Supergroups are rare now. There are few around, and even then, they are a league of quality away from The Traveling Wilburys. Not every band can feature a Beatle, a veteran of the stage, and a revolutionary artist. Few will feature even one. But The Traveling Wilburys had George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty. Stunning. Handle with Care is one of their very best offerings, too, a song with qualities which scream lead single. Time has been kind to Handle with Care, a delightful song blurring catchy pop fundamentals with a rock and roll quality that comes from decades of experience spilling over in the studio. A wonderfully tender song with love at the heart of it, but crucial to those inevitable puppy-dog-eyed views of the world is a blurring of origins from these five music legends. It is what gives Handle with Care its strength.
It’s this range of vocal styles which gives the song its depth. Harrison leads the charge with some soft and clean work, the driving force of the album occasionally backed by Orbison. His similarly light but somewhat warbling voice is that necessary step from verse to chorus, a segue of sorts into the backing vocals from Dylan, Lynne and Petty. Their overlap is an odd one, but it works. There is charm oozing from the croaked-sounding Dylan and the softer tones from the rest of the group. Beyond those vocal thrills is an instrumental of plain sounding but perfect intent. Harmonicas, acoustic guitars, and a nice strum of electric guitar work to close the song out. Handle with Care is percussion-led brilliance. A song which creates a folk-rock tone, with emphasis on the latter genre. A song so good it was deemed a ridiculous choice as a B-Side. What began as a Harrison throwaway brought five of the all-time greats together.
Harrison is given the most duties on this song, leading the vocals and adding in some delightful but brief slide guitar pieces. Handle with Care is his song, after all. The Traveling Wilburys is a strange concept on paper. It pulls at the best-known moments of its five members but comes out with a song both befitting of their style yet challenging the perception a listener may have. Dylan’s harmonica towards the end is a nice nod to his folk roots, while the Harrison-led song of in-love and out-of-favour heartbreakers is the best writing he would take to a group wanting a song on infatuation since Something. It’s an incredible achievement to have a five-piece with this much talent, especially when each sounds like an equal. Acoustic guitar work from all five members is a difference-maker, though Ian Wallace must be given real credit for his stand-out tom-tom and percussion work.
All these parts coming together, sounding as strong as they do, it comes from a shared musical upbringing. The crossover between the five who would form The Traveling Wilburys is a similar musical journey. Close enough to complement one another’s playing and performance, different enough that each brings a special flair to the project. Handle with Care and other clear hit, End of the Line, offers a chance to hear some of the all-time greats work together. Their light and breezy tone is a sincere delight because the song has a fundamentally catchy, but quality message which can be remembered, balanced. It’s hard to do, and harder still for five of the biggest names in music history to pull it off. Yet they do, and did so again after this.
Love their music. 5 very distinct voices, yet they harmonize so incredibly well together. Each one perfectly complements the others. I still listen to these songs regularly as they are part of my “daily walk playlist.”
What can you say about the Travelling Wilburys, it’s something that was meant to be. George was under pressure to get a b-side for his third single, This Is Love, from his brilliant Cloud 9 album. As it happened his friends who were the likes of Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, who was co-producing the album, just happened to be around when George needed a b-side. A lot of it is George’s song, the run down on the d chord, but oh boy, what collaborators to have in Dylan, Orbison, Petty and Lynne. Not an ego in sight. Imagine when George brought this “B-side” to the company reps, they must have wondered what the fck was going on. “I did say b-side didn’t i George?, is that Roy Orbison singing in the bridge, It’s fckn Dylan singing aswell”
“Well” George would have said humbly”You did want a b-side didn’t you?”
Handle With Care is pure pop/rock gold with an ex-beatle, the bard they call Dylan, the golden voice of Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne who had been collaborating together on Roy Orbison’s last solo album, and Tom Petty’s magnificent Full Moon Fever album.
Music is beautiful and has the power to help people in need