Six days on the road (Mudcrutch) (LP 3305)

Mudcrutch  Mudcrutch (CD, Reprise Records, 2008) ***  

Genre: Country rock

Places I remember: The Hope collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Crystal River

Gear costume: Scare Easy

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Mudcrutch was the name of the band before Tom Petty regrouped as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench were also in both bands). They never recorded an album until the reconstituted version of the band did so some thirty years later. Mudcrutch allows the TP and The H guys to join up with Tom Leadon from the original Mudcrutch band.

It's a fair to middling country rock album from Petty and the guys (he's clearly the driving force again). At times they sound like NZ band The Desotos, at others mid period Byrds or Flying Burrito Brothers. All practised a kind of laid-back rambling country rock sound which is very easy on the ear. No complaints from me!

Where do they all belong? I wouldn't normally have bought this so thanks to the donation from the Hope family, I get to enjoy an underappreciated gem.

Not alone anymore (Traveling Wilburys) (LP 873 - 874)

Traveling Wilburys  The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1  (CD and Vinyl, Wilbury Records, 1988) *****  

Traveling Wilburys  The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3  (Vinyl, Wilbury Records, 1990) *** 

Genre: Beatles pop/rock (filled under Harrison in my collection)

Places I remember: Marbecks Records; Record store in Nelson for Vol 3.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Handle Me With Care (featuring Nelson Wilbury)

Gear costume: Not Alone Anymore (featuring Lefty Wilbury)

Active compensatory factors: Growing out of George's need for a B-side following his Cloud Nine album - Handle Me With Care kicked off the whole Traveling Wilbury's schtick. 

The subsequent album called Volume 1 from this multi-national supergroup (Dylan, Petty, Harrison, Orbison, Lynne) was a delightful surprise when it emerged in 1988.

Undisputed star turn of the bunch was Roy Orbison (Lefty Wilbury). His vocals lift every song he approaches on the album. The over-riding feelings throughout are ones of spontaneous joy/happiness/fun/brotherhood (hence the Ramones style names).

They probably had a lot of fun singing and playing together on Volume 3 (there was no Volume 2 from these cheeky chappies) but, compared to Volume 1, it doesn't quite sound like that.

Maybe the fact Roy O had passed away (Lefty had left the building), or maybe because the songs weren't as strong, or maybe second album syndrome or maybe it was because George's songs weren't the lynchpins this time. Maybe all of the above. Who knows. But it wasn't a patch on Volume 1.

Where do they all belong? A lot more than a footnote on their careers - Traveling Wilburys fashioned a really distinctive group sound. That said, it sits at the end of the George Harrison section in my collection.