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The Traveling Wilburys


sal

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I remember hearing alot of this music when I was younger, but unfortunatley I never got the original CD issues of these that went out of print so quickly. Its really nice to hear this music again, and discovering so much that I've never heard before.

Upon reading reviews for these, so many of the critics make it seem like "Vol. 3" is some kind of sub par follow up, but I quite enjoy Vol 3 very much, although maybe not quite as much as Vol. 1. I love the loose, laid back feel of these masters making music together. The new reissue also has a DVD that I've not watched yet. Anyone pick this up?

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I'm one of those folks who thought the 1st album had a lot of charm and never cottoned to the one without Roy. My tolerance of Jeff Lynne is extremely low however, so having one member die upped his allotment just past my breaking point. ;)

I have the 1st album on cassette which is essentially a dead format for me, so I may try to snag a used copy of the old CD issue, seeing as they aren't willing to break up the package.

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I got the reissue. Neither album is as good as I remembered; the first one sounds especially dated. It just reeks of that late 80s, Jeff Lynne sounds that I find smothering. I always thought that Lynne never fit with the rest of them as a performer or writer, but he saw this as his chance for greatness and inserted himself into the group. And then drenched everything in his "sound". But it is nice to hear (and see, in the very good documentary on the DVD) how happy George Harrison seems. At least he was having fun!

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Never was into these albums myself (my dad loved them, though), but I worked in two record stores from 1994-2001, and it was amazing how many requests we got for these titles. I talked to my friend who runs Landlocked Records, a store here in Bloomington--a store that caters to vinyl lovers & indie kids--and he said HE got requests for them all the time before news of the reissues hit.

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I bought both albums when they were first released (on casette, at the time). When I made the switch over the CD, I didn't upgrade them and always regretted it. I wound up finding both albums on CD several years ago (used) and have enjoyed having them again ever since. I also have a bootleg two disc set that includes demos from both albums and tons of non-album tracks that featured some or all of the Wilburys (it even has the singles from Orbison and Petty's albums). Not the greatest stuff in the world, but so much fun! I upgraded to the new set to get the DVD and the improved sound, so if anyone wants to buy my old discs off of me, shoot me a PM.

Yes, Lynne was the least of the Wilburys for me, never having been an ELO fan. That said, however, I owned (and loved) the solo albums that Lynne produced during this period (Orbison's "Mystery Girl," Harrison's "Cloud Nine," and Petty's "Full Moon Fever"). Volume 3 was not as consistantly good as the first album, but it has some great Dylan songs! I never had any issues with the 80s production on the albums. They were made in the 80s (and early 90s)! I expect them to sound that way! Are they dated? Sure. Phil Spector's productions, great as they were, are dated. So is "Pet Sounds." So is "The Sidewinder," for that matter. Sometimes dating isn't such a bad thing, I think...

Edited by Alexander
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fuck the Wilberries then & doublefuck Nostalgia now-- sorry you misheard the first time, Greg (sincere)... anything decent you can git better on a jillion Dylan bootlegs (like "Like A Ship," which has been out there forever), if you can still stand that hokum-filled long hot dusty road lit by neon & static electricity generated by edc's hugeness sashaying against his custom Nudie chaps.

fact two: the whatever of Royness was never-- never-- NEVER all that (i defy anyone listen to the Bear Family set end to end & come out "impressed"). insipid revisionism to the contrary by the most ofay of ofays (compare the negritude of goddamn Petty to Ronnie Van Zant, the former ain't a good 'billy either, which leaves ya'll where?) is the only the easiest indictment. Gene Pitney & George Jones-- then everybody's talking.

Q: why didn't Starbucks reissue this?!?!

Alexander-- nice deadpan satire, salut (& the streets say you don't have a sense of humour.)

boycott this consumer sap swill, until & unless the RVG remaster comes out w/Keepnews liner notes.

Ah yes. Hipper than thou. Roy Orbison wasn't all that? What have you been taking, Clem? Antihistimines?

Oy. How deep inside your ass *is* your head anyway?

Edited by Alexander
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HOW DARE U SPEAK ILL OF JEFF LYNNE/////

Thankfully, the Wilburys don't have a "spirit box"...

Great one, where is the emoticon for rotfl ?

Gotta say i enjoyed the album when it went out, i bought the cd version when it was on discount at 5 $, was pretty suprised a few months ago to see it being sold for 14 bucks. The girl at the store explained that it was on out print, guess i lost my chance to make a killing.

Music wise, i can understand why some people would say it has not aged well. Depending of your age there are certain styles of music with certain production values you used to listen when you were younger but now you can not stand anymore.

For my case, about everything about the synth leaded 80's pop sounds nowadays like an horrible blast from the past that i never want to relive.

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Clem, is there any particular reason why you like to swoop in and piss on people's Post Toasties? Are you so convinced of your saintly hipness that you feel it's your duty as a public service to dis everything that doesn't fit your definition of worth? It might be semi-comical if it wasn't so annoying. Does it physically pain you if someone likes Roy Orbison? If your convinced that Roy was the anti-christ, that's fine, but those who disagree also have the right to say so and not be chastised for how tragically uncool they are.

In regards to the album in question.

There is nothing essentially wrong with this album, it's professionally produced, written, arranged and the tunes are catchy. The problem is that it's a record that could have been produced by any number of competent musicians. It's not nearly as impressive as the talent involved; as it seems to naturally go with supergroups. Not a crime punishable by death, just disappointing.

Okay, Jeff Lynne. I think this guy gets more of a bum rap than her really deserves. Sure, he's had his share of rock "excess" violations...but underneath it all he's a crafty songwriter, arranger, producer, etc. Not all of E.L.O's output is total garbage, there's some good stuff scattered throughout many of those albums. His work as producer is probably best summed up by Full Moon Fever (insert both pros and cons here), which maybe in retrospect didn't have that huge of an impact, but it sure did sound refreshing back in the late 80's. Good solid rock tunes with minimal frills...that was not the norm in 88. Did Lynne put too much of a stamp on those records? Maybe, but that's probably one of the reasons they worked with him.

RSD not far from D.C.

Edited by Shawn
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There is nothing essentially wrong with this album, it's professionally produced, written, arranged and the tunes are catchy. The problem is that it's a record that could have been produced by any number of competent musicians. It's not nearly as impressive as the talent involved; as it seems to naturally go with supergroups. Not a crime punishable by death, just disappointing.

I like the first album - I think if you look at it as a bunch of guys just sitting around having fun and making casual, small music, and not having high expectations because of who's actually ON the album, it's a fun listen. It's not a high watermark in anyone's career, but that's fine.

The second album doesn't do much for me. The fun they were clearly (to me) having on the first one is missing here, and it's a bit forced sounding. That may be due to Orbison's passing, or the pressure to match the first album, or maybe both.

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Clem, is there any particular reason why you like to swoop in and piss on people's Post Toasties? Are you so convinced of your saintly hipness that you feel it's your duty as a public service to dis everything that doesn't fit your definition of worth? It might be semi-comical if it wasn't so annoying. Does it physically pain you if someone likes Roy Orbison? If your convinced that Roy was the anti-christ, that's fine, but those who disagree also have the right to say so and not be chastised for how tragically uncool they are.

This how it breaks down for me: Clem is one AMAZINGLY insecure guy, constantly looking over his shoulder for approval. He overcompensates by trying to rub his coolness in everybody's face. One sure way to get Clem to like your work is either for nobody to have heard of you, or for everybody to hate you. Conversely, the best way to get Clem to despise your work is for everybody to love it. People love Bob Dylan. Clem can cite fifteen guys who deserved success more than Dylan. People love Roy Orbison (as do I). Clem can cite a hundred and fifteen people who deserved success more than Roy. Nobody's ever heard of Joe Shlabotnick. Clem has the complete Joe Shlabotnick Bear Family box set and says that Joe was the greatest thing nobody ever heard. Dollars to donuts, if Shlabotnick suddenly had a hit, Clem would be saying the ol' Joe was a hack.

It's sad, really. Hey, Clem. How about you do your thing and shut the hell up and let me do mine?

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Nobody's ever heard of Joe Shlabotnick. Clem has the complete Joe Shlabotnick Bear Family box set and says that Joe was the greatest thing nobody ever heard. Dollars to donuts, if Shlabotnick suddenly had a hit, Clem would be saying the ol' Joe was a hack.

How is that anyway? I was thinking of ordering a copy.

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meantime, sputter all you want about the "value" of consensus reality, or better yet, tell us ALL the glories of Roy's career, do the number even more than a dozen 45s, really? (more than half-a-dozen?)

Um, if the number was only ONE 45, wouldn't that be enough? I mean, there are some artists who only had one good song in them, but in many cases the world would be the poorer if it were without that one song. For myself, Roy's career had many highlights ("Oh, Pretty Woman" and "Crying" are but two of the more popular sides Roy recorded). Probably my absolute favorite Roy Orbison moment would be the quiet menace expressed on "Mean Woman Blues" or perhaps the longing expressed in "Blue Bayou." There are certainly others, enough to fill out a couple of decently packed CDs. Like I said, I'd rather have ONE amazing recording than a catalogue full of medocrity any day...

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