Now you can do the Wilbury Twist!

I think I've played my Traveling Wilburys record more often than any piece of music I own on vinyl. No one but the most hardcore fan should be surprised that I discovered the Beatles not through the "Red" and "Blue" comps, but through George Harrison's contributions to Volume One (which, incidentally, on smarts and esprit alone trump almost anything he's released solo since 1970). It feels strange to write about an album with which I'm so intimate. Mike's right about the first record: it's a mishmash, but a compelling one, made by people whose wits were either dormant (Dylan, Lynne, Petty) or they were themselves just plain dormant (Orbison). I like the third one a lot more than he does, but I think I appreciate craft more than he does. These guys were brain-dead for so long that I'll accept even context-free material when it's sung, produced, and played with such vigor (they'd return to their regularly scheduled contexts soon enough).