FEATURE:
National Album Day 2020: The Eighties
The Album of the Decade That I Will Be Playing: Traveling Wilburys - The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
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EVERY year…
I always look forward to National Album Day. It is a bit strange this year, in so much as everything feels a bit odd! There is a theme with each National Album Day and, for today (10th October), it is about the music of the Eighties. Here are some more details:
“On Saturday 10th October the entire British music community are coming together to celebrate the third National Album Day.
There’s going to be a week-long build-up of activities across the country celebrating the album as a format involving amazing talent which spans artists, songwriters, producers, labels, retailers, sleeve designers and the great British public too!
We've enjoyed over 70 years of albums; classic, life-changing, first, influential and even the ones we couldn't live without. Albums mean different things to different people – but there is no denying the huge impact they’ve not only had on our lives but on British pop-culture as we know it.
There are lots of ways for to celebrate National Album Day, from hosting album listening parties, going record shopping with friends, attending live album playbacks or just rejoicing in your record collection and telling us all about the albums you cherish and love. Check out our Get Involved page for more ideas and to submit information about your event.
The Eighties is our theme for 2020, exploring the long voted UK’s favourite music decade that has inspired future generations. It's hard to believe the era began 40 years ago!”.
Of course, it is a chance to embrace all music of the Eighties, but I am going to put together a playlist of great music from that decade but, when it comes to focusing my time on a single album from that decade, it is going to be The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. There were other albums I was considering – including Janet Jackson’s Control, Paul Simon’s Graceland, and De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising -, but I think the one album of the decade that has given me some joy recently is The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. I grew up listening to a lot of the great artists of the 1980s. Madonna and Michael Jackson were a big part of my childhood, and Bad by Michael Jackson was an album that meant a lot to me. It still is a massive album to me, but I was not too sure how people would react if I selected that album – what with the fact Jackson is not really played now amid controversy and an ongoing feeling of unease. Putting that aside, and the debut album from the Traveling Wilburys is one of my all-time favourites. I have written about this album before, and it is one that I experienced not long after its release. There are many reasons why The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is the album of the Eighties that I am going to be enjoying today.
My experience of the album started when I was a small child and the family and I would have Sunday morning trips up to see my grandparents. They lived close by, and the day would see us drive towards their house, stop for a McDonald's not too far away, before driving up to their house – on the way back, me and my sister would be allowed to buy some sweets at a newsagents near our house on the way back (in the days when there were penny sweets and there was this pleasure about being allowed to choose 50p of sweets and enjoying them on the Sunday!). I listened to a lot of music in the family car when I was young, and I think I may have first heard The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 as early as 1989 – though it may have been a bit later. In terms of music from the Eighties, it was mainly Pop that I was listening to. I was getting into Hip-Hop and artists who crossed Hip-Hop and Pop, but I did not stray too far away from those genres in those early days. The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 took me by surprise, as it was very different to anything else, and I was not initially aware about the pedigree of the musicians in the band.
I could detect Bob Dylan and George Harrison in there, but I hadn’t heard too much music from Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty; it was only in later years that I understood what a supergroup was and why The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 could have been a gamble. The musicians were friends, but having five huge names perform together does not necessarily translate into natural and instant results. In other supergroups, egos can clash and the songwriting can seem a bit muddled and unfocused. With the Traveling Wilburys, there was this respect between the members, and you get this carefree vibe throughout the album. The sheer simplicity and catchiness of the songs affected me as a child, and I liked the fact that there were different lead vocals and there was so much range throughout The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. Petty, Orbison, Harrison, Dylan, and Lynne were in different stages of their careers by the time they got into the studio. This review from AllMusic talks about how The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 helped re-inspire the group - and the result was one of the finest albums of the Eighties:
“The Traveling Wilburys built upon Harrison's comeback with Cloud Nine and helped revitalize everybody else's career, setting the stage for Dylan's 1989 comeback with Oh Mercy, Petty's first solo album, Full Moon Fever, produced by Lynne (sounding and feeling strikingly similar to this lark), and Orbison's Mystery Girl, which was released posthumously. Given the success of this record and how it boosted the creativity of the rest of the five, it's somewhat a shock that the second effort falls a little flat. In retrospect, Vol. 3 plays a little bit better than it did at the time -- it's the kind of thing to appreciate more in retrospect, since you'll never get another album like it -- but it still labors mightily to recapture what came so effortlessly the first time around, a problem that can't merely be chalked up to the absence of Orbison (who after all, didn't write much on the first and only took lead on one song).
Where the humor flowed naturally and absurdly throughout the debut, it feels strained on Vol. 3 -- nowhere more so than on "Wilbury Twist," where Petty implores you to put your underwear on your head and get up and dance, the epitome of forced hilarity -- and the production is too polished and punchy to give it a joie de vivre similar to the debut. That polish is an indication that Lynne and Petty dominate this record, which only makes sense because they made it between Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open, but it's striking that this sounds like more like their work, even when Dylan takes the lead on "Inside Out" or the doo wop-styled "7 Deadly Sins." Both of these are quite good songs and they have a few other companions here, like the quite wonderful country stomp "Poor House," but they're songs more notable for their craft than their impact -- nothing is as memorable as the throwaways on the debut -- and when combined with the precise production, it takes a bit for them to sink in. But give the record some time, and these subtle pleasures are discernible, even if they surely pale compared to the open-hearted fun of the debut. But when paired with the debut on this set, it's a worthy companion and helps support the notion that the Traveling Wilburys were a band that possesses a unique, almost innocent, charm that isn't diminished after all this time”.
The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is not necessarily a ‘typical Eighties album’, but in such a varied decade, I don’t think we can easily define and limit the music of the time. The originality and timelessness of the music is a reason why The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 hit me when I was young, and it is the album I will diving into today.
At ten songs, the album is very tight and focused. It starts and ends with two brilliant Harrison-led songs (Handle with Care, and End of the Line), and it ensures that we kick off with an awesome track and finish on one of the very best. Last Night is a wonderful song combining Tom Petty and Roy Orbison, and Orbison can be heard on all five tracks from the first side – he goes solo on Not Alone Any More. There is a lack of his incredible instrument on the second half (aside from the final track, End of the Line), but it is nice that we get to hear him so much in the first half! I love the Dylan-led Tweeter and the Monkey Man, as it is an epic song and has nods to Bruce Springsteen; Heading for the Light is a huge highlight, and every track on the album sounds polished, but there is definitely punch and depth – Jeff Lynne and George Harrison produced. The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 is a great nostalgic trip, and one of the first albums from the Eighties that made a very big impression. I return to it a lot now, as it is impossible to listen to the album and not be cheered and lifted. If you have not heard The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, then I would encourage people to listen to it now but, on National Album Day, everyone will be playing some great music from the Eighties that means a lot to them. I am going to listen to other music from the decade, but I wanted to focus on an album from the Eighties that means a great deal to me. It is an important record from my childhood, and one that keeps revealing new pleasures and highlights…
OVER thirty years since its release.