The Traveling Wilburys‘ two studio albums – Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 and Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 – are being reissued on compact disc and vinyl by Concord Bicycle Music on October 14. The supergroup featured five of classic rock’s biggest names and frequent collaborators: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. Vol. 1 is available for pre-order here; Vol. 3 here.
The individual 180-gram vinyl releases will make their reissue debut October 4 as part of Record Store Day’s Vinyl Tuesday initiative, with a special giveaway opportunity exclusively via participating recordstoreday.com retailers: a rare and uniquely numbered Traveling Wilbury portfolio. The limited-edition portfolio includes seven prints of the iconic band, suitable for framing.
The Wilburys formed in 1988 after Dylan, Harrison, Petty, Lynne and Orbison assembled at Dylan’s Malibu, California studio to record a B-side for the Harrison single “This Is Love.” The resulting song, “Handle With Care,” was instead released under the Wilburys name, with the artists posing as a band of brothers. George later said, “I liked the song and the way that it turned out with all these people on it so much that I just carried it around in my pocket for ages thinking, ‘Well what can I do with this thing?’ And the only thing to do I could think of was do another nine. Make an album.”
Watch this behind-the-scenes feature…
The friends took turns on lead vocals, often on the same song. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 sold millions of copies and yielded several rock radio hits, in particular “Handle With Care” and “End of the Line.” Sadly, Orbison died less than two months after the album’s release. Vol. 1 achieved great success; after hitting No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, the certified double Platinum album earned a GRAMMY® for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
Two years later, the remaining four released a follow-up, calling it Vol. 3 (“It was George’s idea. He said ‘Let’s confuse the buggers,'” Lynne told a reporter at the time). This one had two radio hits, “She’s My Baby” and “Inside Out.” The album was dedicated to Orbison. “She’s My Baby” and “Wilbury Twist” became radio hits as the album reached #11 in the U.S. and was certified Platinum.
Earlier this year, the Traveling Wilburys Collection box set was released as a limited-edition, uniquely numbered 2-CD 1-DVD box set, standard 2-CD 1-DVD package, deluxe 180-gram 3-LP vinyl box and for the first time as high-resolution downloads. The release includes albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 3), bonus tracks and a DVD featuring footage of the band from the first chord to the final mix.
The Traveling Wilburys made their long anticipated streaming debut in June and are now available on all streaming services.
The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1
1. Handle With Care
2. Dirty World
3. Rattled
4. Last Night
5. Not Alone Any More
6. Congratulations
7. Heading For The Light
8. Margarita
9. Tweeter And The Monkey Man
10. End Of The Line
11. Maxine (CD Bonus Track)
12. Like A Ship (CD Bonus Track)
The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3
1. She’s My Baby
2. Inside Out
3. If You Belonged To Me
4 . The Devil’s Been Busy
5. 7 Deadly Sins
6. Poor House
7. Where Were You Last Night?
8. Cool Dry Place
9. New Blue Moon
10. You Took By Breath Away
11. Wilbury Twist
12. Nobody’s Child (CD Bonus Track)
13. Runaway (CD Bonus Track)
