A musical journey

Collection brings Traveling Wilburys home By Randell Bolton Special to The Courier-Journal Born out of the one-off idea of recording a B-side for George Harrison's song "This is Love," the Traveling Wilburys accidentally became a supergroup. The idea was simple. Get five first-class musicians together, set aside all ego, and contribute equally to an album.

The fact that five musicians of this caliber - Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne - pulled it off remains an amazing feat. Lesser bands have been crushed under the weight of lesser egos.

"The Traveling Wilburys Collection" gathers the two original albums, "Volume 1" and "Volume 3," which have been out of print for a decade, and a DVD documentary. They hold up well. Press play on "Volume 1" and hear the song that started it all, "Handle With Care." One may enjoy the Harrison vocal or the hook-laden chorus, but it's Orbison's powerful refrain that steals the show.

"Handle With Care" was understandably a hit, but dig deeper and check out the Dylan tunes "Dirty World" and "Tweeter and the Monkey Man," or Petty's equally enjoyable "Last Night." This is where the collaborative effort pays dividends. "Volume 1" ends with two outtakes, "Maxine" and "Like a Ship," and, while OK, may be for the completest.

"Volume 3" came just two years after "Volume 1," but in between, the world lost Orbison. While "Volume 3" is a good album, it does suffer a bit from the loss of Orbison. Del Shannon was to replace Orbison, but after his suicide, the band continued as a four-piece. A version of Shannon's "Runaway" is included here as a bonus track.

The outstanding documentary "The True History of the Traveling Wilburys" is augmented by five music videos. A decade is a long time for fans to have been without this music, but it was worth the wait.


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