The Traveling Wilburys album Bob Dylan always wanted to make: “We knew what to expect”
It takes a lot for Bob Dylan to get onboard with anything for too long.
He was a musical chameleon in many respects, and even if he was a devout fan of whatever it is he was working on, it didn’t take him long to start veering off in another direction and start seeing what else the music world had to offer. But it’s hard to think that anyone wasn’t going to be in steady hands when working on any of the Traveling Wilburys’ greatest tunes.
The whole idea of five of the greatest writers of their time coming together to create an album was practically too good an idea to fail. Every member liked the idea of being in a group together to hang out anyways, so when they came up with ‘Handle With Care’ on the spur of the moment, it was a no-brainer for the label to ask them to go back into the studio and cut some more tunes like that.
And of the band’s two releases, their debut is the one that’s absolutely necessary to listen to. Not every song is an absolute home run and it can feel a bit middle-aged in spots, but that should hardly be counted as marks against them. They were having fun for the hell of it back then, and while Roy Orbison’s passing did throw a wrench into things, that didn’t mean the party had to stop.
Sure, there was no one who could have replaced Orbison, but even without one of their own, they were convinced they could keep everything going. And while Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 is far from the worst thing they’ve ever made, it’s clear that something was off. Dylan did have a bigger spotlight on him this time around, but a lot of that enthusiasm came from the fact that he had more confidence.
According to George Harrison, it took Dylan a lot more time to get used to them playing together after having no confidence in their debut, saying, “I think everyone, particularly Bob, was more willing to do it this time. Never having been in a band before, Bob wasn’t quite sure what the result would be on the first one. This time, we knew what to expect. Bob was keen to do this one.”
If anything, the fact that Dylan was so adamant may have been to make up for Orbison’s absence. This was too good of a band for them to leave everything off on a tragic note, and when listening to the garage-rock anthems of tunes like ‘Wilbury Twist’ and ‘She’s My Baby’, it does end up harkening back to the kind of records that Dylan was used to making on his own in the 1960s.
Not everything is polished, but that’s because it doesn’t need to be. Half the reason why they were together was to have some fun, and if they thought about sweetening up the vocals or making sure that everyone played a guitar part that was right on the money, chances are they would have become bored far too quickly.
And while Traveling Wilburys Vol. III is nowhere near the same level as they were at with Orbison in the group, it does help remind everyone of how the band themselves saw the group. For rock fans, this was the musical equivalent of the Avengers coming together, but for all of them, it was a fun little group they could have on the side while they were putting together their own separate projects.
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