989". RPM. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ↑ "Hitparade.ch - Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1989" (ASP). Swiss Music Charts (in Swedish). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
- ↑ "Billboard.BIZ: Top Pop Albums of 1989". Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2014-05-03.
- ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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