Review 1 of 28

intervention writes:

4of 5 Stars

Rob Sheffield is laughably off the mark... which is not at all surprising from a magazine that, in terms of music criticism, has become about as credible as Access Hollywood. At a time when the airwaves (FM and MTV) were utterly saturated with piss poor hair metal, Jeff Lynne's production style was a breath of fresh air. In fact, it was shockingly austere. To my ears now, Volume 1 (like Tom Petty's brilliant 'Full Moon Fever' after it and Harrison's 'Cloud 9' before it... both Lynne productions, incidentally) is antithetical to late 80s crap-- it stripped away the gloss, hairspray, and overblown Warrant-style production to reveal good songwriting, clever lyrical turns, and economic arrangements. In other words, Mr. Sheffield is dead wrong. The Wilburys made a fun record with good songs on it-- most notably "Not Alone Anymore." (Unless you're a jack-off critic, fun and rock are not mutually exclusive. Don't believe me? Listen to any Beatles record.) From his review, it's evident that Rob was too busy listening to Winger or maybe Taylor Dayne to give Jeff Lynne the chance he and the other Wilburys deserved. Four stars.

Jul 21, 2007 16:11:59

Review 2 of 28

badllama writes:

5of 5 Stars

i'm so glad that they got re-released because it was nearly imposible to find them. the dude that reviewed this collection forgot that the project was recorded just for fun and pure coincidence. also, it's the last piece of recorded material of the great Roy. Now, the idea was to have an album with that type of 50's - 60's rock & roll feel into them and i think they achieved it. c'mon parts were recorded in a kitchen!
even though the RS reviewer doesn't trash the album, i believe the album deserved a couple more stars instead of Linkin Park's latest album where they play to be real "Rockers" and they still suck at it.

Jul 14, 2007 17:06:11

Review 3 of 28

bobdylan1965 writes:

4of 5 Stars

Traveling Wilburys: The band time/classic rock forgot.
Surprising for the talent that was on this CD, sure, but you can't help but feel all the artists are getting choked out just a little bit on each song. Too much talent in a small space.
The production is a little glossy, and I suppose you could call the guitars "sugary." There certainly isn't a very hard edge on this CD, but hell, every artist was doing it back then. My beef is with Phil Collins and Lionel Richie.
Two stars is a disgrace for Vol. 1 by the Wilburys. This CD contains a sharper Bob Dylan ('Dirty World'; 'Tweeter') than you heard for most of the decade. Petty contributes good tracks as well, even if they could have easily been Heartbreaker songs.
I agree with a previous reviewer: Does this really deserve fewer stars than the last Kelly Clarkson album? Or a Poison cover album? I call shenanigans!

Jul 11, 2007 15:09:36

Review 4 of 28

TDjazz writes:

5of 5 Stars

The reviewer is way off the mark on this one. The CD sounds like the '80s because that's when it was made--and it has held up well. The music is fresh and the harmonies are sublime. Jeff Lynne's production is fine.

Sheffield has no business reviewing records because he usually zeroes in on one or two things and disregards other aspects of recordings. Are there any openings in the mailroom? He needs a job for which he's well-suited--reviewing isn't his thing.

Jul 10, 2007 03:20:00

Review 5 of 28

hankfan writes:

5of 5 Stars

I hadn't heard this CD in years - and it's held up well. Vol. 3 is even suprisingly fresh. The RS reviewer really misses the mark on these albums.

A producer having their own sound seems to be okay when it's anyone but Jeff Lynne. Phil Spector, The Neptunes, Norman Whitfield, Daniel Lanois, Joe Meek, Steve Lillywhite, Chris Thomas, etc. get praised to the high heavens for having unique sounds, yet Jeff Lynne gets criticized for making everything sound like ELO. I've grown addicted to Lynne's sound over the past decade, and if it's good enough for THE BEATLES, plus Harrison, Starr, and McCartney solo - not to mention Tom Petty, Del Shannon, and Roy Orbison - it's good enough for me! Lynne's last ELO CD, 'Zoom,' even had Starr and Harrison as guest instrumentalists. Maybe the reviewer is just jealous.

Jun 29, 2007 03:40:08

Review 6 of 28

kipper writes:

5of 5 Stars

What proverbial stick has found it's way up Mr. Sheffield's butt? This re-release of the Traveling Wilburys is one of the most anticipated of the year. His fixation on Dylan and Lynn is shortsighted and just wrong. Did he even take the time to watch the excellent documentary included in this 3 disc set? Obviously not. Did Sheffield take any time and read the bonus book enclosed in the deluxe edition? No - he is too busy writing a lame review about something he obviously knows very little about. How about Sheffield looking back into the RS archives and taking note of the 12/1/88 review of Wilbury's Vol. 1, where David Wild wrote: "(This album) is a low key masterpiece..." Not to mention that just listening to these two cds after 19 years, or whatever, they do more than hold their ground - they have carved out a very special niche in rock history. Rob, you really need to write a retraction and then hand over the task over to someone who can give it justice - you certainly are unqualified. Sorry.

Jun 28, 2007 07:37:22

Review 7 of 28

smilinmoo writes:

5of 5 Stars

I had to double check to make sure this guy was reviewing the right album. TWO STARS? Did this guy actually LISTEN to the album? A good reviewer doesn't have blind spots or biases. I wonder: would he have given "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" such a glowing recommendation if it had been written and sung mainly by, say, Roy Orbison or Jeff Lynne instead of Dylan? No offense to Dylan, but that is not the best song on the album, or the most hilarious. "Dirty World" is much better. What the hell is a "sugary guitar?" The Wilburys and their guitars sound fantastic. This is an album that oozes testosterone-infused energy and humor. It's quite good natured, and some of the humor is subtle word-play. There are some great harmonies, some rockabilly, and some retro sounds, too. You would think by his review that the whole thing sounded like "Flashdance" or something! Maybe this guy doesn't know quite what to make of all of this, so he picks the most stripped down, repetitive sound of the lot to recommend. I might be (in the words of George Harrison) and "old fart," but, having 4 sons between the ages of 29 and 17 I am exposed to "their" music too. I also know what a "two star album" sounds like, and this ain't it. This guy was way off the mark.

Jun 26, 2007 09:28:00

Review 8 of 28

MDF62686 writes:

5of 5 Stars

Let me get this straight...an album that was ranked # 70 in Rolling Stone's list of the top 100 albums of the 80's is now considered by the same publication to be a less compelling piece of work than the last Hilary Duff album? Are you kidding me??

Jun 25, 2007 10:40:02