Traveling Wilburys Vol.3 (Remaster)

ジェフ・リンがロイ・オービソン急逝後にまとめあげ、シングル「You Got It」が大ヒットを記録したアルバム『Mystery Girl』、トム・ペティにキャリア最大の成功をもたらした『Full Moon Fever』、ジェフ・リンのプロデュースではないが大好評を博しディランが現在に至る円熟期への足がかりを得た『Oh Mercy』とヒット作が続きベテラン・ロックの復権を80 年代後半に印象づけた彼らが、90 年代に入って発表したのが本作(アルバム・チャート最高11 位)。オービソンの後釜として60 年代の名ロッカー、デル・シャノンを迎えたプロジェクトはそのシャノンの突然の自殺により一旦頓挫。 「Vol.2」を欠番とした上で4 人で制作された「Vol.3」は、世を去った彼らへの追悼気分を吹き飛ばすかのような陽気なパーティ・アルバムとなっている。作品はどれもアーリーR&R テイストに満ちており、1 作目ではやや控えめだったジェフ・リン独特のきらびやかなサウンドがアルバム全編で聴けるのもポイント。ベテランたちが原点に立ち返り、リラックスして行ったセッションは、歳月を経た現在、より味わいを増して耳に届く。

Q - Included in Q's list of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990. New York Times - "The superstar pop group stays close to 50's and 60's rock roots, drawing on blues, doo-wop, rockabilly and Buddy Holly. But their second album is faster, jokier, lighter and meaner than the first." Down Beat - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...This is one crack unit..." Rolling Stone - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...combines four distinctive styles in seemingly effortles fashion....this music finds famous folks enjoying themselves and one another..." Rolling Stone (11/29/90) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...combines four distinctive styles in seemingly effortles fashion....this music finds famous folks enjoying themselves and one another..." Q - Included in Q's list of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990. Down Beat (2/91) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...This is one crack unit..." New York Times (Publisher) (11/18/90) - "The superstar pop group stays close to 50's and 60's rock roots, drawing on blues, doo-wop, rockabilly and Buddy Holly. But their second album is faster, jokier, lighter and meaner than the first."

Shortly after the release of the Traveling Wilburys' first album, Roy Orbison died suddenly of a heart attack. The remaining Wilburys, choosing not to discover a previously missing "sixth" brother, released 1990's VOLUME THREE as a quartet. (There was no second volume; the band members joked that it had already been deleted.) A brief and easy-going album with a markedly low-key sound, VOLUME THREE is largely dominated by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, who had played more supporting roles on the first album. Highlights include the rocking opener, "She's My Baby", and George Harrison's social comment, "The Devil's Been Busy".|

The Traveling Wilburys built upon George Harrison's comeback with Cloud Nine and helped revitalize the other supergroup members' careers, setting the stage for Bob Dylan's 1989 comeback with Oh Mercy, Tom Petty's first solo album, Full Moon Fever, produced by Jeff Lynne (sounding and feeling strikingly similar to this lark), and Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl, which was released posthumously. Given the success of this record and how it boosted the creativity of the rest of the five, it's somewhat a shock that the second effort falls a little flat. In retrospect, Vol. 3 plays a little bit better than it did at the time -- it's the kind of thing to appreciate more in retrospect, since you'll never get another album like it -- but it still labors mightily to recapture what came so effortlessly the first time around, a problem that can't merely be chalked up to the absence of Orbison (who after all, didn't write much on the first and only took lead on one song). Where the humor flowed naturally and absurdly throughout the debut, it feels strained on Vol. 3 -- nowhere more so than on "Wilbury Twist," where Petty implores you to put your underwear on your head and get up and dance, the epitome of forced hilarity -- and the production is too polished and punchy to give it a joie de vivre similar to the debut. That polish is an indication that Lynne and Petty dominate this record, which only makes sense because they made it between Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open, but it's striking that this sounds like more like their work, even when Dylan takes the lead on "Inside Out" or the doo wop-styled "7 Deadly Sins." Both of these are quite good songs and they have a few other companions here, like the quite wonderful country stomp "Poor House," but they're songs more notable for their craft than their impact -- nothing is as memorable as the throwaways on the debut -- and when combined with the precise production, it takes a bit for them to sink in. But give the record some time, and these subtle pleasures are discernible, even if they surely pale compared to the open-hearted fun of the debut. But when paired with the debut on this set, it's a worthy companion and helps support the notion that the Traveling Wilburys were a band that possesses a unique, almost innocent, charm that isn't diminished after all this time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine