The Traveling Wilburys- Volume 1 - The Traveling Wilburys [VINYL]

I think that anyone who has any doubts about the influence George Harrison has had on the music industry needs to listen to this album. When Harrison gave the call for aid recording the B-side to his next single what converged in Bob Dylan’s studio in Malibu was nothing short of a supergroup. With literally the who’s who of music coming together to record a track which was later considered to be too good for a B-side, Harrison brought together the Traveling Wilbury's.

Member run down: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. What came of the B-side recording was them deciding they had too much fun together to not make an album and so in 1988 The Travelling Wilbury's, Vol.1 was released to critical and commercial success. I know it is probably easy to believe now looking at the list of music legends that had come together but looking back at the music industry at the time it was bands like Metallica, The Pixies, R.E.M. and U2 that were leading the way, so this folk-country-rock sound was totally against the trend. It also helped revitalize the careers of Dylan, Orbison and Petty.

There is so many interesting things about this collaboration including the unfortunate death of Orbison and a follow up album which you should also check out. It is hard to make a list of artists that compare to this group of guys who had fun together and did what they do best and made an amazing album. Go and grab yourself a piece of the magic.