In Jersey Anything’s Legal, As Long As You Don’t Get Caught
One of my most favorite albums of all-time has to be Volume 1 by the Traveling Wilburys. Not a month goes by when I don’t listen to this album all the way through and it still sounds as fresh and wonderful to me today as it did back in 1988.
For those of you not familiar with the band, The Traveling Wilburys was a super-group that consisted of George Harrison (The Beatles), Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra), Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. The five legends formed originally to record a B-side for George Harrison and ended up recording an entire album. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of its release, Roy Orbison passed away of a heart attack. The remaining 4 members released their second and final album titled Volume 3 two years later, but it failed to reach he success of it’s precursor, which went to #3 on the charts.
Their albums are all-but-impossible to find in the stores and have become collectors items to many fans. There were rumblings before the death of Harrison that he planned on re-releasing the albums, but sadly that never came to fruition.
Volume 1 is such an amazing record that to pick just one song to share is so hard. There’s the beautiful opener “Handle With Care” that features the classic crooning of Orbison in the song’s chorus, or the Bruce Springsteen inspired Dylan gem “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” that has some of the best lyrics ever written. Ultimately, I decided to share one of the singles and the album’s closing track “End of the Line.” It’s a stellar example of a record that is light-hearted and oozing with creative genius. It also is a track that has seen it’s inclusion on many mix CDs I’ve created in my years.
Download “End of the Line” here, and get your hands on any Traveling Wilburys material you can by any means necessary.